Philbin’s track record: Can he fix Raiders’ offensive line?

With James Cregg out, Philbin is tasked with fixing the trenches in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense has been awful halfway through the season, leading to the organization and head coach Antonio Pierce firing three offensive coaches heading into the bye week. Offensive line coach James Cregg was one of the coaches who lost his job, leading to Joe Philbin taking over the unit for the remainder of the campaign.

It’s no secret that the Raiders’ offensive line was playing poorly this fall. According to Pro Football Focus, the team ranks 27th in run-blocking grade (54.8), is tied for the seventh-most pressures (95) allowed and tied for the second-most sacks (19) allowed in pass protection.

So, can Philbin fix the trenches in Las Vegas?

While we’ll have to wait and find out to know for certain, let’s take a look at his résumé by diving into his last two stops as an offensive line coach with the Indianapolis Colts from 2016 to 2017 and the Dallas Cowboys from 2020 to 2022.

All stats and grades below are via PFF.

Colts

Pro Bowlers/All-Pros: none

Philbin’s first year in Indianapolis was pretty ugly. The Colts’ offensive line was the worst pass-blocking unit in the NFL, collectively recording a 78.3 efficiency rating (ranked 32nd) while allowing 262 pressures (most and 24 more than any other team) and 28 sacks (tied for third-most).

The running game was slightly better as Indy averaged 4.0 yards per carry as a team, tied for 19th in the league. Also, of the seven linemen who had at least 100 run-blocking snaps, five posted average or better run-blocking grades with Anthony Castonzo leading the way at 77.9 and Joe Haeg coming in second at 72.9. The other five were in the 60s or just below that mark.

In 2017, the position group marginally improved in pass protection. Their efficiency rating went up to 82.4 and ranked 29th in the NFL and the amount of pressures surrendered significantly decreased to 182 (ninth-most) while the sacks dropped to 22 (tied for 13th). Granted, calling 86 fewer passing plays played a factor and the offensive line’s pressure rate dropped less than eight percent.

The bigger problem that year for Philbin’s group was that the running game was dramatically worse. Indianapolis dropped to 3.7 yards per carry and only one offensive lineman, Castonzo (74.9), recorded a grade above 60. Building on that, Castonzo was one of three players to earn an average or better mark among the nine who had at least 100 run-blocking snaps.

Cowboys

Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

Pro Bowlers/All-Pros: Zack Martin (2021, 2022), Tyron Smith (2021, 2022)

No team had more dropbacks (711) than the Cowboys did in 2020, so it’s somewhat understandable that Philbin’s group allowed the fifth-most pressures (184) and second-most sacks (28) in the league. But the unit’s efficiency rating was still in the bottom quarter of the league at 85.1, the seventh-lowest figure.

Dallas did have some success on the ground that year, averaging 4.2 yards per carry as a team which was tied for 19th in the league. Zack Martin posted an elite 92.2 run-blocking grade while Connor Williams came in at 70.8. However, the unit had eight linemen record more than 100 run-blocking snaps and only one other player in addition to those two was above average.

Granted, not having Tyron Smith in the lineup more the majority of 2020 played a factor in the figures above.

The Cowboys’ offensive line saw a dramatic improvement the following year. The team had 706 dropbacks (sixth-most) and allowed 135 pressures (fourth-fewest) and 11 sacks (fewest) to earn the second-highest efficiency rating (89.7) in the league.

In the running game, Dallas ranked tied for 10th with 4.4 yards per attempt while seven offensive linemen recorded at least 100 run-blocking snaps and all earned above-average grades. The unit even had three players—Martin, Smith and La’el Collins, who also missed the 2020 campaign—post elite marks.

Philbin’s line did regress in 2022 as pass protectors but was still relatively good, allowing 148 pressures (13th-fewest) and 12 sacks (second-fewest) on 601 opportunities to earn an 86.7 efficiency rating (11th-best). To add more context, Smith only played in four games while Collins left for the Bengals in the offseason.

The running game was a bit of a different story, though. The Cowboys’s yards per rush only dipped by 0.1 yards, but their ranking fell to tied for 18th in the league. As far as run-blocking grades go, Terence Steele led the way at 82.1 while rookie Tyler Smith was second on the team with a mark of 72.4. In total, the unit had seven players with more than 100 run-blocking snaps and four earned above-average marks in the ground game.

At the end of the year, Philbin was one of five assistant coaches who were fired from Mike McCarthy’s staff.