Mark J. Rebilas-USA Today Sports
The Arizona Cardinals ranked last or near it any every category relating to offensive line protection or quarterback each of the past two years, which is such a shame when a receiver like Larry Fitzgerald is being wasted— who could feasibly go down as the great of all time when all is said and done.
Much has been made of the additions of Coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Carson Palmer, but the huge gains this offensive line should make with the return to Levi Brown, drafting of Jonathan Cooper and rapid improvement of second-year left tackle Bobby Massie will prove comparably critical in this once-great aerial attack getting off the ground.
Pro Football Focus has written quite a bit about Massie since he was drafted in the fourth round by the Cards in 2012, even to the point that Massie credited PFF for helping him see that he’d hit rock-bottom as far as his play in the pros is concerned. He would turn things around near the midseason mark after that, which PFF pointed out once again in their “Secret Superstar” series.
“A quick glance at our Pass Blocking Efficiency (PBE) Signature Stat will show you that he ranked 47th out of the 52 offensive tackles who played at least 50% of their team’s passing snaps,” wrote PFF’s Gordon McGuiness. “That’s an indication of just how bad the beginning of the season was for Massie, with his fantastic performance over the second half of the year barely raising him up the rankings at all.
“However, if you purely look at those last nine games, his PBE Rating comes in at 97.3. Had he been able to produce at that level for the full season, he would have been tied for third place among all offensive tackles. That’s how good he was in the second half of the year.”
Thomas Emerick is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasEmerick, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
