To paraphrase Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Jim Finks, fantasy football prospects are often only as good as their blockers will let them be.
My research over the years indicates ball carriers are four to five times more productive when they get good run blocking versus when they get bad run blocking. This impact also carries over to the passing game, as quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends produce roughly 60 percent more fantasy points per play when the quarterback has a clean pocket versus plays when pass-rush pressure reaches the quarterback.
The direct impact that good or bad blocking has on fantasy scoring doesn't receive nearly as much attention as it should, but that is about to change. This is the first in a weekly series where I will use a wide variety of advanced metrics to review why players or teams fared well or poorly in fantasy football scoring in that week's slate of contests.
A new low for the Cowboys and Zeke
The Dallas Cowboys had their worst run-blocking performance of the past two seasons in their Week 2 contest at Denver. The Cowboys tallied an 18.2 percent mark in my good blocking rate (GBR) metric that measures how often an offense gives its ball carriers good run blocking (roughly defined as not allowing the defense to disrupt a rush attempt).
To put this mark in perspective, since the beginning of the 2016 season the Cowboys have posted a 40 percent or higher GBR in 10 games, a 30 percent or higher GBR in all but one game and had never tallied a GBR of lower than 25 percent prior to the Broncos matchup.
Part of the low GBR could be attributed to game flow, as the Cowboys were behind 21-10 at halftime, but Dallas had only five rushing attempts by the end of their fifth drive, at which point the Cowboys trailed by a 14-7 score.
Denver also was selling out to stop the ground game, as the Broncos had an extra defender in the box on 20 of the Cowboys' offensive plays, but Dallas faced that situation an average of 16.1 plays per game last year so the volume wasn't much more than usual.
The bottom line is the Cowboys' run-blocking wall is still adjusting to changing two offensive line starters from last year's squad and that was the main factor in Ezekiel Elliott posting only 6.2 fantasy points, which is the first time in his NFL career that Elliott has racked up a single-digit fantasy point total.
Blocking isn't Cam's only worry
Cam Newton's injury woes caused the Carolina Panthers to put improving their pass blocking high on the 2017 priority list, yet if the game against Buffalo is any indication the Panthers are falling well short of that goal.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Newton was under pressure on 37.5 percent of his dropbacks and was hit on 21.3 percent of those plays. That pressure rate is the fourth highest Newton has faced in the past two seasons and the quarterback contact rate is 1 percent higher than the 20.3 percent quarterback contact rate Newton saw in the 2016 season.
Those numbers would certainly be the first place fantasy managers look when assessing blame for the meager 11.8 points that Newton gave them in Week 2, but the reality is Newton is producing better than average numbers when facing pressure.
Newton tallied 4.6 fantasy points when under pressure against Buffalo and 7.5 points against San Francisco in Week 1, both of which are higher than his 2.6 point per game average since 2014 Newton has posted on plays where he faces pressure.
The problem is Newton generated only 5.7 points against the 49ers and 7.2 points against the Bills on plays where he wasn't under pressure, both totals of which are in the bottom five for Newton since 2014.
The subpar pass blocking certainly isn't helping matters, but this shows Newton's fantasy production issues are occurring when the line is giving him time, a fact that may be even more worrisome for those who drafted Newton than the Panthers' mediocre pass blocking or Newton's injury issues.
Brady cool under pressure
One of the reasons that Tom Brady is considered a matchup-proof fantasy quarterback is his ability to produce big fantasy point totals when under pressure.
This trait showed up time and again versus New Orleans. The Saints were able to pressure the pocket on 10 of Brady's dropbacks. Two of those pressures resulted in sacks, but Brady racked up 14.2 fantasy points on the other eight plays by going 6-of-8 for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Quick hits
Michael Crabtree tallied 32 points against the Jets, and much of that can be attributed to Derek Carr having nothing to worry about from the New York pass rush. The Jets blitzed Carr on 28.6 percent of his dropbacks yet they ended up with a zero percent quarterback contact rate, meaning they didn't register an official hit even one time. Add no pass rush to a terrible Jets secondary and it equaled the third 30-plus point fantasy game of Crabtree's career.
Two rushes of 50 or more yards account for a significant portion of Kareem Hunt's 71.5 fantasy points this season, yet Hunt also has benefited tremendously from consistent run blocking. The Chiefs have given Hunt good blocking on 40.6 percent of his carries this season, a pace that trails the team's 47.6 percent GBR. To get an idea of how well Kansas City is blocking, consider that their current team GBR is better than Pittsburgh's 44.1 percent GBR that led the league last year.
Seattle came into this season projected to have the worst offensive line in the NFL in 2017 and they lived up to that projection against the 49ers. Russell Wilson was held to only 15.3 fantasy points in large part because he was under pressure on 35.6 percent of his dropbacks, a mark that was the fifth highest through the Sunday games of Week 2.
One of the concerns for Jay Ajayi's fantasy managers is his tendency to be a boom-or-bust player despite being the Dolphins' bell cow running back. The contest against the Chargers did nothing to dispel that notion, as Ajayi generated only 14.6 fantasy points despite racking up 28 carries. The main reason Ajayi didn't post more points is Miami tallied a mediocre 28.6 percent GBR on his carries, a pace that was actually slightly better than the Dolphins 25.8 percent team GBR in that contest.