Andre Gurode not that bad
By Calvin Watkins
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4680455/andre-gurode-is-not-that-bad
Back in May, Pete Prisco of CBS Sports wrote a piece on which players were overrated and underrated on each NFL team. On the Cowboys, he placed Andre Gurode as the most overrated player on the team for the 2010 season.
Gurode certainly didn't have his best season. He led all NFL centers in penalties with eight, and it seems his health gave him problems in the passing game.
It's hard sometimes to judge offensive linemen when a game is going on. You're watching the ball or the defense and you just don't know what the line call was. So determining responsibility on pass protection and run blocking is uncertain sometimes.
However, Pro Football Focus came up with a complex formula to decipher just how good linemen were.
Last year, Gurode graded out as the sixth best center in the game. Out of 1,105 snaps, eighth most in the league, he had a 13.2 rating, highest among NFC centers. The second-best center in the NFC was Carolina's Ryan Kalil, who played 1,016 snaps and received a 11.6 rating.
These ratings are subjective of course, but it gives you a little insight, from an independent judge, on the type of season Gurode had.
Could it have been better? Sure.
Overall, the Cowboys' best lineman was left tackle Doug Free, who should command plenty of money on the free-agent market when the lockout ends. The second best was a tie between Kyle Kosier, whom Prisco calls underrated, and Gurode.
Gurode was named to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl last season, fourth as a starter. Yes, the players do get some of these Pro Bowl rankings wrong, but it should mean something that Gurode's peers thought enough of him to put him in the game. Of all the Pro Bowlers the Cowboys had last year, on that 6-10 team, Gurode was a questionable one.
But Gurode did have a pretty good season, maybe not like in years past, but good enough to warrant some more respect.
By Calvin Watkins
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4680455/andre-gurode-is-not-that-bad
Back in May, Pete Prisco of CBS Sports wrote a piece on which players were overrated and underrated on each NFL team. On the Cowboys, he placed Andre Gurode as the most overrated player on the team for the 2010 season.
Gurode certainly didn't have his best season. He led all NFL centers in penalties with eight, and it seems his health gave him problems in the passing game.
It's hard sometimes to judge offensive linemen when a game is going on. You're watching the ball or the defense and you just don't know what the line call was. So determining responsibility on pass protection and run blocking is uncertain sometimes.
However, Pro Football Focus came up with a complex formula to decipher just how good linemen were.
Last year, Gurode graded out as the sixth best center in the game. Out of 1,105 snaps, eighth most in the league, he had a 13.2 rating, highest among NFC centers. The second-best center in the NFC was Carolina's Ryan Kalil, who played 1,016 snaps and received a 11.6 rating.
These ratings are subjective of course, but it gives you a little insight, from an independent judge, on the type of season Gurode had.
Could it have been better? Sure.
Overall, the Cowboys' best lineman was left tackle Doug Free, who should command plenty of money on the free-agent market when the lockout ends. The second best was a tie between Kyle Kosier, whom Prisco calls underrated, and Gurode.
Gurode was named to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl last season, fourth as a starter. Yes, the players do get some of these Pro Bowl rankings wrong, but it should mean something that Gurode's peers thought enough of him to put him in the game. Of all the Pro Bowlers the Cowboys had last year, on that 6-10 team, Gurode was a questionable one.
But Gurode did have a pretty good season, maybe not like in years past, but good enough to warrant some more respect.
