By Ben Krimmel
A new metric rating the skill of defensive and offensive lineman saw Washington Redskins' defensive end Ryan Kerrigan and offensive tackle Trent Williams both ranked among the Top 10 players in the NFL this season.
On Friday ESPN Analytics released their "revolutionary new way of measuring the pass-block and pass-rush performance of individual NFL players." The cleverly named Pass Block Win Rate measures if offensive lineman can sustain their block for 2.5 seconds or longer, while Pass Rush Win Rate measures if defenders can beat their blocker within 2.5 seconds. The new stat promises to create "objective individual stats for linemen for their most critical tasks... defending and attacking the passer."
For defensive ends and outside linebackers, Kerrigan ranked second in the NFL this season with a 43 percent win rate on 77 attempts at rushing the passer, 21 points better than the league average. So, despite Kerrigan's zero sacks through the Redskins' first three games, he has still performed at an elite level after posting 13 sacks last season.
On the offensive side, Williams ranks 6th among offensive tackles with an 88 percent win rate on 99 pass blocking attempts, nine points higher than the NFL average. The Redskins hope to have Williams available Monday night in New Orleans after the nine-year pro had a knee operation during the bye week.
Speaking of Monday night, FiveThirtyEight.com gives the seven point underdog Redskins just a 27 percent chance of upsetting the Saints. The prediction site also gave the 2-1 'Skins a 32 percent chance at making the playoffs and an 18 percent chance at winning the NFC East, with Philadelphia (55 percent) and Dallas (25 percent) ahead of Washington.
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