Top Baltimore Ravens Players of All-Time: Offensive Line
By Carlos Avent
If you want or have a great quarterback, you have to surround that quarterback with a good offensive line. An offensive line that can keep him upright, open up opportunities, improve his vision down field, and have his back in a tough situation.
A quarterback needs a pair of tackles who will keep him upright. He’s looking for a couple of guards who will give him room to move around. He’s looking for a center who will be the brains behind the operation of the line as he scopes out the defense and makes the right calls from the line of scrimmage.
That brings us here. As we continue looking at the top Baltimore Ravens players at each position over the organization’s first 20 years, let us survey the land of purple and black for the best offensive linemen in Ravens history.
Offensive linemen are easy to blame when a sack happens, a hole collapses, or a running back gets stuffed for a loss of yards. But Ravens’ o-lines of the past have paved the way for many accolades as well. Not to mention…
Super Bowl Champions (2, XXXV & 3, XLVII)
21 Pro Bowl selections
9 First Team nods
1 All Decade team Selection
4 All-Pro selections
1 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award
1 Ed Block Courage Award
1 Pro Football Hall of Famer
For a group of guys who aren’t hauling in 50 yard touchdown passes or plowing up the middle of the field for a 20 yard run gain, these are some impressive achievements.
Offensive linemen are graded on the total number of plays they’re a part of, their technique, capabilities in run blocking and pass blocking, explosiveness off the line, and if they miss an assignment in a zone or run blocking scheme. Seems rather simple, but ask any of these five and they’ll tell you otherwise.
So who, exactly, are we talking about here? Allow me to introduce to you, the best offensive linemen in Baltimore Ravens history.
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