The high ankle sprain that Kyle Cook suffered against the Green Bay Packers forced Cincinnati to look into free agency for a veteran replacement. Within days of Cook's surprisingly depressing diagnosis, the team signed Jeff Faine, a veteran center heading into his tenth season. Based on the grades generated from Pro Football Focus, Faine has generated a poor grade in overall grade (-36.5), pass block (-18.5) and run block (-20.3) over the past three seasons. [Note there are other grades that factor into the overall grade, thus pass and run blocking won't equal the overall score]
The following are the grades and generic pass rushing statistics over the past four seasons.
Games | Over | Pass Block | Run Block | QB Sacks | QB Hits | QB Hurries | |
2011 | 15 | -11.4 | -0.1 | -11.2 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
2010 | 8 | -10.6 | -10.6 | -0.5 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
2009 | 12 | -14.5 | -7.8 | -8.6 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
2008 | 16 | 2.3 | 2.5 | -0.5 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
For substance let's compare that to Kyle Cook dating back to 2009, the first year he was a full time starter on offense.
Games | Over | Pass Block | Run Block | QB Sacks | QB Hits | QB Hurries | |
2011 | 16 | -5.8 | -4.8 | 0.0 | 2 | 4 | 15 |
2010 | 16 | 6.2 | -3.3 | 7.8 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
2009 | 16 | 2.7 | -1.4 | 4.3 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
Keep in mind though that these grades aren't perfect, as the people grading the plays apply to human error. Did a guard miss an assignment, forcing Faine to pick up the defensive tackle but failing to do so because it wasn't his assignment? Was that applied to the center or the guard? Things like that never allow for a perfect system.