In today's fantasy-obsessed football world, it's easy to overlook the contributions of one position group: offensive line. Well, NFL Network analyst and former Pro Bowl center Shaun O'Hara is here to fix that. Following each batch of games, O'Hara will revisit the O-line performances of all the teams that played and ultimately select that week's top five units, headlined by a Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Week.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The rankings that you see below reflect O'Hara's pecking order for Week 10 and Week 10 alone. This is NOT a running O-line Power Rankings for 2018. This is NOT a projection into the future. The goal of this weekly column is to answer one simple question: Which five offensive lines stood out above the rest in last week's action?
Without further ado, the Week 10 winner is ...
New Orleans Saints
In the battle of "Who dat" vs. "Who dey," the Saints totally ravaged the Bengals in Cincinnati, which doesn't happen much in the jungle. It was so one-sided that Cincy parted ways with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin on Monday.
New Orleans' punter could've saved himself the trip, as the offense scored on all but its final possession (when the Saints ran out the clock), including five straight touchdowns to begin the game. The Saints had the ball for 19 more minutes than Cincinnati and compiled 509 yards of offense in a balanced attack. Drew Brees, who's a sure-fire MVP candidate right now, threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for one score. On the ground, Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara marched wherever they wanted, as Ingram amassed 104 yards on 13 carries (8.0 yards per carry) and Kamara added a pair of rushing touchdowns.
The Saints boast one of the most consistent offensive lines, especially when it comes to protecting their veteran quarterback. The unit has allowed just nine sacks all season, fewest in the NFL, with right tackle Ryan Ramczyk leading the way Sunday and having the best performance of the group. The Saints once again showed their depth when left tackle Terron Armstead went down after 24 snaps with a shoulder injury. Veteran Jermon Bushrod didn't miss a beat when filling in. He didn't allow a sack or quarterback hit in 51 snaps.
The rest of the top O-lines from Week 10
Buffalo Bills: With a recently signed quarterback in Matt Barkley, the Bills went on the road and proceeded to shellack the New York Jets with 451 yards of total offense. The Bills converted four of their five trips to the red zone and had the ball for 19 more minutes than the Jets, who were without rookie quarterback Sam Darnold.
There's no need to fly from Buffalo to East Rutherford when you can drive, which is exactly what Sean McDermott's group did with 212 rushing yards. LeSean McCoy amassed 113 yards and two rushing touchdowns on 25 carries, while Barkley made some big throws and finished with 232 passing yards and two TD passes.
The Bills' starting offensive line didn't allow a quarterback hit, but one sack was yielded by Buffalo's backups during the fourth quarter. Russell Bodine, John Miller and Dion Dawkins had great games blocking. But the highlight of this contest for me? Dawkins' 7-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. Gotta love that!
Cleveland Browns: Atlanta signed veteran Bruce Irvin last week to shore up the pass rush, but Cleveland kept the Falcons at bay and didn't give up a single sack or quarterback hit on Sunday. The pass protection left Baker Mayfield untouched. The story of the game wasn't the rookie quarterback, though, as the Browns running backs took over this bout. Cleveland rushed for 211 yards thanks to Nick Chubb's HUGE day. The rookie RB had 20 carries for 176 yards, including a 92-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The young backs did it all in the win -- Chubb and Duke Johnson led the Browns in receptions and each had a TD catch.
Left guard Joel Bitonio continued his Pro Bowl-caliber season, as he has yet to give up a sack or quarterback hit. Center JC Tretter didn't allow a pressure, while left tackle Greg Robinson and right guard Kevin Zeitler were solid in the run game.
Indianapolis Colts: The Colts started strong by scoring touchdowns on four of their first five possessions en route to defeating the Jaguars. Andrew Luck wasn't sacked, and he was pressured only five times thanks to great protection by the O-line, which has developed into a team strength. This was a remarkable performance, considering the Jaguars had one of the league's highest pressure rates coming into the game, according to Pro Football Focus. The Colts held them to their lowest pressure rate of the season.
The offensive line has gone four consecutive games without giving up a sack. It's not only dominating opponents but taking their souls.
Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers dismantled the Panthers by controlling the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh converted eight of its 11 third-down attempts, scored on all four red-zone appearances and put points on the scoreboard on seven of 10 possessions. The Steelers didn't have to punt until the fourth quarter, as they racked up 457 yards on offense.
James Conner was held to 65 rushing yards, but did average 5.0 yards per carry with help of the guys up front -- before exiting early and being placed in concussion protocol. Remarkably, Ben Roethlisberger had more touchdown passes than incompletions, completing 22 of 25 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns. Against a solid Carolina interior defensive line, the Steelers were named PFF's second-best pass-blocking unit of Week 10. The O-line got impressive performances from right guard David DeCastro, center Maurkice Pouncey and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, as the trio didn't give up a single pressure. Furthermore, DeCastro has yet to allow a quarterback hit or sack this season. The Steelers did, however, give up a sack -- a reason they didn't end up with the top honor this week.
Follow Shaun O'Hara on Twitter @ShaunOHara60.
