Joe Checkler (via Twitter): Eagles were 26th in O-Line run blocking, 31st in pass protection yet 1st in rush DVOA and 5th in pass DVOA. How? Unprecedented?

It is, in fact, unprecedented. Right now the Adjusted Line Yards and Adjusted Sack Rate numbers go back to 1995, and in that time there has never been a team as good on offense as the 2013 Eagles despite taking tons of sacks and getting running backs constantly stuffed at the line. If we look at the difference between rank in ALY and rank in rushing DVOA, and then the difference between rank in ASR and rank in passing DVOA, we end up with a combined difference of 51 places in the standings. That blows away the previous record, set by last year's Packers, who had a combined difference of 40 places. No other team has ever been above 33.

And here's what's interesting... this was a huge year for offenses that were strong despite being poor in both of our offensive line stats. That team with a combined difference of 33 is this year's San Francisco 49ers. Two other teams have combined differences over 20, and both of those are also NFC playoff teams. Oh, by the way, Green Bay has a combined difference of 15, which means five of the top six teams in this "stat" in 2013 are NFC playoff teams. (The sixth would be Miami.)

Year Team Adjusted

Line Yards Rank Adjusted

Sack Rate Rank Run DVOA

Rank Run Dif Pass DVOA

Rank Pass Dif Combined

Difference 2013 PHI 3.72 26 9.4% 31 1 25 5 26 51 2012 GB 3.86 25 8.6% 31 13 12 3 28 40 2013 SF 3.57 29 7.8% 22 14 15 4 18 33 2011 GB 4.05 17 7.4% 23 7 10 1 22 32 1997 CIN 4.05 16 8.9% 23 4 12 4 19 31 2010 PIT 3.88 19 8.6% 29 14 5 3 26 31 2012 CAR 3.49 30 7.6% 21 8 22 12 9 31 1996 CIN 3.72 24 8.1% 23 6 18 11 12 30 1999 OAK 3.98 11 8.5% 24 4 7 2 22 29 2010 GB 3.82 23 7.2% 21 10 13 5 16 29 2009 GB 4.25 9 8.6% 30 2 7 9 21 28 2007 JAC 4.10 18 6.9% 17 5 13 2 15 28 2013 SEA 4.05 9 9.6% 32 7 2 8 24 26 2013 CAR 3.91 14 8.2% 25 4 10 14 11 21

What's the explanation for this? Well, you could tie these four NFC playoff teams together by pointing out that they all have mobile quarterbacks with good yards per carry numbers. Since rushing DVOA considers all runs, but ALY considers only running back carries, that is part of the difference between the two. That doesn't do a lot to explain the difference between ASR and passing DVOA, however, since sacks are included in passing DVOA. Shady McCoy has always been a guy who gets stuffed at the line a lot, but Frank Gore really hasn't been, and the San Francisco offensive line was first in ALY a year ago. Seattle probably ranked dead last in ASR because of the injuries on its line this year, but the other three lines in question were fairly healthy.

It's also interesting to look at the other teams that had a big difference between ASR/ALY and offensive DVOA, because a lot of them happen to be the recent Green Bay Packers. I did this list as a top 12 rather than top 10 to show that the Packers are on here for the last four straight years. (Note that Seattle and Carolina are just added to the table to show readers their numbers; they don't actually rank 13th and 14th.) Aaron Rodgers has always had a great rushing DVOA, of course, and he also has been great at making plays happen despite a porous offensive line. But that still doesn't explain why the Packers kept getting better rushing DVOA than Adjusted Line Yards with running backs like James Starks and Ryan Grant.

The 1996-1997 Bengals are not a team I know much about. Jeff Blake was their quarterback until the end of 1997, when he got hurt and Boomer Esiason ended his career with an absurd five-game hot streak (13 touchdowns, two interceptions, 58.0% DVOA).

The other interesting thing to note is that the record for the opposite side of this "stat" was also set this year. Houston ranked sixth in ALY and 11th in ASR but ranked 24th in run offense DVOA and 30th in pass offense DVOA, a combined difference of -37. That broke the record held by the 2001 Carolina Panthers. This list, unlike the other one, doesn't include a lot of recent teams except for this year's Texans and Lions.