No love for grunts

I watched the Steelers-Chargers Sunday night game yesterday and I thought the offensive line won the game for the Steelers. Yet reading online recaps, you'd think all credit belonged to the newly promoted running back. The new guy played well, but rarely does a running back pile up stats when he's consistently seeing a solid wall of defenders. Likewise, a quarterback isn't making TD passes when he's busy fleeing from defensive lineman or blitzing linebackers. But when lineman get the job done, through game tape analysis, lineman get their due from both teammates and adversaries alike.

Thanks to a good color commentator like Cris Collinsworth, the average viewer is better exposed to the tactical intricacies that determine winners and losers. Unlike some other broadcasters (ie. Kornheiser), Collinsworth has a novel approach to watching games: watch everything but the ball. The vast majority of viewers watch the ball only, so they don't need a reminder of what just happened. Instead, viewers learn why a play happened because Collinsworth tells them the holes in the line, defensive coverage schemes, blitzing routes, line play, etc etc. And through this kind analysis, much like players through post game video tape study, lineman might get their due from viewers as well.