National Football League

So far, Branden Albert is outplaying Eric Fisher, and not by a little

Published Sep. 15, 2014 6:13 p.m. ET

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The eyes said Eric Fisher won. Or at least, that the big lug won more than he lost.

The stats say it, too: Denver's DeMarcus Ware on Sunday was officially credited with a solo tackle, an assist, two quarterback hits and no sacks.

Mind you, he also threw Fisher around a bit in the last three minutes, racking up a strip-sack on Alex Smith that would've effectively ended the game with 1:54 to go at the Broncos' 37. Ultimately, the call was overturned -- ruled a forward pass and an incompletion on Smith's part -- and the parade moved on.

ProFootballFocus.com, though, did not.

On a slow-clap, nice-effort, non-Victory Monday on the Plains in which the Chiefs' offensive line was more or less praised for functioning as a cohesive unit after a week of playing the role of human turnstiles against Tennessee, PFF's verdicts were comparatively scathing. Center Rodney Hudson: +0.6. New right tackle Ryan Harris: -1.9. New left guard Mike McGlynn: -2.2. And Big Fish: -4.9 -- the lowest overall grade on the squad that day for any player, regardless of snaps -- and a -3.1 mark on pass protection.

"I thought he did a nice job," coach Andy Reid said Monday afternoon when asked about Fisher, his second-year left tackle.

"He'll be able to go back against a top-notch pass rusher in pass-rush situations, go back and analyze his performance and see where he can even do a better job there. But again, you're talking about one of the best pass rushers in this league (in Ware). So I thought he did a nice job. You didn't worry much about the left side there."

So somebody's full of it, which is fine. PFF doesn't claim to be the gospel or the final word; it's a tool, and a damn good one at that, at least for the layman. It's also either the best thing or the worst thing that ever happened to NFL linemen on both sides of the ball, depending on your perspective, because those are usually the numbers we're checking first. The mainstream stats for skill players don't always tell the whole story, but they sketch out a reasonable profile. There are no "sketch" stats for individual offensive linemen in the box score. Unit stats -- rushing success, sacks allowed, penalties -- yes, but individual numbers, no.

We bring this up because it's now Miami Week. That means Cairo Santos Week, if you prefer to spin forward, or Branden Albert Week, if you want to look back.

Albert was the Chiefs' left tackle from 2008-13, and he developed into a solid, if unspectacular option on the blind side, especially when it came to pass protection. B.A. also came off as a moderately unhappy camper here in the fall of 2012 and a fairly unhappy one -- indeed, one who often avoided the press in general -- in 2013 after he'd gotten slapped with the franchise tag the spring before.

And, looking back, you can sort of grasp his beef. Nor did it help matters that general manager John Dorsey confirmed trade offers for Albert that never got consummated -- the Dolphins were reportedly the top suitors -- and then went out and explicitly drafted the left tackle's replacement with the No. 1 overall pick, a selection that turned out to be Fisher.

It was a little awkward, but the Chiefs came out like gangbusters last fall, and old wounds, at least on the surface, got buried. Or tabled. Or something.

But business is business, and Albert, 29, walked out the door at the first available opportunity, inking a five-year deal that included $25 million in guaranteed dollars with Miami in March. Fisher moved from a right-tackle-in-training to his preferred left tackle slot, and out came the sunshine and rainbows.

Flip through our photo album of Chiefs cheerleaders.

Sunshine, rainbows and surgeries.

"Like you said, (it's) a comfortable feeling," Fisher said last week when asked about returning to the blind side, "and I'm happy to be back over there."

Happy, maybe. Healthy, probably not.

Offseason work to fix a bum shoulder and a sports hernia made it look as if the 6-foot-7 tackle spent August trying to fend off pass-rushers with only one good arm. Rest and time have improved things somewhat, and the Broncos tilt even felt like something of a corner turned. That is, until you saw this from PFF on Monday:

Fisher, Year 2 (2014), after two games: -7.4 overall, -5.4 on pass protection.

Albert, Year 2 (2009), after two games: -0.5 overall, -0.7 on pass protection.

Or this:

Albert, with the Dolphins, after two games: +8.1 overall, +4.2 on pass protection.

Oy vey.

"Is there room to improve? Absolutely," Reid said of his line. "And I'll tell you that about all of us -- we've got a ton of room to improve. They're playing a little bit better as a unit, and that's important at that position. I think every game they have an opportunity to play together, they'll improve in that area."

Fisher will, too, you'd think. At least, you'd hope.

Because whether he likes it or not, No. 72 is chained to Dorsey every bit as much as the Smith trade and the Smith extension, the kind of thing that will either accelerate the rebuilding process or sink it entirely. Consider: In the winter/spring of '13, some 19 months ago, Dorsey had to hit the ground running and found himself faced with two potentially big free agents on the table in wideout Dwayne Bowe and Albert.

Dorsey gave Bowe a five-year contract. Albert got tagged.

Ask 10 Chiefs fans which way they'd go if faced with that same choice now, and 11 out of 10 would've run the complete opposite direction. Hindsight may make geniuses of us all, but that doesn't make the now any less painful.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.

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