Who's winning—and losing—the trenches this NFL season?

The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

The Athletic

October 30, 20251 hr 9 min
General Sports

Who's winning—and losing—the trenches this NFL season?

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Episode Notes

Even a casual NFL fan can tell which quarterbacks, running backs and receivers are among the best in the league. It takes a more discerning eye to watch the tape and understand who's winning in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball. Brandon Thron brings just such an eye to this episode of The Athletic Football Show, where he and Robert Mays dive deep on the offensive line to identify which groups are lifting their teams this season.


Rundown (timestamps are approximate)

5:04 Indianapolis Colts OL at the heart of the team's success

17:16 Seattle Seahawks rebuilt OL exceeding expectations

22:38 New England Patriots helping to drive this surprisingly good offense

33:08 Minnesota Vikings OL crushed by injuries

35:32 Tennessee Titans OL the most disappointing in the league

40:40 OL coaches on the rise

44:03 Baltimore Ravens OL -- same pieces as last year, but much different results

49:30 The best OL this season at every spot

1:00:07 Pleasant surprises at every spot across the OL


Host: Robert Mays

With: Brandon Thorn

Executive Producer: Michael Beller

Video Producer: Katy Duffy

Audio Producer: Michael Beller

Social Producer: Scott Krinch


Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social

Follow Robert on X: @robertmays

Follow Brandon on X: @BrandonThornNFL

Find Brandon's work: https://trenchwarfare.substack.com/


Theme song: Haunted

Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs

Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC

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