The Running Game and a Little History

[Blueblazes]

We are currently ranked 4th in the NFL in rushing and have a healthy 4.8 ypc average. Interestingly enough, even during the Edge years, the highest we ranked with him was 15th (2005) and our best year running the ball was the year Edge was out (2001) when we jumped to 7th. (All years' rankings starting in '99 were 19,16,7,26,19,19,15,16). Our average ypc those years was mediocre at best (with a high of 4.5 ypc the year Edge was out and a low of 3.6  and 3.7 which we had 2 seasons). Our running game is even more amazing this year, considering our O-line has been patchwork. They are terrible at pass blocking, but they're run blocking is close to historic. Just a point of note I thought was interesting after doing some research.

[throwing BBZ]

The blocking by the O-Line is still mediocre. IMO

Look at rushing attempts per game, the use of a FB & HB, who are the ones actually clearing out the holes, and having a running QB.

Check me, but i bet Andrew has about 25% of our rushing yards.

 

I`m liking it for sure tho, it is winning FB.

 

And Running good makes your D better. Tho don`t be fooled by the D`s stats that can be greatly enhanced by a successful ball control offense.

[Smonroe]

The blocking by the O-Line is still mediocre. IMO

Look at rushing attempts per game, the use of a FB & HB, who are the ones actually clearing out the holes, and having a running QB.

Check me, but i bet Andrew has about 25% of our rushing yards.

 

I`m liking it for sure tho, it is winning FB.

 

And Running good makes your D better. Tho don`t be fooled by the D`s stats that can be greatly enhanced by a successful ball control offense.

 

You're correct, Andrew has a little less than a quarter of our yards.  He's the fifth leading QB rusher.  The top 3 were no surprise to me, Vick, Pryor, and Kap.  The QB right ahead of Luck did surprise me a bit - Alex Smith.  I know he was a pretty good runner in college, but I sort of forgot about him running the ball as a pro.

 

There's not a lot we can take from that with pure statistics.  Pryor is running because he's their offense.  Vick runs (IMO) because he's not very good at picking out his second or third options and his line breaks down.  Kaps runs are usually designed, but that may be a thing of the past now that D's are catching on.  The common thread is that none of their teams are doing very well right now.

 

I haven't seen KC play, but they're doing something right over there. 

[Blueblazes]

The blocking by the O-Line is still mediocre. IMO

Look at rushing attempts per game, the use of a FB & HB, who are the ones actually clearing out the holes, and having a running QB.

Check me, but i bet Andrew has about 25% of our rushing yards.

 

I`m liking it for sure tho, it is winning FB.

 

And Running good makes your D better. Tho don`t be fooled by the D`s stats that can be greatly enhanced by a successful ball control offense.

Yes, I thought of that as well. Without Luck's ypc we are at 4.4, but that's still healthy. I must agree that our O-line still is a work in progress. But this is encouraging.  And the leader in yards per carry (but only has 10 carries) is everyone's favorite on this board...Donald Brown (averaging 5.5 ypc).

[Stephen]

That's because brown is the fastest. Speed kills.

[throwing BBZ]

He had a couple very nice holes to run through with someone to lead him (dropping bread crumbs) into them.

Now when he jumped over the tackler Sunday, now that was good stuff.

 

Based on past performance, when DonaldB comes in, a feeling of dread comes over me wondering how is he gonna screw up this time.

He has earned that. He did come to the Colts with a clean slate ready to be liked. 

[oldunclemark]

rankings after 3 weeks?