Giants' Running Backs

[coggs]

How can you say this is supported when NFL offenses are continually looking towards chunk yardage plays? There's a reason this is happening: chunk plays correlate very highly with scoring drives, which correlates with winning. I'm not aware of anything that suggests having a "consistent" running attack has intrinsic value if it does not directly lead to points. There may be extrinsic factors that are benefitted from consistency (consistent pressure on the defense), but we know there are extrinsic factors that chunk plays also benefit (defense scared to get beat deep). So I'm not sure you can really say one is "better" than the other in the abstract--the goal is to score (and prevent the other team from scoring) points.

Because the all the short runs leads to more 3 and outs or drive killing series.  That leads to your d on the field more often.  The feast or famine is not going to work.  The 80 yard TD run is great IF it is in addition to runs that allow your offense to sustain drives and stay on the field.  Now, if the RB has four 80 yard runs?  Yeah, I will take that, too!  And, by "chunk" plays, they are not talking about one huge play  amongst a bunch of duds.  It is the 10-15+ yard play thrown in with what is mostly going to be 4-6 yarders. 

[bamagiantfan]

I can't remember the Bill Parcells quote about OJ Anderson. Someone in the press asked Parcells why Anderson and ihis 3.5 yards per carry was starting over other guys averaging 4 yards per carry. He said something to the affect of, "those guys average 4 yards a carry. Andersen gets almost 4 yards every carry. Do you understand the difference?"

[katkavage]

Running back by committee. It's about time.

[Bob In PA]

Gray had the big TD run but had a couple of nice receiving plays

DB: BY FAR the most exciting play for me last night was a perfect touch pass by DeVito (dropping it in the bucket to Gray on 3rd down deep in his own territory).

When was the last time we saw such a play connect?

Seriously, can anyone remember when that happened last to the Giants? 

Bob

[Gmo11]

I mean I guess if you ignore a player's best plays they look worse... But what else would you expect?

It was the number 1 complaint of Barkley too!  If you don't count his best plays he was awful!  Awful I say!

[Philosophers]

Joe,

That's true of Miller for sure, although even on his short runs I thought he looked spry and feisty.

Gray had the big TD run but had a couple of nice receiving plays and generally looked good.

Tracey looked good on a couple of short runs.

I think you make a valid point but I wouldn't say it detracts from their overall performances.

What I also don't want to gloss over is how well the line blocked. The line looked well-coached and cohesive in this game. That directly contributed to the RB performances.

Jeff - thanks for the additional color.  I did not get to see the game so did not see the other runs.  Just saw stats and saw some runs that looked if you deducted might be a concern.

[AZGiantFan]

I think median YPC would a useful stat for RBs.

[H-Town G-Fan]

I think median YPC would a useful stat for RBs.

I believe you want a standard deviation so you can see the range in which their "average" run occurs. I'm actually surprised you can't find it more easily online (because it's a simple calculation). But you need every rush and it's yardage to calculate, and most box scores just aggregate.