Beast - for someone who claims to play chess well, you sure spell it funny. I was joking about the physical aspect of it. Yes, it's physical. It's a sport. But give me a quick passing team over a physical running team any day of the week (if the defenses are the same). I've said this many times. In order of importance:
1) D
2) an elite QB
An good RB is nice to have, but not necessary.
Now back to Ryan Grant - he's a top 10 RB in the NFL. Don't believe me? Check his stats. He consistently gets 1200+ yards and TDs. That's what matters.
As for 3rd and 5, if a Coach doesn't call passing on the majority of 3rd and 5s, he's a fool. No WRs open? Throw it to a RB and pray for 5+ yards.
Originally Posted by: zombieslayer
First off I said I used to be good at it. I've gotten pretty rusty at chess. And I've never been good at spelling or grammar but in that case, I was just thinking about something else =p~
I find it funny that the Packers are known for their offense and QBs but their two latest Super Bowl wins (arguable) the defenses carried them to them.
I think Grants stats don't tell the whole story... because he's a feature back while most teams stay away from the feature back because they prefer the dual roles of splitting carries. So he gets more yards than most guys because he gets more carries (and because it's good) ... sometimes a lot more carries.
That's why I wonder if yards per carry with a decent minimum number of carries (for a full season it would be something like 150 to 200 carries) would be a much better judge of ranking RBs or not... (of course blocking always comes into play as well...)
I'll look up the numbers from 2009... the chart below is from NFL.com of guys in order from their 09 averages or yards per carry (which is the stat on the very right)
I added only the guys that had both over 145 carries in 2009 and an average equal or better than Grant. If you look at the whole list Grant is tired in 15th. If you look at only the guys with 200 carries or more Grant is tied in 10th.
Name, Team, Position, # of Carries, Carries per game, Yards, average.
Jamaal Charles KC RB 190 12.7 1,120 5.9
Chris Johnson TEN RB 358 22.4 2,006 5.6
Pierre Thomas NO RB 147 10.5 793 5.4
Ray Rice BAL RB 254 15.9 1,339 5.3
DeAngelo Williams CAR RB 216 16.6 1,117 5.2
Jonathan Stewart CAR RB 221 13.8 1,133 5.1
Frank Gore SF RB 229 16.4 1,120 4.9
Michael Turner ATL RB 178 16.2 871 4.9
Ahmad Bradshaw NYG RB 163 10.9 778 4.8
Ricky Williams MIA RB 241 15.1 1,121 4.7
Rashard Mendenhall PIT RB 242 15.1 1,108 4.6
Fred Jackson BUF RB 237 14.8 1,062 4.5
Maurice Jones-Drew JAC RB 312 19.5 1,391 4.5
Beanie Wells ARI RB 176 11.0 793 4.5
Marion Barber DAL RB 214 14.3 932 4.4
Ronnie Brown MIA RB 147 16.3 648 4.4
Ryan Grant GB RB 282 17.6 1,253 4.4
Jerome Harrison CLE RB 194 13.9 862 4.4
Steven Jackson STL RB 324 21.6 1,416 4.4
Adrian Peterson MIN RB 314 19.6 1,383 4.4