By: Kyle Frank

Kyle Frank — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:18:44 +0000

Thank you for compiling this. I wonder what statistical analysis would show if you compared the starting RB ypa to the other RB’s ypa on the same team, basically how much better they are then the backup.

By: Tim Truemper

Tim Truemper — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 18:10:10 +0000

One way to consider the points made about Jim Brown being in what seemed like a primary “one-back” back situation vs the multi-back systems that seemed to exist for other NFL teams of that era is too compare what the differential is between the # 1 and #2 runners were for other teams. During Jim Brown’s career, for 7 of the 9 seasons the 2nd back carried the ball > 100 times vs Brown > 250 (about a 1: 2.5 ratio). The 2nd back avg. during those 7 years was 500 yards with a peak of 743 by Bobby Mitchell. Of those 7 seasons it was either Bobby Mitchell (before he was moved to WR) or Ernie Green (a capable runner/blocker) as the 2nd leading rusher. I did not take the time to do this but a similar situation may exist for the Packers of the 1960’s in which Jim Taylor got the bulk of the carries and that Hornung was a relative distant second. When people look at the year to year rushing statistics for the Packers of the Lombardi era, they may be somewhat surprised as two how much the ball was carried by Taylor, and how it was not entirely a balanced two-back attack. I think Mike Carlson has a good point too such as using the two back set for the NY Giants. But even then I bet Alex Webster had a preponderance of carries relative to whomever was # 2 (such as Mel Triplett for a handful of seasons).

Comments on: Examining the variation in rushing throughout NFL history

By: Kyle Frank

By: Tim Truemper