The Right Players For The Offense

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by offiss

How many yards per carry? If you run a guy enough times he could eventually get 2000yds if he was capable of holding up. What's more important for an everydown running back, yds. per carry, or total yds? I say no question yds per carry, and if I am right about that then CP was the worst everydown back in the NFL that year, theres no getting around it. Just because Gibbs choose to run him into the ground to legitamize the signing is meaningless as far as I am concerned. And by the way Betts is averging more YDS per carry this year than Portis, and Betts comes in to get the tough yards.
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I totally disagree on the YPC vs. total yards argument. If YPC were so much more valuable, Barry Sanders would have 3 Super Bowl rings. I'll take a back like Emmitt Smith, or Portis for that matter, who gets the tough yards instead of dancing in the backfield for a loss. John Riggins is another classic example of a runner who ground out tough first downs. Few people realize that Barry Sanders ALWAYS led the league in negative yardage rushes, often putting his teams in long yardage situations. Detroit's inconsistency sustaining drives was directly related to being forced to pass. And don't tell me about Sanders' lame O-line - he had Lomas Brown and Kevin Glover, both Pro Bowlers. But enough of that tangent.

Portis is the right back for this offense, and once the O-line does a better job, including pass protection to allow Brunell to get the ball downfield, Portis will see fewer "8 in the box" schemes. And BTW, his 4.3 YPC average last year was more than respectable.