[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Doomsday101

No one is confusing a damn thing. HC around the NFL will tell you the same thing. You want to think running does not matter? Well given the fact how often teams run the ball why bother? why run the ball at all if it does not matter? This is not flag football

Nothing in the statistics say that running the ball doesn't matter. They say that running it effectively doesn't make you more likely to win.

There are game situations where you very definitely have to run the ball. It's just that, other than short yardage/goal line situations, doing it better than your opponent isn't going to make you (significantly) more likely to win.

Yes, you want to call passing plays from 3rd and 4 rather than 3rd and 10. But a more effective passing offense can overcome the difference between 3rd and 6 and 3rd and 4 fairly readily. Or that differential is dwarfed by what happens when you cough up a ball in a passing situation. Those kinds of passing game inefficiencies are the things that cause you to lose.

Again, if running the ball well keeps you on the field and helps you avoid passing ineffectively, by all means do it. You'll still lose if the other guy can pass more effectively than you can, but if avoiding the negative passing plays works in your favor, it's the smart thing to do. But it's smart because it keeps you from making a passing game mistake, not because rushing better than the other guy correlates strongly with winning.