Analysis: Comparing the Rush Frequency of the 3 top NFL RBs 2018

Outlaw Heroes

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There should be little doubt that Barkley is as strong as Zeke, but he isn't as willing to be physical and dole out punishment as Zeke is. Zeke is a violent player, even when the ball isn't in his hands.

To be fair, I'm not saying this is a weakness of Barkley's, but that's probably why people compare him to Sanders.

They're trying to fit him into an archetype of a 'dancing RB' because he doesn't run people over.

He’s got ridiculous hips, like Barry did. What impresses so much about Barkley is his ability to make guys miss at his size. It draws comparison to Sanders. Of course he’s not at that level of elusiveness (nobody outside of Sayers has been). But then he’s a lot bigger. The dude is an absolute beast. The best combo of power (he may not run guys over but he breaks a ton of tackles), speed and quickness since Bo Jackson, in my opinion.
 

CalPolyTechnique

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Looking at their negative yards, it’s easy to see that people are correct in saying that Barkley dances more looking for the big play and ends up with more lost yards:

*Barkley had 17 carries for 66 yards in losses
*Gurley had 7 carries for 23 yards in losses
*Elliott had 7 carries for 21 yards in losses

Barkley had well over double the amount of runs for a loss than the other two, and he had over triple the amount of lost yards. Both Ezekiel and Todd tend to head upfield as soon as they take the handoff, which is more desirable IMO, even with fewer big plays as a result of going for the home ruin on each carry.

It also appears that Elliott has more long runs than Gurley, which is a little counterintuitive because of the offense both play in. Less than Barkley though, which is expected.

Barkley has phenomenal ability. He’s simply amazing with some of the things he can do... but as a RB for my team, I’d take Elliott. He has way fewer negative runs as well as more runs in the 10-20 yard area, even though he won’t have as many huge plays.

Throw in Ezekiel’s penchant for causing blunt force trauma to the defense and his league best pass protection and it seals the deal for me. Zeke makes fourth quarter cowards out of many DB’s and is the alpha dog of the physical Dallas offense. He loves the game, is tough as hell, and does everything I want my RB to do.

I’ll gladly sacrifice flash for his menace and chunk yardage.

To be clear though, I think Barkley is very, VERY good. I’d take him over Gurley 10 out of 10 times.

There’s no reason to interpret that stat to mean Barkley is dancing in the backfield. Defensive lines penetrate gaps and blow up run plays. It’s happened to Zeke and there’s no reason think it doesn’t happen to Barkley who has a worse offensive line.
 

AsthmaField

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There’s no reason to interpret that stat to mean Barkley is dancing in the backfield. Defensive lines penetrate gaps and blow up run plays. It’s happened to Zeke and there’s no reason think it doesn’t happen to Barkley who has a worse offensive line.
Well I also watched him play a lot this year and see that he, like Barry Sanders, also tries to hit the homerun a lot.

But interpret it however you like.
 

Crown Royal

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Looking at their negative yards, it’s easy to see that people are correct in saying that Barkley dances more looking for the big play and ends up with more lost yards:

*Barkley had 17 carries for 66 yards in losses
*Gurley had 7 carries for 23 yards in losses
*Elliott had 7 carries for 21 yards in losses

Barkley had well over double the amount of runs for a loss than the other two, and he had over triple the amount of lost yards. Both Ezekiel and Todd tend to head upfield as soon as they take the handoff, which is more desirable IMO, even with fewer big plays as a result of going for the home ruin on each carry.

It also appears that Elliott has more long runs than Gurley, which is a little counterintuitive because of the offense both play in. Less than Barkley though, which is expected.

Barkley has phenomenal ability. He’s simply amazing with some of the things he can do... but as a RB for my team, I’d take Elliott. He has way fewer negative runs as well as more runs in the 10-20 yard area, even though he won’t have as many huge plays.

Throw in Ezekiel’s penchant for causing blunt force trauma to the defense and his league best pass protection and it seals the deal for me. Zeke makes fourth quarter cowards out of many DB’s and is the alpha dog of the physical Dallas offense. He loves the game, is tough as hell, and does everything I want my RB to do.

I’ll gladly sacrifice flash for his menace and chunk yardage.

To be clear though, I think Barkley is very, VERY good. I’d take him over Gurley 10 out of 10 times.
Great analysis. Ultimately it’s just a matter of taste - either are great RBs and you can win off of them. It isn’t as though Barkley is dancing around and losing yards on a third of his plays - he’s still quality.
 

beware_d-ware

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Barkley clearly has the talent to house long runs, but his 5 runs over 50 yards while Gurley and Zeke combined for 0 on ~550 carries stands out as an obvious candidate for regression.
 

percyhoward

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Saw that chart earlier while I was getting this and trying to find behind the line contact. Convinced me that Gurley did in fact deserve the first team all pro nod. Monster year.
Difference was all red zone.

Success rate -- runs inside opp 10-yd line
Gurley 56% (20 of 36)
Elliott 33% (7 of 21)

Run/pass ratio inside opp 10-yd line
Rams 50.5% run 49.5% pass
Cowboys 51.4% run 48.6% pass
 

DuceizBak

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I've made the same comparison of Emmitt/Zeke vs Sanders/Barkley.

In retrospect with today's knowledge of history if Jimmy had the choice between Emmitt and Sanders he would pick Emmitt every time.

Emmitt was a great blocker and great in short yardage. Sanders was often out of the game on short yardage.

Many studies have concluded that 1 loss of a few yards by a RB offsets at least 1 big gain in regards to the probability of winning. That's even more significant with the conservative ball control offenses used by the Aikman and Dak offenses.

Barry Sanders was one of the most exciting players to watch that I've seen; however, if winning Super Bowls is the goal, then Emmitt is one of if not the best ever from that perspective

Saquon Barkley is a terrific player and fun to watch. His acceleration is as good as it gets for active NFL players, IMO; however, Zeke is a terrific blocker and rarely has lost yards. Zeke has run over some LBs which I don't recall seeing from Barkley.

On a side note, the Giants OL is terrible.

I thinks the decline of Eli is due to the OLine. Eli looks about the same as always to me...not great, but good enough to win Super Bowls.

If I were a Giants fan, I would want them to invest in OLinemen in the draft and free agency while keeping Dumb-Face at QB.

Second side note:
The Cowboys should continue drafting OLinemen with premium picks regardless of their current investment.

I prefer an OT over TE in the 2nd round of 2019...
great analysis, but I don't think the giants run blocking is terrible, at all. I bet next year they will be a top 10 unit. I was watching a lot of his plays and he has glaring holes often. I think people confuse pass blocking and run blocking(not you, i know you know your stuff)
It's also a weird measuring stick that Dallas players get measured by. Nobody cares that other Hof players have had good to great offensive lines.
 

Primetime42

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Don't see the Barkley and Barry Sanders comps.
I get that they both are home-run hitters--with sanders being one the best ever--But Barkley is an incredibly powerful back who does not dance behind the line of scrimmage as much.
I bet Barkley is as strong as Zeke.
Barry Sanders squatted 600 lbs
 

DFWJC

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I think we know the Giants oline is weak too....although the rookie Hernandez appears to bea nice addition
 

DFWJC

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Barry Sanders squatted 600 lbs
I think everyone knows of those legendarily monster legs. And especially short ones like that...makes for huge squat numbers.
Sanders could drag people if he had too...and did on occassion. He avoided it more than some because he was so talented, not because he was afraid.
 
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