CowboyRoy
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Time for Cowboys to face facts: Tony Pollard is their best running back, and here's why the debate is over
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...unning-back-and-heres-why-the-debate-is-over/
You can explain most running back production by looking at the quality of blocking he gets, but according to just about any measurement of production that is actually within the back's control, he's a top-5 to top-10 player at the position. Yards per carry? Pollard's 6.03 rank second among the 50 backs with 50-plus carries this season. (The only one ahead of him is Rashaad Penny, who hasn't played since Week 5.) Success rate? His 42.7% mark ranks 10th, according to Tru Media. Avoiding negative runs? Pollard's been stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage just 12.6% of the time, 10th-best among that group. Explosive gains? His 12.6% explosive-carry rate ranks fifth. Yards after contact? His 4.49 per-carry average is best in the league by a long shot. (And nearly half a yard more per carry than Elliott averages overall. Sheesh.) Yards gained on first-down runs? He's at 5.4 per carry, ninth-best. Yards gained against stacked boxes? Also 5.4 per carry, which is fourth-best. Short-yardage conversion rate? The league average is 66.3%, but Pollard has converted 75% of the time. All this despite a yards before contact per carry average of just 1.53, which ranks 18th among the same group of players.