Twitter: Most rushing yards per attempt

[CowboysExchange]

I was pretty fortunate to get to see Earl Campbell play every snap of his pro career w the oilers.

He's the only RB I've ever seen that defenses could actually rip a jersey off of him and be running for a td with just pads. I've seen that 5-6 times and zero times from any other rb. Earl was the toughest RB I've ever seen play.

 

[Batman1980]

There is a lot of guys who are built like him who are very good backs.

He’s bigger than Jamaal Charles, Chris Johnson, and Christian McCaffrey.

Cowboys fans are just used to a certain style of runner but there are a ton of guys like Pollard who have had success in this league.

He can catch like a wideout, run at a high level inside and outside the tackles, and he’s average at worst as a blocker.

Yeah he's better than Zeke. I would actually let him be the main guy for awhile and let Zeke just be used in goal-line and short yardage situations. Pollard is the better player at this point in time.

 

[RonnieT24]

But Zeke is supposed to be lighting the world on fire and he isn’t. Yes, I know all the supposed reasons as to why it isn’t Zeke’s fault…stacked boxes, game plans, play calling, Dak sucks

The Cleveland Browns are very close right now.

That said, ya’lls problem is you’d still prefer an inefficient Zeke over a more productive one. Why? I haven’t a clue. There is always some reason Zeke isn’t a beast and some reason he is being outperformed and some of you find that acceptable. Oh, and in Cleveland, their bell cow is highly efficient. Browns fans don’t need to make excuses for him .

No Zeke is NOT supposed to be lighting the world on fire.. He's playing at MAYBE 75% with that balky knee. He's also being asked to run a very limited play sheet.. A gap run.. block for five plays then B gap run.. We can all see that Pollard is more productive on a per carry basis and frankly yours truly has stated for over two years that the offense we are now running is better suited for Pollard than it is for Zeke.. But all you Zeke haters seem to wanna hear is that "Zeke sucks and should be cut." Anything else doesn't even seem to register. The Cowboys changed to a style of offense that suits their backup better than their starter. That's not Zeke's fault.. That's the Cowboys fault. If they want to get their money's worth they will have to go back to the smash mouth offense.. If they knew they were going to play this style they never should have signed Zeke.. period. Nobody finds what is happening with Zeke to be "acceptable." But if we watch games we can see with our own eyes that he is asked to do things that Pollard is not.. He's simply not going to keep a ypc over 5 running almost exclusively up the gut. Neither would Pollard or anybody else. The Browns? The 7-7 Browns? Even though their line opens holes our backs would kill for suffice it to say whatever they're doing isn't really working all that well for them. I tend not to want to emulate what lesser teams are doing. But that's just me.. What's their excuse for losing?

By the way.. I would bet a lotta money that if you were to put Zeke in that Browns lineup he'd be killin it too. Because they wouldn't run him into the teeth of the defense with no blocking 15 times a game and ask him to blitz pickup another 40 times..

 

[john van brocklin]

It won't be too surprising if Zeke is asked to take a cut in his salary when Pollard comes up for his next contract. Zeke isn't quite the dynamic RB that he was as a rookie for some time now. If another RB shows the promise to be the stud RB that Zeke was back then, it might be time to look for another stud to be our all-purpose work horse. Every dog has his day and the same holds true for #1 RBs. We'll see about it when the 2022 draft rolls around. A mid-round pick might be a likely point to attend to that.

Agree 100%

 

[RonnieT24]

Barry Sanders didn't have 3 great wrs a great oline or good teams either. Neither did Earl Campbell. They were basically playing 11 against 1 every week and still led the league in rushing every year. Either woulda left emmitt in the dust statswise if they played on his teams. They had to create their own holes so all the negative plays weren't their fault. It was a team or Oline problem

Dude Barry Sanders had seasons in Detroit where they had two thousand yard receivers and a third who was damn close. And your memory is fogged over on them leading the league in rushing every year.. Campbell led the league three times and Barry and Emmitt both led it four times. And you will never get any credibility claiming guys were playing 11 against 1. That's just softhead talk. Football is a team game.. Success in predicated on a good team as is failure.. Whining about "so and so coulda woulda shoulda" is just childish.

 

[RonnieT24]

Zeke should take note.

No argument here.. But until everything is wrapped up playoff wise I don't think it's going to happen..

 

[Aviano90]

i’m not advocating for a bell cow, i’m just saying having multiple backs doesn’t mean they’ll all perform well. obviously having several hitting over 5 ypc would before he got injured and then treated Fournette the same way. Chiefs used Damien Williams that way in the playoffs and super bowl, eagles and blount, broncos and cj miller etc etc


other than NE though recently the bucs treated Ronald Jones as a bell cow before he

Of course they may not all perform well. But the main argument for sticking with Zeke seems to be the ability carry the ball 25 times. Essentially valuing quantity over quality. We don’t need a back running that often. We aren’t even doing it anymore.

 

[Blackrain]

Yes, I know that individual accomplishments are meaningless without meeting team goals.

With that said,

Is it still possible to have two different thousand yard backs this season?

Zeke needs 46 yards a game.

Pollard needs 108 yards a game.

And yes, this accomplishment is greatly diluted by the number of game even when it went from 14 games to 16.

Still, two different thousand yard backs is an extreme rarity. I'm sure there are others but the one I can take from memory is Larry Czonka and Mercury Morris in 1972 for the Dolphins.

Pollard would have to have a signature game of 170 to 200 yards in one of the three last games to have a chance.

Yep and Jim Kiick their 3rd RB had 521 yrds in a 14 games season .

 

[RonnieT24]

Of course they may not all perform well. But the main argument for sticking with Zeke seems to be the ability carry the ball 25 times. Essentially valuing quantity over quality. We don’t need a back running that often. We aren’t even doing it anymore.

I disagree.. Zeke has only gotten to 20 carries once all season. Carrying it 25 times does not seem to be part of the grand plan and frankly I have not even seen anyone advocating for it. It's clear to me that the reason Zeke has not been sat down is that our line is compromised and we need him to keep our QB from getting broken in half. It has nothing to do with carrying it 25 times.

 

[Aviano90]

I disagree.. Zeke has only gotten to 20 carries once all season. Carrying it 25 times does not seem to be part of the grand plan and frankly I have not even seen anyone advocating for it. It's clear to me that the reason Zeke has not been sat down is that our line is compromised and we need him to keep our QB from getting broken in half. It has nothing to do with carrying it 25 times.

Here are some posts talking about amount of carries…

It really is unfortunate that both guys are injured. I would have liked to see if Pollard could handle 25-30 carries. Now the foot injury just makes me nervous.

and a reply to that post commenting on # of rushes Pollard can handle.

He's a scatback with a bit of pop to him, not built to handle more than 10-15 touches a game.

Another comment about # of carries.

I think Pollard’s college and pro coaches would like to see him carry the ball 25-30 times a game, but he has never been able to carry that kind of workload. He is a very effective change of pace RB that can produce good good yardage if he is used correctly. I don’t see the fascination with trying to make him into something that he is not.

 

[Batman1980]

I disagree.. Zeke has only gotten to 20 carries once all season. Carrying it 25 times does not seem to be part of the grand plan and frankly I have not even seen anyone advocating for it. It's clear to me that the reason Zeke has not been sat down is that our line is compromised and we need him to keep our QB from getting broken in half. It has nothing to do with carrying it 25 times.

 

[Proof]

Of course they may not all perform well. But the main argument for sticking with Zeke seems to be the ability carry the ball 25 times. Essentially valuing quantity over quality. We don’t need a back running that often. We aren’t even doing it anymore.

i think at this point it’s more that featuring pollard more will lessen his effectiveness. i don’t think we have a choice given as hobbled as zeke is currently. at full strength though i think he’s absolutely a better volume back and should handle a bigger share of the splits

 

[G2]

But Zeke is supposed to be lighting the world on fire and he isn’t. Yes, I know all the supposed reasons as to why it isn’t Zeke’s fault…stacked boxes, game plans, play calling, Dak sucks

Elliott is injured, obviously. I think you have me confused with someone else. I didn't use any of the excuses you assumed. I also didn't say Elliott was lighting the world on fire. Another assumption. I like both RBs, I don't play favorites and don't care who starts or gets the snaps.

 

[G2]

No Zeke is NOT supposed to be lighting the world on fire.. He's playing at MAYBE 75% with that balky knee. He's also being asked to run a very limited play sheet.. A gap run.. block for five plays then B gap run.. We can all see that Pollard is more productive on a per carry basis and frankly yours truly has stated for over two years that the offense we are now running is better suited for Pollard than it is for Zeke.. But all you Zeke haters seem to wanna hear is that "Zeke sucks and should be cut." Anything else doesn't even seem to register. The Cowboys changed to a style of offense that suits their backup better than their starter. That's not Zeke's fault.. That's the Cowboys fault. If they want to get their money's worth they will have to go back to the smash mouth offense.. If they knew they were going to play this style they never should have signed Zeke.. period. Nobody finds what is happening with Zeke to be "acceptable." But if we watch games we can see with our own eyes that he is asked to do things that Pollard is not.. He's simply not going to keep a ypc over 5 running almost exclusively up the gut. Neither would Pollard or anybody else. The Browns? The 7-7 Browns? Even though their line opens holes our backs would kill for suffice it to say whatever they're doing isn't really working all that well for them. I tend not to want to emulate what lesser teams are doing. But that's just me.. What's their excuse for losing?

By the way.. I would bet a lotta money that if you were to put Zeke in that Browns lineup he'd be killin it too. Because they wouldn't run him into the teeth of the defense with no blocking 15 times a game and ask him to blitz pickup another 40 times..

75% is being nice.

 

[Batman1980]

Elliott blew his load in the first month of the season and has been running on fumes ever since.

 

[Aviano90]

No Zeke is NOT supposed to be lighting the world on fire.. He's playing at MAYBE 75% with that balky knee. He's also being asked to run a very limited play sheet.. A gap run.. block for five plays then B gap run.. We can all see that Pollard is more productive on a per carry basis and frankly yours truly has stated for over two years that the offense we are now running is better suited for Pollard than it is for Zeke.. But all you Zeke haters seem to wanna hear is that "Zeke sucks and should be cut." Anything else doesn't even seem to register. The Cowboys changed to a style of offense that suits their backup better than their starter. That's not Zeke's fault.. That's the Cowboys fault. If they want to get their money's worth they will have to go back to the smash mouth offense.. If they knew they were going to play this style they never should have signed Zeke.. period. Nobody finds what is happening with Zeke to be "acceptable." But if we watch games we can see with our own eyes that he is asked to do things that Pollard is not.. He's simply not going to keep a ypc over 5 running almost exclusively up the gut. Neither would Pollard or anybody else. The Browns? The 7-7 Browns? Even though their line opens holes our backs would kill for suffice it to say whatever they're doing isn't really working all that well for them. I tend not to want to emulate what lesser teams are doing. But that's just me.. What's their excuse for losing?

By the way.. I would bet a lotta money that if you were to put Zeke in that Browns lineup he'd be killin it too. Because they wouldn't run him into the teeth of the defense with no blocking 15 times a game and ask him to blitz pickup another 40 times..

This has been a Zeke debate since 2017 when he had a clear drop off from 2017, and I am talking about his talent, not his suspension impacting his overall totals. He dropped from 5.1 to 4.1 ypc in one year. He peaked as a rookie. The dude was supposed to be generational and we are now in year 2 of debating whether the back up should be playing more. That simple fact alone should be an absolute embarrassment to Zeke.

What’s the Browns reason for losing? Don’t care to analyze them. I do know that Zeke hasn’t won Jack Squat here yet either. It’s not like Zeke is a 3 time SB champion like in the Smith - Sanders arguement.

And now we move into the phase where if Zeke were put in a perfect situation he could
do more. Well, I would bet a lot of money if you put Chubb on our team, he would be killing it. We would be unstoppable with Chubb.

 

[Batman1980]

This has been a Zeke debate since 2017 when he had a clear drop off from 2017, and I am talking about his talent, not his suspension impacting his overall totals. He dropped from 5.1 to 4.1 ypc in one year. He peaked as a rookie. The dude was supposed to be generational and we are now in year 2 of debating whether the back up should be playing more. That simple fact alone should be an absolute embarrassment to Zeke.

What’s the Browns reason for losing? Don’t care to analyze them. I do know that Zeke hasn’t won Jack Squat here yet either. It’s not like Zeke is a 3 time SB champion like in the Smith - Sanders arguement.

And now we move into the phase where if Zeke were put in a perfect situation he could
do more. Well, I would bet a lot of money if you put Chubb on our team, he would be killing it. We would be unstoppable with Chubb.

Just imagine this offense with Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Derrick Henry.

 

[Aviano90]

Just imagine this offense with Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Derrick Henry.

I know. Would probably look like 2016 when Zeke was that good.

 

[plasticman]

Some don't understand that. Maybe they are not old enough to remember Troy Hambrick, who averaged 5.1 per carry Emmitt's last year here, was given the lead role and averaged 3.5.

Maybe Pollard would fare better, but there are a lot of things that come with being the lead back that make it tougher. Not being as fresh, being on the field in short-yardage situations, wear and tear (injury). The role he plays here might be the best fit for him. Maybe it's not, but it's really hard to say without seeing him being that lead back.

The absolute worse was Joseph Randle. He averaged 6.7 yards a carry backing up the leading rusher in the league that year, not to mention the new Cowboys record holder for most rushing yards in a season.

When Murray left after that season, Randle even talked Smack about Murray's efforts.

And the next season? Randle averaged 2.5 yards a carry after the 1st quarter.

 

[gimmesix]

Pollard would be good as a starter if used similar to Karma (Saints) or Aaron Jones (GB).
- Kamara never has more had than 200 rushing attempts per season.
- Aaron Jones is has never had more than 236 rushing attempts in a season and is normally below 200.

Pair Pollard up with a hammer like AJ Dillon is paired with Aaron Jones in GB.

With the Cowboys it's the opposite. The starter is the battering ram and Pollard is the big play RB.

I'm tending to lean that way after 2022 if both backs continue to perform similar to what they have this year. Shoot for a power back in the third or fourth round next year so we can find out if we've got a capable replacement, then cut Elliott after next season and pay Pollard. Of course, a lot can change before then.