PoetTree
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Glad you asked...
First off, this isn't about "hurting" anyone. It's simply about taking an in-depth look at their stats, contextually, in order to analyze what kind of player each of them is. It's guys like you who are turning this into a p!$$ing match and acting like I'm somehow trying to hurt Saquon Barkley. The FACT that my more microcosmic look at their stats diminishes Barkley's 2018 season only serves to prove the point I'm making, however anyone does or doesn't feel about it.
If you'll bother to read it, I admit in my original post that Barkley is the more "explosive" back. In fact, I call him probably the most explosive player in the NFL at present. So this idea that I'm just dogging on Saquon is nonsensical.
Rather, I'm making the argument less general in nature and more specific.
There's the "eye-test", and then there's a logical understanding of what we're seeing; and often, those two measurements don't lead to the same conclusion. The comparison between Zeke and Saquon is just such an occasion. Because if all you look at is test-numbers and the amazing things that Saquon, the athlete, can do on the field, then you might surmise that he's the better player. But if you analyze their production in a more intricate, consistent, contextual way --which is precisely what my original missive did-- then it paints a picture of Zeke's dominance in a way that the final tallies don't convey.
The purpose of my analysis was to demonstrate that while Barkley is more explosive, more prone to the big-play, Zeke is the more consistent, reliable, and effective rusher across the far broader number of carries; and frankly, my analysis proves that unequivocally. There really is no debate.
In a 2018 comparison between those two backs, the conclusion above is true.
Not only that, but it's been true throughout every single season they started for a collegiate or professional football team. As I said in my original post, I did earlier breakdowns (not posted here) that demonstrate this trend clearly at Penn State & Ohio State, and now for a single season in the NFL.
Yes, there are a number of circumstances, different players around them, and at best we're making educated speculations. But it's interesting to me that results like are found in my analysis are perfectly consistent no matter the circumstance, the team, or the level of competition.
Saquon Barkley, thus far in his adult football life, is a back who lives or dies off the big-play, while Elliott is a 4-quarter, every-down punisher who dominates all manner of competition, at all stages of the game, and for the entire year; and when you take even just one big-play away from Barkley, the remaining stats demonstrate that he was not nearly as effective on ALL the rest of his runs.
It genuinely startled me when I first undertook this endeavor, starting with his college stats before he was even drafted, at how downright poor some of his outings were aside from one big play in any given game.
It reminds me of Barry Sanders, Saquon's idol, who would often in his career go into the 4th-quarter of a game with a stat-line that looked something like:
17-carries for 54-yards @ 3.17 yards-per-carry
Then, in the 4th-quarter, Barry would hit a 65-yarder & finish with the stat-line:
18-carries for 119-yards @ 6.61 yards-per-carry... in a Lions loss.
--and no doubt, it would be a mega-impressive 65-yard run; career highlight-reel sort of material. The kind of run that makes spectators look back in awe of his sheer ability, and simultaneously ignore the fact that outside of that one run Barry had been bottled up all day, had not given the Lions meaningful production when it mattered, and they lost the game.
That kind of performance was all-too-common with Barry Sanders.
Does that mean Barry wasn't incredible? No, he was amazing. By my estimation, he was the greatest home-run threat from the backfield in NFL history. The Marvel Comics character 'Wolverine' has a tagline that goes:
"He's the best there is at what he does," and that's exactly how I think of Barry Sanders. If the game was on the line, 4th-&-80, and you needed a halfback from all NFL history to hand the ball to in that situation to win the game --there's literally no one I'd choose ahead of Barry Sanders.
But if you wanted to dominate a defense on the ground for 4-quarters, wear them out, pick up first-downs, score touchdowns, and win the game.. ?
There is no one I take for that task before Emmitt Smith.
Again, this quote from Jimmy Johnson about says it all:
"Barry Sanders is incredible with the things he can do with the ball in his hands. So if I'm a fan and I want to watch someone run the ball, I'd want to watch Barry Sanders. But if I'm a coach and I want to win championships, then I'd want Emmitt Smith."
In my opinion, the comparison between Zeke & Barkley is shaping up to be remarkably similar to Emmitt & Barry --and the analysis I offered communicates precisely that. Which is not about putting Saquon down or making excuses for Elliott, but rather merely to examine exactly who & what these players are at a fundamental level.
Saquon is ridiculous with the things he can do with the ball in his hands.
So was Barry Sanders.
And I still believe Emmitt is the #1 running-back in NFL history.
And I believe Ezekiel is the #1 running-back in the NFL today.
Thus far, Saquon has not proven himself, in college or the pros, to be a guy that his team can strap a feed-bag to & ride to victory. They scheme it to him. They get him the ball in space, due to his phenomenal athleticism and ability to make people look silly, and he will semi-regularly (though not every game) make a big-play for his team. But none of his teams have ever been powerhouses because of his contributions --unlike Elliott, who basically willed Ohio State to a championship by rushing for more than 200-yards in three straight games through a gauntlet of what many analysts believe were among the best college teams in recent memory.
No one really thought Ohio State was going to win that title.
No one could really see what Ezekiel was about to do.
--which is the kind of performance Saquon Barkley has never given a team.
Again, this is not to put Barkley down but merely to evaluate who he factually is as a player, beyond what I consider a lot of fan and/or media-hype.
He's incredible, don't get me wrong. Barry was incredible.
But while Barry was over there frustrating teammates and coaches at how often he went off-script to attempt the home-run play, Emmitt was on the field for Dallas driving the pile for 5 when it was blocked for 2, picking up first-downs (literally the most by a WIDE margin in NFL history), & powering a 3-time Super Bowl-winning offense that was a shell of itself without him.
Barry has the better highlight-reel.
Emmitt was the better, more important player.
And based on all the empirical data we have thus far, I feel similarly about Zeke and Saquon Barkley --who racked-up over 40% of his entire SEASON'S rushing production on only 16-carries, and averaged barely over 3 yards-per-carry on the other 94% of his touches.
Hey, if you can look at that data & I think I'm cuckoo for my opinion, then frankly, I don't think you've really thought it through...
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lmao,,,calm down& have some nice jello pudding ( there's chocolate & lemon up in the kitchen cabinet,as yer' obviously imbalanced in yer' casing-liner,,,
)
