Statistically, Julius is having his best season. The things that have really come down are the 20+ yard runs and the TDs. I would say that this is the OL's fault, but we see that MBIII has a much better ypc, albeit situational, than JJ. Also, what we see MBIII accomplish is exceptional and punishing while we see Julius running into the pile alot. Julius also seems to lack consistency.
I wondered if this had more to do with the play calling. Since Romo has entered the picture, the Cowboys get pass happy at times. While game situations sometimes dictates this, there have also been times when the Cowboys are only down by 1 or 2 scores with plenty of time where we try to get quick scores instead of methodically mixing run/pass to drive the ball down the field. Julius needs about 20 carries to really get going. While the stats I found don't prove much, what I can say for sure is that he's only had about 11 attempts/game in the last 4 games and he's gotten less carries in recent games.
1st 5 games
JJ = 21.6 carries/game
Last 8 games
JJ = 15.75 carries/game
Run/Pass Ratio w/ Bledsoe = 1:1
33/20
38/31
20/38
38/33
30/37
tot= 159/159
Run/Pass ratio w/Romo = 1.13/1
W vs. Car - 36 pass / 35 runs (JJ 24)
L vs. Wash - 36 pass/ 27 runs (JJ 20)
W vs. Ari - 29 pass / 33 runs (JJ 15)
W vs. Indy - 23 pass / 31 runs (JJ 22)
W vs. TB - 29 pass / 34 runs (JJ 11)
W vs. NYG - 34 pass / 23 runs (JJ 11)
L vs. NO 33 pass / 12 runs (JJ 10)
W vs. ATL 29 pass / 24 runs (JJ 13)
tot = 249/219
I just went back and watched JJ's runs from his rookie year and second preseason. A couple of things really stuck out to me.
1) He followed Larry Allen ALOT...LA/Flozell combo made large holes between the left tackle and guard which Julius decisively exploded through. This is where a lot of JJ's big runs went. We saw JJ run through the same hole on the 77yd run vs. NO. As for Frank Gore, who is he following when he's gaining all those yards? LA...
2) He wasn't afraid to make cuts against the grain of the run. Now he only runs North-South and plows into a pile
3) JJ had way more cutting ability before. I think it's a combination of wanting to run the play as designed, being too bulked up, and hurt ankles. Before, it was several cuts and now it's one cut and explode into whatever pile he happens to cut into.
4) maybe JJ's vision really isn't that good. We run a lot more traps and pulls now that we have more mobile linemen. Those seem to require a RB to read a bit more than straight ahead mauling kind of blocking which we did more of before.
5) there's always the theory that the Jones brothers are good one year and not so good the next...? grasping at straws here. Well...I really can't prove that with stats...only selectively.
T. Jones
2002 ypc 3.7
2003 ypc 4.6
2004 ypc 4.0
2005 ypc 4.3
2006 ypc 4.1
I keep repeating myself, but how can a guy that looked so special in one season look so normal in another season?
