[washingtonismoney]

It would seem I am in a distinct minority, but I think a primary reason for some of the troubles is the radical shifts we have seen, particularly this year away from the run-first power game. The backs themselves are still averaging decent numbers per carry, but their carries are way down.

The primary RBs
2011 - 5.55 yds/carry; 32.8 carries/gm
2012 - 5.04 yds/carry; 29.2 carries/gm
2013 - 5.26 yds/carry; 32.0 carries/gm
2014 - 5.43 yds/carry; 18.7 carries/gm

I'm not sure the relationship is clear -- I have a strong suspicion that efficiency would decrease as carries increase. It seems to me a lot of these runs are against-the-grain, when the defense doesn't quite expect it. Running at 2011-13 volume requires you to run when the defense knows it's coming.

FWIW, Football Outsider's S&P+ metric -- which tries to measure success rates and explosiveness -- ranks our run offense (101st) as much worse than our passing offense (53rd).

[washingtonismoney]

It would seem I am in a distinct minority, but I think a primary reason for some of the troubles is the radical shifts we have seen, particularly this year away from the run-first power game. The backs themselves are still averaging decent numbers per carry, but their carries are way down.

The primary RBs
2011 - 5.55 yds/carry; 32.8 carries/gm
2012 - 5.04 yds/carry; 29.2 carries/gm
2013 - 5.26 yds/carry; 32.0 carries/gm
2014 - 5.43 yds/carry; 18.7 carries/gm

I'm not sure the relationship is clear -- I have a strong suspicion that efficiency would decrease as carries increase. It seems to me a lot of these runs are against-the-grain, when the defense doesn't quite expect it. Running at 2011-13 volume requires you to run when the defense knows it's coming.

FWIW, Football Outsider's S&P+ metric -- which tries to measure success rates and explosiveness -- ranks our run offense (101st) as much worse than our passing offense (53rd).