1,515

He's nothing without that Offensive line. Most nfl backs would have had big numbers behind that line.

 

I agree the line is improved, but a huge amount of his yards came from pure effort / vision. The hole wasn't where it should've been, and he made a play.

 

Every back in the nfl is being paid to play because they can do those very things. He was in the defensive backfield before he got touched on more runs than any back in the league.

He is a good back with a great run blocking line, not a great back with an average line. It's no coincidence you have two backs tearing it up. Same reason the Patriots had 4 backs running well all year. They had a practice squad back start and run for 100 one game.

 

Really? That's a cool stat. Where'd you find it?

 

Williams and Stewart both do a solid job of fighting off a guy in a bit of space. They're going to get stuffed some - both because of scheme, and because teams run blitz the hell out of us, which is a contributing factor to us busting runs, too.

The argument of whether it's the team talent or it's the backs' talent is another one of these 'it's this fault that this player is better/worse' or 'this player/unit only looks good because of this player/unit' arguments. It's a team game.

Our team finished, despite the hystery of saying so earlier in the year, #1 in power running per footballoutsiders. That's a line stat. But they rated our RB yards higher than line yards, partially because we do miss the blitzers (which is a line responsibility) and partially because the backs do create.

 

Sure a lot of backs would have done well behind the OL, which is why I was against spending a 1st on one. But I don't believe a whole lot out there go for 1515, don't miss time, and don't put the ball on the ground even one time. DW got a lot of yards on his own.

 

The thing I most love watching Williams run is the way he cuts runs inside before taking them outside. I hate seeing backs always trying to hit the corner thinking once he does it he's going for a TD only to get strung out until help arrives. Williams instead cuts runs inside looking for seven more yards instead of forty more. Sometimes he does bust those for big gains but I'll take the six or seven every single time.

 

I don't think our run blocking has been that great, honestly. Solid, certainly, but nothing exceptional.

 

Agree. The improvement had to happen. Neither of our RBs can do anything when the OL gets stuffed. (As is the case with almost every RB.) On some of the runs, they have really outstanding holes. On many, they have an adequate hole, and just make defenders miss. You hear "shoddy tackling." No. Great run. The defender launches and the RB is somewhere different. The defender is left to try an arm tackle, with his weight going the wrong direction.

 

The line played better but how about having runners who hit the fucking hole. DeShaun never hit the hole hard rather danced a little on his way to it