Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 14, 2019 1:13 pm
Mothman wrote: ↑Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:26 am
Because it's an average, what it really says is they were good enough to do that in
some games and that averaged out to those numbers. Cook averaged less than 4 ypc in more than half of his games this year (less than 3 in several of them).
So Melvin Gordon and Ezekiel Elliott could only do it in
some games too? Alvin Kamara? Etc. Because they averaged the right about the same YPC that Cook did. Like I said, Arizona was a team that TRULY couldnt run block. DJ averaged 3.6 YPC. That's a top 5 RB in the NFL averaging under 3.6 YPC. That is a sure sign of an OL unable to run block. If you're averaging 4.6 YPC, your OL can run block
decent enough to run way more than ~350 times on the year. Cook had the 19th best YPC in the NFL for RBs. But averaged WAY less carries per game than some of them did because of our OC. In the 18 games Zeke played in this year, he carried the ball 16 or more times in 16 of those 18 games. Dalvin Cook carried the ball more than 16 times in 1 of the 11 games he played (and the one he did, he went for 136 yards, a career high). Ezekiel Elliott averaged 4.7 YPC on the year. Dalvin Cook averaged 4.6. Sorry but I cant bring myself to say that this OL wasnt good at run blocking. They werent good, but they certainly werent "bad". It was enough to manage is my point.
An average is more telling the more data points you have, in this case, number of carries. It's easier to skew with less carries because you have more outliers. Comparing a workhorse like Zeke to Cook is tough because Zeke is going to have a more accurate distribution. CJ Anderson's YPC looks great right now but it would surely fall over a full season of carries. I don't think anyone here thinks he's a 6 YPC runner.
This is what Stefanski and our OL did against the Bears:
Drive 1: We needed TWO yards and had two plays to do so, we got zero.
2nd & 2 at MIN 33
(14:26 - 1st) D.Cook right tackle to MIN 34 for 1 yard (L.Floyd).
3rd & 1 at MIN 34
(13:41 - 1st) L.Murray right guard to MIN 33 for -1 yards (A.Hicks)
Drive 2: Here you see a little more momentum until Murray gets stuffed behind the line resulting in a 3rd and 5.
1st & 10 at MIN 40
(5:58 - 1st) (Shotgun) D.Cook right end to MIN 42 for 2 yards (L.Floyd).
2nd & 10 at CHI 38
(4:29 - 1st) (Shotgun) D.Cook left end to CHI 31 for 7 yards (B.Nichols).
3rd & 3 at CHI 31
(3:42 - 1st) (Shotgun) D.Cook right end to CHI 25 for 6 yards (K.Fuller).
1st & 10 at CHI 25
(2:57 - 1st) L.Murray right tackle to CHI 19 for 6 yards (R.Smith).
2nd & 4 at CHI 19
(2:15 - 1st) L.Murray right tackle to CHI 20 for -1 yards (A.Hicks).
Drive 3: One run for one yard
2nd & 10 at MIN 32
(14:07 - 2nd) L.Murray right end to MIN 33 for 1 yard (R.Smith).
Drive 4: No runs but a pass to Cook goes for -5 yards
Drive 5: 50 seconds left so passing situation
Drive 6: Drive 6 starts and ends similarly to Drive 1. Cook gets the ball on both 1st downs and goes backwards both times. Cousins manages to pick up the 1st in between.
1st & 10 at MIN 24
(11:22 - 3rd) (Shotgun) D.Cook right end to MIN 23 for -1 yards (A.Hicks).
1st & 10 at MIN 46
(9:35 - 3rd) D.Cook right tackle to MIN 45 for -1 yards (L.Floyd).
Drive 7: All passes but after Drive 6, it's hard to blame Stefanski for trying to change it up
Drive 8: Again, Cook goes backwards
1st & 10 at CHI 18
(13:44 - 4th) D.Cook left end to CHI 20 for -2 yards (L.Floyd).
Drive 9: TD drive but mainly passing w/ Cook picking up a 1-yard 1st down
2nd & 1 at MIN 35
(7:57 - 4th) (No Huddle, Shotgun) D.Cook left guard to MIN 36 for 1 yard (A.Hicks).
Drive 10 is with time running out so all passes and a second TD.
So you have multiple drives where they're trying to feed Cook the ball and he goes for negative yards. People love to rail on Cousins but it's incredibly hard to convert 2nd and 11 or 2nd and 12. It's even harder when it's 2nd and 2 and your running backs have two shots and gain zero. Other than the 2nd drive, the running game did almost nothing and it was actually Cousins moving the sticks.
Granted, this is just one game but it's the only game where JDF isn't in the equation against a good team. Meanwhile Trubisky was enjoying a lot of 2nd and 4's or 5's. It's a huge difference. I think this team could run against teams that couldn't stop anyone against the run, similar to the garbage time/stat padding that gets brought up for QB's. But against good teams? I just don't recall them being able to do it.