By Chris Sullivan
It seems like just about every Seahawk fan is wondering what we're going to do with all our running backs in 2008. This seems like a pretty good time for me to make some guesses, extrapolations, and statistical breakdowns, so, if you're interested...
It seems like just about every Seahawk fan is wondering what we're going to do with all our running backs in 2008. This seems like a pretty good time for me to make some guesses, extrapolations, and statistical breakdowns, so, if you're interested...
So, those are our top three running backs, as you know. Michael made a good observation to me earlier -- if you combine Duckett and Morris' carry total from 2007, it is two short of Alexander. Combined, however, the guys had 200+ more yards and 4 more touchdowns. Good to note.
Another thing that jumps out at me is Duckett's Attempts per Touchdown -- he ranges between 13 and 21 over the five years, meaning that every 13-21 carries in his career he has scored a touchdown. Thats pretty hardcore. This, more than showing that he's a total beast all the time, probably means that Duckett is used more inside the 20 than he is between them.
It also appears, in that little charty-chart that Duckett's key weakness is that he loses fumbles far more than Alexander or Morris. Alexander, despite his absolutely untimely fumbles in the past, has actually held on to the ball much better than the other gentlemen in question.
Just about everyone with an eye or an ear knows that Shaun's last two years have been atrocious and his attitude towards them have been even worse. His complete lack of grounding in reality is stunning and offensive as a fan -- when we see him and our running game in general struggling, don't you dare tell us that it's fine or that its all on the O-Line. Morris stepped up for us last year, but he wasn't great (which shows 1) that the line was in large part to blame, that 2) Morris is the backup for a reason, or 3) both).
One of Shaun's greatest weaknesses has been his poor receiving skills and his lack of attention to routes. Morris stepped in last year and showed he could do this, at least better than Hawk fans were expecting. (Weaver arguably did a better job, though.) TJ Duckett was NOT brought in to catch the ball; check out these stats:
Clearly, surprisingly, and perhaps for the first time these words have been spoken, Shaun Alexander is the [cough] best receiver of the bunch. Now, thats not exactly a reasonable conclusion -- he is the only one of these four who has been a starter almost his whole career, and his total touches vastly exceed the other guys. Still, the main thing to draw from this is that Duckett and Morris are not necessarily improvements on our short pass game.
This is getting long, so I'm going to give my impressions on what we'll do next year (and beyond) with this running back situation... consider this your informational post.
Another thing that jumps out at me is Duckett's Attempts per Touchdown -- he ranges between 13 and 21 over the five years, meaning that every 13-21 carries in his career he has scored a touchdown. Thats pretty hardcore. This, more than showing that he's a total beast all the time, probably means that Duckett is used more inside the 20 than he is between them.
It also appears, in that little charty-chart that Duckett's key weakness is that he loses fumbles far more than Alexander or Morris. Alexander, despite his absolutely untimely fumbles in the past, has actually held on to the ball much better than the other gentlemen in question.
Just about everyone with an eye or an ear knows that Shaun's last two years have been atrocious and his attitude towards them have been even worse. His complete lack of grounding in reality is stunning and offensive as a fan -- when we see him and our running game in general struggling, don't you dare tell us that it's fine or that its all on the O-Line. Morris stepped up for us last year, but he wasn't great (which shows 1) that the line was in large part to blame, that 2) Morris is the backup for a reason, or 3) both).
One of Shaun's greatest weaknesses has been his poor receiving skills and his lack of attention to routes. Morris stepped in last year and showed he could do this, at least better than Hawk fans were expecting. (Weaver arguably did a better job, though.) TJ Duckett was NOT brought in to catch the ball; check out these stats:
| Years | Rec | Yards | Yds / Yr | Yds / G | TD | |
| TJ Duckett | 6 | 35 | 303 | 50.5 | 4 | 0 |
| Shaun Alexander | 9 | 214 | 1,511 | 167.9 | 12.7 | 12 |
| Mo Morris | 6 | 55 | 417 | 69.5 | 4.7 | 2 |
| Leonard Weaver* | 1 | 39 | 313 | 313 | 10.2 | 0 |
| *Weaver had 1 reception in 2005, none in 2006; these stats are only from 2007. | ||||||
Clearly, surprisingly, and perhaps for the first time these words have been spoken, Shaun Alexander is the [cough] best receiver of the bunch. Now, thats not exactly a reasonable conclusion -- he is the only one of these four who has been a starter almost his whole career, and his total touches vastly exceed the other guys. Still, the main thing to draw from this is that Duckett and Morris are not necessarily improvements on our short pass game.
This is getting long, so I'm going to give my impressions on what we'll do next year (and beyond) with this running back situation... consider this your informational post.
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