Edgerrin James is a great running back
Fiction: Edgerrin James WAS a great running back, or at least very good. However, to those of us who followed the career of Shaun Alexander, Edge's story is a familiar one. After signing a huge contract at age 28, Edge immediately fell into a steep decline, full of nagging injuries, loss of speed, and massive disappointment from the fans.
TJ Duckett and his 2.8 YPC won't be missed
Fiction: While Duckett has a low yards per carry, a big reason why is because of how he was used. Leverage makes a big difference for running backs. Defenses are much more likely to give up a ten yard run on 3rd and 20 then on 3rd and 1, and the offense would much rather have the latter. Duckett received a lot of carries on 3rd and short/4th and short, so his YPC will be lower than it would be if he received carries in all situation. In this role as a short yardage back, Duckett excelled. Football Outsiders DYAR stat helps to correct for game situations like this. T.J Duckett had a respectable DYAR despite his low YPC and his meager amount of touches. in fact, it was higher than Edgerrin James's, despite that James had more than twice the amount of carries.
Edgerrin James's performance from the end of the year though the postseason shows that he is healthy again
Fiction: First of all, we should never read too much into a player's health by their performance. To use a baseball example, Erik Bedard finished with an ERA below 3 despite pitching with a torn labrum all year. Second, at 31 years old and with a prior injury history, we can assume that injuries will always be an issue with Edge. His body simply won't be as tough as it used to be. Third, Edgerrin Jame's "hot streak" to end the year was completely overblown. In the postseason, he only rushed for 236 yards on 61 carries, a 3.9 YPC. His only great rushing game in this streak was a meaningless game against a banged up Seahawks team in week 17, where he rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries. Good numbers to be sure, but if a player was defined by his best game, then Timmy Smith would be in the Hall of Fame.
Fiction: Edgerrin James WAS a great running back, or at least very good. However, to those of us who followed the career of Shaun Alexander, Edge's story is a familiar one. After signing a huge contract at age 28, Edge immediately fell into a steep decline, full of nagging injuries, loss of speed, and massive disappointment from the fans.
TJ Duckett and his 2.8 YPC won't be missed
Fiction: While Duckett has a low yards per carry, a big reason why is because of how he was used. Leverage makes a big difference for running backs. Defenses are much more likely to give up a ten yard run on 3rd and 20 then on 3rd and 1, and the offense would much rather have the latter. Duckett received a lot of carries on 3rd and short/4th and short, so his YPC will be lower than it would be if he received carries in all situation. In this role as a short yardage back, Duckett excelled. Football Outsiders DYAR stat helps to correct for game situations like this. T.J Duckett had a respectable DYAR despite his low YPC and his meager amount of touches. in fact, it was higher than Edgerrin James's, despite that James had more than twice the amount of carries.
Edgerrin James's performance from the end of the year though the postseason shows that he is healthy again
Fiction: First of all, we should never read too much into a player's health by their performance. To use a baseball example, Erik Bedard finished with an ERA below 3 despite pitching with a torn labrum all year. Second, at 31 years old and with a prior injury history, we can assume that injuries will always be an issue with Edge. His body simply won't be as tough as it used to be. Third, Edgerrin Jame's "hot streak" to end the year was completely overblown. In the postseason, he only rushed for 236 yards on 61 carries, a 3.9 YPC. His only great rushing game in this streak was a meaningless game against a banged up Seahawks team in week 17, where he rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries. Good numbers to be sure, but if a player was defined by his best game, then Timmy Smith would be in the Hall of Fame.
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