Moats thinks Spillane playing over Bush could mean something in camp

[NorthCoast]

I'm pretty sure that any three rushes that average over 3.3 would be a first down... Any run over 10 yards is a first down,,, Ergo... any more yardage a rush goes over that is gravy.

Footballoutsiders tracks an OL metric called 'power success'. This is any 3rd or 4th down run of 2 yds or less that results in a 1st down. Steelers ranked 27th.

Harris' avg yds before contact per attempt ranked him 45th in the NFL for RBs with minimum 100 atts.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Here's a couple quickly before I put the kids to bed. These are good runs where I think a guy that breaks away from NFL defenders would score:
- LSU Q1 7:09
- FLA Q4 6:05
- ND Q1 4:55 (a great show of athleticism to hurdle the guy on this play. But gets run down. This was one of the ones I shared for Felt)

Again. These are all still very good runs. Great highlights for Harris (and for the OL too because he's often not touched for a long time).

But I don't think he has breakaway speed. And that's OK. Neither did Bell and he was a very good back (I think even elite in his prime.

This is like how NJ says that people attack Ben when they point out that he has a high INT% in the playoffs compared to other HoF QBs. I think it's just the truth. Being a fan of the players (and I like Ben and Najee) and the team doesn't change that.

As I've said many times, one of the things I really like about Najee is that he seems like the kind of player you don't feel bad cheering for. Like he's a decent human off the field too.

Thank you for this. I know this game well, some know more than I, but I've seen enough football to tell you that a true 4.40 back or 4.45 back as timed by NFL combine with lasers pulls away form people in the 2nd level ( DL and LB's ) and can out run most DB's. We don't see that form Harris. Hence by my eye he doesn't have that type of breakaway speed. You see it too. Anyone who watches this film or NFL film should come to the same conclusion. Whether or not they admit it is a different story. They should if the honor or their word means anything to them and if they do they are a-okay with me.

Your right on Ben, and Bell.

[Northern_Blitz]

Footballoutsiders tracks an OL metric called 'power success'. This is any 3rd or 4th down run of 2 yds or less that results in a 1st down. Steelers ranked 27th.

Harris' avg yds before contact per attempt ranked him 45th in the NFL for RBs with minimum 100 atts.

And I wonder if they was an improvement from the year before.

I'm hoping that the change at C makes a big difference here. I think / hope getting average C play will be much better than getting bad C play.

[TheRealTazz864]

[SIZE=5]
I urge anyone to read this article.

I urge anyone who doesn't want to exacerbate this exercise in weed-dwelling to ignore this article and look forward to putting that energy behind the upcoming season...

[Northern_Blitz]

Thank you for this. I know this game well, some know more than I, but I've seen enough football to tell you that a true 4.40 back or 4.45 back as timed by NFL combine with lasers pulls away form people in the 2nd level ( DL and LB's ) and can out run most DB's. We don't see that form Harris. Hence by my eye he doesn't have that type of breakaway speed. You see it too. Anyone who watches this film or NFL film should come to the same conclusion. Whether or not they admit it is a different story. They should if the honor or their word means anything to them and if they do they are a-okay with me.

Your right on Ben, and Bell.

I don't buy into combine numbers too much.

This is where Wizards highlight is important IMO.

Maybe if he grinds them down all game, he outruns them at the end. Kind of like Bettis "getting skinny" in the 4th.

Again, he can still be a very good to elite back without breakaway speed. Bell didn't have that kind of speed either.

[Bawb the Revelator]

I don't buy into combine numbers too much.

This is where Wizards highlight is important IMO.

Maybe if he grinds them down all game, he outruns them at the end. Kind of like Bettis "getting skinny" in the 4th.

Again, he can still be a very good to elite back without breakaway speed. Bell didn't have that kind of speed either.

No one can or should touch the last 12 or 15 posts here. Good jawb, as Cowher used to say.

[Mr.wizard]

I don't buy into combine numbers too much.

This is where Wizards highlight is important IMO.

Maybe if he grinds them down all game, he outruns them at the end. Kind of like Bettis "getting skinny" in the 4th.

Again, he can still be a very good to elite back without breakaway speed. Bell didn't have that kind of speed either.

I dont think he has too grind them down. Breaking runs in the NFL is not about speed for runningbacks, its about blocking and making someone miss at the second level. If a running back gets behind the defense it is extremely hard to catch him because these guys all run fast and the field is only 100 long yards. Najee didnt break off big runs because the blocking was poor and the defense kept him in front, I would guess that if you looked at the numbers teams werent playing 8 man fronts against us, they were just keeping things in front because our passing game was so inept and we couldnt block.

[NorthCoast]

And I wonder if they was an improvement from the year before.

I'm hoping that the change at C makes a big difference here. I think / hope getting average C play will be much better than getting bad C play.

It was an 'improvement'. The OL was 30th in power success in 2020. Baby steps I guess but at least directionally good.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

They REPORT times at the combine... They ALLEGE "school times..."

Such information has been said. Yet some poster choose to quote it as it's the gospel truth.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Quote Originally Posted by Northern_Blitz View Post

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/03/co...ns-at-alabama/

I urge anyone to read this article. It shows in college Harris benefited from Alabama blocking and had 47 runs of 10 yards or more! However on those runs his point of engagement happened 10.6 yards past the line of scrimmage. In other words he had amazing blocking, and a path free for him. Not one of his runs came without great blocking. Any back that was drafted and starts at Alabama would have these # 's and the faster/more eleusive backs would have taken many of these runs for more yardage. The OL at Alabama makes evaluation of backs tough. But if you crunch the numbers and watch the film a different story like this can emerge.

- JB

Bumping this one more time to make sure everyone can see it!

[Mr.wizard]

Quote Originally Posted by Northern_Blitz View Post

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/03/co...ns-at-alabama/

Bumping this one more time to make sure everyone can see it!

All of those 47 runs his point of engagement was 10.6 yds???? Not one of his runs came without great blocking????

[feltdizz]

lmao at arguing about long runs like its something that happens every week with the 4.4 RB’s.

Joe Mixon is pretty fast. His longest run was 32 yards last year.

It’s RARE and you need great blocking, a bad angle on D and usually have to beat 1 man.

if it was strictly about speed we would see guy’s busting ling runs every week.

[feltdizz]

Quote Originally Posted by Northern_Blitz View Post

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/03/co...ns-at-alabama/

Bumping this one more time to make sure everyone can see it!

link is broken

[Northern_Blitz]

I dont think he has too grind them down. Breaking runs in the NFL is not about speed for runningbacks, its about blocking and making someone miss at the second level. If a running back gets behind the defense it is extremely hard to catch him because these guys all run fast and the field is only 100 long yards. Najee didnt break off big runs because the blocking was poor and the defense kept him in front, I would guess that if you looked at the numbers teams werent playing 8 man fronts against us, they were just keeping things in front because our passing game was so inept and we couldnt block.

If that were true, I think Bell would have had more long runs.

You want speed too.

But it's not the only trait that matters. And I think Najee has many traits that are more important than speed.

But he's not likely to get those big runs very often.

But he will do many other things consistently well.

[Northern_Blitz]

It was an 'improvement'. The OL was 30th in power success in 2020. Baby steps I guess but at least directionally good.

I wonder what the distribution looks like (re: how tightly the groups are around the average).

My guess is that 30 is pretty bad (after having seen it).

27th is also probably pretty bad.

But I bet if you can get to around 20, you're pretty tight to the mean (even though you're technically below average).

I think we'll need to get there to look half-decent this year.

So...fingers cross (toes too).