Searching For More 100 Yard Games
October 6th, 2010
Corrected: (See post above) In a story about the Bucs’ running game and Cadillac Williams’ take on it, Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, rolls out the statistic that shows 100-yard rushers have only shown up on the Bucs stat sheet nine times in the past 68 games.
That’s not surprising. Last season, the Bucs were often behind early and had little rushing attack in most games and rarely showed a commitment to get the running game going.
Chucky, of course, had the same quick trigger on the running game in 2008, but that season Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn did rush for more than four yards par carry, which would feel like a blessing from the heavens right now.
Cummings offers more numbers and a take from Mark Dominik.
Since the start of the 2006 season – a span of 68 regular-season and playoff games – Tampa Bay has produced a 100-yard rusher in a game only nine times.
Earnest Graham reached that mark five times during that span, while Williams reached it three times and Warrick Dunn once. The Bucs’ record in that span is 27-41, which shows how important it is to get the running game on track.
“I think you’re looking for a way to make it all work together,” Dominik said, “and I think Coach Morris hit it right on the head when he said, if a guy gets really hot, then he becomes the guy.”
The guy right now is Williams. That hasn’t changed. Yet.
It could, though, especially if Williams can’t get going. And with the Bucs bent on looking at other options, he seems to realize that.
Joe suggests you read the entire Tribune piece. Cummings makes a case that the Bucs’ offensive line is the key player in the running troubles.
For Joe, if one wants to play the blame game, then one would need two hands for all the fingers that would have to be pointed.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:19 am
I always thought it was the line more than our backs. Just look at Ward in houston. That says it all.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:21 am
If Ward does iot all year maybe, but one game? Really?
October 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
It’s a combo of both. The OL is average to above average, not great. Caddy is just average and he doesn’t have the speed to get to the outside. It’s time to see what the younger guys can do, we can always fall back to caddy.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:43 am
What about week 16 last year against the Saints? Caddy rushed for 129 yards on 24 carries. That was like 4 games ago. I don’t understand where this 29 games statement comes from.
October 6th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Didn’t Cadillac have 120-something yards against New Orleans last year? What’s this 29 game streak bulls**t?
October 6th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Looking at those stats and I’m thinking why isn’t EG our feature back?
October 6th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Did the New Orleans win last year for some reason not count, you know the one where he rushed for about 130 yards?
October 6th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Ok, so the mistake has been discovered. But I still don’t think the whole thing is relevant even if we had no individual back with 100 yards per game in that stretch. First off, we’ve had many injuries at the RB position since 2006. Between Caddy’s knees, Pittman got hurt which brought on Graham. Graham has been hurt for extended periods most every season. We brought back Dunn for a short time at the twilight of his career. So what.
If you look at rushing numbers, sure Caddy had the Saints game over 100 himself. But the Dallas game he had 97, and Ward added 62. That was 159 yards between our two alternating backs. The loss to Carolina also had Caddy with 92 yards, and Ward with 32. That’s another 124 yard game. Against Seattle, Ward and Williams combined for another 133.
2008 was much the same with Graham and Dunn combining for 100+ yards on 5 occasions. After the injury to Graham, Caddy and Dunn achieved that 2 more times. And that’s not including games where Garcia, JJ or Freeman helped boost the total over 100.
So, if we now have a rotation of Caddy, Blount, Huggins… and they combine for 100+ yards, and we’re winning games… WHO CARES if we have a 100 yard rusher individually.
All I know is in 2008, Graham and Caddy each had 4 TDs (points, that’s what matters). In 2009, Graham had 0, Ward 3 (2 rec, 1 rush), and Williams had 7 (4 rush, 3 rec). This year so far, Graham has 1 rec, Caddy has none, Blount has 1 rushing. The only great numbers we have this year is 2 wins/1 loss, but any combination of backs that gets us better rushing performance is fine with me.
October 6th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I just read that we are still going with Caddy as our number one back. I was kind of hoping we would use Blount, and give him a rest.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
It is time to start thinking about the future of this team, and to hell with the past.
October 7th, 2010 at 9:28 am
BamBam, you are so right! BigMac, yes!