{"id":3471,"date":"2017-10-27T15:55:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T20:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=3471"},"modified":"2017-10-27T15:55:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T20:55:36","slug":"nfl-teams-searching-for-success-with-a-return-to-rushing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/nfl-teams-searching-for-success-with-a-return-to-rushing\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Teams Searching for Success With A Return to Rushing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all know that the NFL is a quarterback driven league right? \u00a0The QBs get the endorsements, they get the limelight, the press and a majority of the accolades. \u00a0They also get protected by most of the new rules being put together and there has also been a push to up their production through the way the game is played. \u00a0Despite all that, \u00a0the trend in 2017 in the NFL is to recapture the\u00a0ground game.<\/p>\n

For the last decade, \u00a0the NFL<\/a> has fueled its high point, passing fancy agenda but what has withstood the test of time is that a good ground game can get you through the rigors of the late season, playoffs and win you a Super Bowl. \u00a0Throwing the ball around the yard may excite fans and make fantasy geeks giddy. \u00a0However, it has not been lost on many a NFL team that the Dallas Cowboys dominated the 2016 regular season by unleashing the most prolific ground attack in the league. It seems Zeke Elliott and the boys were what finally made the league, at large, \u00a0open their eyes.<\/p>\n

How did I come to this conclusion? \u00a0The proof is in the numbers. \u00a0Granted we are only approximately half way through the regular season but the trend is very noticeable. In 2016, \u00a0only six NFL teams finished the regular season averaging 120 yards rushing per game or higher (Buffalo, Tennessee, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and Oakland). \u00a0Our two Super Bowl participants in 2016, Atlanta and New England ranked 5th and 7th overall in this category. \u00a0This is quite a contrast to what we are seeing currently in 2017. \u00a0As of the completion of week seven, \u00a013 NFL teams are currently averaging 120 yards rushing or more per game in the NFL (Jacksonville<\/a>, Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, LA Rams, Baltimore, Chicago, Tennessee, Minnesota, New Orleans and Atlanta).<\/p>\n

Two of the teams averaging more than 120 yards rushing per game in 2017 have used their ground attack to make a complete turnaround of their 2016 season. \u00a0The league leader in rushing, Jacksonville with 169 yards per game, is currently sporting a 4-3 record which eclipses their win total for all of 2016 (3-13). \u00a0The Los Angeles Rams, \u00a0a 4-12 team in 2016, \u00a0is currently 5-2 and is averaging 127.6 yards rushing per game. \u00a0The Rams rushed for 78.3 yards per game in 2016 which was second to last in the league. Jacksonville was 22nd in the league in rushing last year with 101.8 yards per game.<\/p>\n

No doubt that this is an interesting trend. \u00a0Over the last decade, \u00a0defenses have gotten smaller and more athletic to handle all of the pass happy multiple wide receiver schemes throughout the league. \u00a0Teams making the early return to the physical ground game may reap the rewards of capitalizing on defenses not particularly equipped to handle it. It will also be interesting to see what the return to rushing has on the odds and betting trends<\/a>. \u00a0I will revisit this trend at the end of the 2017 regular season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog Twitter: @GridironStuds We all know that the NFL is a quarterback<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[657],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}