Maelstrom787":3fmxvv53 said:
Spin Doctor":3fmxvv53 said:
Maelstrom787":3fmxvv53 said:
The context behind the domination is that he has been, by far, the most effective running back in the NFL for the last quarter of this season.
That's it. That's the context.
If you want to excuse that with "well, those run defenses are bad!" I mean, sure? Okay? You say the OL is $h!t too. Does it not even out?
That is a highly reductionist point of view, lacking in any sort of nuance.
Penny's big games came against these teams, the numbers next to them indicate their rushing defense ranks:
32. Houston Texans
28. Detroit Lions
24. Chicago Bears
You cannot overlook just choose to ignore the competition. Of course players will look better playing against inferior competition.
Now, what has Penny done against better competition?
Against the 49ers and Rams who rank 6th and 9th, Penny was unable to even break 40 yards rushing. You can't ignore the large discrepancies between the good teams and bad teams. Arizona will be a good litmus test as they rank 11th in rushing defense. If Penny comes out struggling against the Cardinals, I think it's safe to say that the bottom feeder argument holds significant weight.
Username checks out.
Keep wringing your hands over nuance and reductionism as you use extremely basic defensive yardage rankings to deny that which is CLEAR - that Penny has, by far, been the most effective back in the league over the past quarter of the season. Not even a discussion.
Total yardage is a really trash trash trash stat to use in this instance, as bad teams get run on more.
Yards per carry is more accurate, and also makes each team slightly better in the overall run defense rankings than you're portraying them.
You also go on and on about 39 yards, yet fail to mention Rashaad only received 11 carries, averaging out to a 3.5 YPC. Not like he was getting completely stonewalled as your surface-level, barely-there take would suggest.
If a 3.5 YPC performance is your reason for invalidating his nearly 6 YPC overall season and nearly 600 yards already amassed on the ground, you don't have a leg to stand on.
Can't even imagine galaxy-braining myself into thinking a guy averaging 5.4 YPC career and 5.8 this season simply can't
Answer the question, how many of those yards came against a good defense? You're doing the same exact thing that you're accusing me of doing when you're glomming onto the YPC statistic. Even by the metric you set, these three teams are among the worst in YPC. The three teams rank this high in YPC: 21th, 22th, and 30th. Your argument about them "not being as bad as they look" holds no water.
They're near the bottom of the league in YPC and yards, okay, why don't we go even further? In TD's the three teams rank as follows: 31st, 26th, 12th, the 12th -- the last one being the Bears.
These teams are near the bottom of the league in every major category, Yards, YPC and TD's, the lone exception being the Bears and their lack of TD's given up. They really aren't any better than I'm making them out to be. They are what they are, bottom tier rushing defenses.
YPC is not a great statistic either. Felix Jones lead the league in YPC, twice. Conversely, Marshawn Lynch came onto the Seahawks and averaged 3.5 yards per carry. That same year Justin Forsett averaged 4.4 YPC on the Seahawks. That makes Justin Forsett the better player by your logic, right? Wrong, despite the lower ypc you could see a difference in the two players talents. Forsett wasn't bad per say, but he needed space, where Marshawn Lynch could do both well. He could pound the ball into stacked boxes and still create yardage, while not losing yardage.
Once again, your argument is lacking some nuance. I'm not saying you're wrong per-say, I'm saying we need more data to back-up Penny, given his underwhelming NFL career thus far. We've seen guys such as Thomas Rawls look unstoppable for short periods of times. When the bulk of his stats are against 3 bottom feeders, that isn't exactly very much to go on.
