Drake 4th in the NFL in Rushing Yards After 6 Weeks

[dreamcastrocks]

It is surprising but you can’t say stats lie. What’s happening is.... most running backs are struggling. Passing has been much more Emphasized. It is crazy to bash any of our players when we have scored and gained yards. We are top 10 in offense and as bad as everyone wants to jump on our defense we are second in scoring defense. And that has been with very few takeaways. Seattle is ranked #1 in the nfl as a team and the main reason is they are top 5 in takeaways. They give up more yards than Dallas. It if you force turnovers you will win a lot of games. Let’s not worry how we do it. Let’s just win. Drake is 4th in the League. The only thing that tells me is that only 3 are better at gaining yards. Lol

Of course it matters if a running back takes 2X the amount of carries to get the same amount of yards, right?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

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Does the yards over expected go up so much because they expected so little of him?

 

[Cards_Campos]

Of course it matters if a running back takes 2X the amount of carries to get the same amount of yards, right?

Hey if the stats say he is 4th. Then he is 4th. Period.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Hey if the stats say he is 4th. Then he is 4th. Period.

Lol. Not period. Nice try though.

 

[Krangodnzr]

You are your stats.

And taking away plays that don't fit your narrative are dumb. That was a nice run and nice block.

 

[Cards_Campos]

Lol. Not period. Nice try though.

yes. He is 4th. You can’t put an asterisk next to it. I mean if you took the yards total And divided them evenly in all our games. That would make it a little better. But honestly you could do that with a lot of stats. I would have taken beating Dallas 27-10 and adding the 11 points to either Detroit or Carolina

 

[Cards_Campos]

We have looked bad in 1 game. (Carolina ) The Detroit game we turned the ball over too much. But look what happens usually. Dallas turned the ball over 3 times and lost by 28. We turned it over 3 times against Detroit and lost by 3. This weekend will dictate how good we are and what these stats mean. Beat Seattle and go 5-2. And stats will tell a story of us being really good.

 

[slanidrac16]

Man oh man. Many of you have forgotten DJ’s 2yard burst and fall down on your face runs.

Drake is guilty of taking his runs outside in the Jets game. He corrected that in the 4th quarter of that game.

First down is so important to this offense. A solid 3-4 yard run on first down sets this offense up and for the most part he’s been doing that for us.

 

[Vacard]

He had an easy catch that was dropped on I think 4th down? Ugh

 

[gimpy]

We have looked bad in 1 game. (Carolina ) The Detroit game we turned the ball over too much. But look what happens usually. Dallas turned the ball over 3 times and lost by 28. We turned it over 3 times against Detroit and lost by 3. This weekend will dictate how good we are and what these stats mean. Beat Seattle and go 5-2. And stats will tell a story of us being really good.

I think you're the second person who said Dallas had 3 T.O's. Zeke had 2 fumbles and we had 2 ints. =4?

 

[JosiahLee]

I was done with Drake after the first quarter, but by the end of the game he proved me wrong. As many have noted he finally started running north and south instead of east and west...And for whatever reason he really does get better as the game goes on.

I expect him to continue being the feature back in this offense, even if that reason is because we are paying him a lot of money for 1 year and want to preserve Edmonds body for many more carries that will be coming his way in 2021.

 

[AZ Native]

How so? You either gain the yards or you don’t.

This so true. "If you take away this run and that run and if the other guy would have shed that tackle..." We deal in reality, not what if? If my aunt had a pen!$ she would be my uncle.

 

[Solar7]

We all know how I feel about Drake.

But, I'm sorry, you don't get brownie points for production when the game is put away. Simply enough, we can't count on Kenyan to produce until the opposition has given up, or he breaks a long one. The good runningbacks in the NFL have value when they're part of something but a blowout win.

Drake's YPC has been pathetic this year until that run, and we have 4 games out of 14 with the Cards where the guy has managed to break 100 yards. He's not good, and he's not a factor in important games. Can any of you really bring up a time that Drake was the reason we won a game?

Sure, long runs count, but when your RB can only break runs when the rest of the team is dominating, they don't count all that much. He's a mediocre back, whose production could be replicated by plenty of other cheap options.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

He had 19 carries for 95 yards before the long run, so he had a good game anyway. His addition last season changed our offense for the better. He certainly won us that 9er game last year as well. No one is calling him HOF, but he is a top 10 RB in this league for this team.

 

[football karma]

i dont really get the "he is only good in the 4th quarter" thing. Bickley was harping on that too.

I think every back gets better as the game goes on, especially if their team is ahead and feeds them. Defenses -- especially those that are suspect against the run -- can usually clamp down on carries 1-10 in a game. It is carries 11-20 where the yards show up.

 

[Cards_Campos]

I think you're the second person who said Dallas had 3 T.O's. Zeke had 2 fumbles and we had 2 ints. =4?

My fault. Yes. But probably only deserved 3. lol. We interfered

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

i dont really get the "he is only good in the 4th quarter" thing. Bickley was harping on that too.

I think every back gets better as the game goes on, especially if their team is ahead and feeds them. Defenses -- especially those that are suspect against the run -- can usually clamp down on carries 1-10 in a game. It is carries 11-20 where the yards show up.

4th quarter is where you want your back to at their best...

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm sure others noticed but on MNF the announcers actually said they would not be surprised if Edmonds eventually becomes the #1 RB. That was said in last weeks game too.

I don't think that's an accident, clearly people on the Cards staff have sensed Drake was not running hard and so they sent a message to him by telling people who they knew would say it on tv, he could lose his job

 

[Krangodnzr]

We all know how I feel about Drake.

But, I'm sorry, you don't get brownie points for production when the game is put away. Simply enough, we can't count on Kenyan to produce until the opposition has given up, or he breaks a long one. The good runningbacks in the NFL have value when they're part of something but a blowout win.

Drake's YPC has been pathetic this year until that run, and we have 4 games out of 14 with the Cards where the guy has managed to break 100 yards. He's not good, and he's not a factor in important games. Can any of you really bring up a time that Drake was the reason we won a game?

Sure, long runs count, but when your RB can only break runs when the rest of the team is dominating, they don't count all that much. He's a mediocre back, whose production could be replicated by plenty of other cheap options.

He had 19 carries for 95 yards before the long run, so he had a good game anyway. His addition last season changed our offense for the better. He certainly won us that 9er game last year as well. No one is calling him HOF, but he is a top 10 RB in this league for this team.

Yep, Drake was having maybe his best game of the season up until that run.

Again @Solar7 it's a silly exercise to remove plays. I doubt Dallas wanted to let him score there. He made a great cut, the blocking was perfect, and he beat 11 men to the end zone.

I don't think the Cardinals should resign Drake though. He will want more than they should pay. Draft a stud, sign a solid veteran, and platoon with Edmonds.

 

[Solar7]

Yep, Drake was having maybe his best game of the season up until that run.

Again @Solar7 it's a silly exercise to remove plays. I doubt Dallas wanted to let him score there. He made a great cut, the blocking was perfect, and he beat 11 men to the end zone.

I don't think the Cardinals should resign Drake though. He will want more than they should pay. Draft a stud, sign a solid veteran, and platoon with Edmonds.

It's all about monitoring consistency. Maybe I'm a little too embroiled in fantasy football sometimes, but I want someone making plays that are replicable.

Running for a sub 4.0 YPC with little receiving action is unacceptable for a guy getting paid like he is. Dallas was a fine game, but I can't support an RB who goes off once every 6 games or so, but is a non-factor otherwise.

 

[Krangodnzr]

It's all about monitoring consistency. Maybe I'm a little too embroiled in fantasy football sometimes, but I want someone making plays that are replicable.

Running for a sub 4.0 YPC with little receiving action is unacceptable for a guy getting paid like he is. Dallas was a fine game, but I can't support an RB who goes off once every 6 games or so, but is a non-factor otherwise.

He's not a "non factor". He was still basically on pace for a 1000 yards. After a reasonably good, not outlandish game, he is now 4th in rushing.

 

[Cheesebeef]

He's not a "non factor". He was still basically on pace for a 1000 yards. After a reasonably good, not outlandish game, he is now 4th in rushing.

it was the best game of his career tied with last year against the Seahawks (164 Sunday/166 Seahawks) Throughout the rest of his entire career, he’s never gotten with 40 yards of his game last week. I’d call that outlandish.

thus is what I hate when people hyperbolize even in moments they don’t have to.

drake has been ok for the most part of the season and just came off one of his best games ever. Why not just say let’s hope he gets a little more consistent but is a solid piece of the puzzle right now?

 

[Krangodnzr]

it was the best game of his career tied with last year against the Seahawks (164 Sunday/166 Seahawks) Throughout the rest of his entire career, he’s never gotten with 40 yards of his game last week. I’d call that outlandish.

thus is what I hate when people hyperbolize even in moments they don’t have to.

drake has been ok for the most part of the season and just came off one of his best games ever. Why not just say let’s hope he gets a little more consistent but is a solid piece of the puzzle right now?

I didn't qualify ANYTHING in my statement other than saying he is 4th in yards.

166 isn't an outlandish rushing total. I could see treating it as an extreme outlier if he ran for Leshon Johnson against the Saints kind of yardage, but 166 is a standard good game.

Furthermore, it's a bit disingenuous to talk about his pre-Cardinals career as an indicator going forward. How often was he the actual lead back? Like none percent of his time there.

And if you read what I said earlier...I want the Cardinals to move on from him after this year. He is a transition player who isn't really worth his salary, but not having him could have been a big issue with Edmonds possible injury concerns.

 

[BritCard]

Yep, Drake was having maybe his best game of the season up until that run.

Again @Solar7 it's a silly exercise to remove plays. I doubt Dallas wanted to let him score there. He made a great cut, the blocking was perfect, and he beat 11 men to the end zone.

I don't think the Cardinals should resign Drake though. He will want more than they should pay. Draft a stud, sign a solid veteran, and platoon with Edmonds.

I've said for a while I don't think they intend to resign Drake, or they didn't at least, but that could change. The CJ injury doesn't help, as doesn't his performances before the injury. I thought they might have a plan to draft a RB in 2021 with a fairly high pick. Possibly as high as round 2. But they may well now be thinking they need to prioritize OLB more along with CB.

Personally I would be fine with Edmonds plus a cheap free agent. I can see several FA running backs that will cost significantly less than Drake that are FA next year.

All these guys can replicate what Drake can do IMO considering the passing game isn't a concern.

Tevin Coleman
Matt Breida
Jerrick McKinnon
James Connor
Marlon Mack
Mike Davis
Chris Carson

Some of these are going to cost more than others, Mike Davis for example after the year he is having, but I'd sign any of these over paying Drake more than $7.5m per.

And I like Drake. I advocated picking up when he was at Miami. Always thought he had much more in the tank than the Fins let him show. But a lot of RB's could get yards in this scheme and if he's not going get get 500+ yards with his hands he's replaceable for much less than he seems to think he is worth.

 

[Solar7]

He's not a "non factor". He was still basically on pace for a 1000 yards. After a reasonably good, not outlandish game, he is now 4th in rushing.

He's 4th in rushing in a year where premier players are hurt. He's not producing well.

Furthermore, it's a bit disingenuous to talk about his pre-Cardinals career as an indicator going forward. How often was he the actual lead back? Like none percent of his time there.

He wasn't the lead back because he's not very good. Edmonds should be the lead back right here, and would be if their contracts were the same.