Why Stats Can be Misleading
Run stats can be misleading because of the "chicken or the egg" phenominon.
Did a team win because it ran a lot and picked up plenty of ground yards?
Or did it run a lot and pick up plenty of ground yards because it was ahead early and wanted to drain time off the clock?
Certainly a good ground game is better than a bad ground game (or in our situation, no ground game). And in most instances, you don't figure to win many games if you can't run the ball.
But in some instances you can. The Eagles example is a good one. But it involves one of those proverbial "nuances." A West Coast Offense utilizes short passes to RB's which are, in a sense, "running plays." The yardage gained in this manner don't show up in the stats as ground yardage, but - like running plays - they keep the chains moving.
Although Dennis comes out of a West Coast tradition, his offense is more a hybrid that features more vertical emphasis off play action.
He is right when he says that, if you can't run the ball, you have to find some other way to gain yardage. But this is no mean task if you're not running a pure West Coast Offense (like the Eagles) because it's a timing offense that requires the right personnel and familiarity with the system.
The few instances when Dennis has been able to compensate for the run game has been when McCown uses Shipp or Arrington as an outlet receiver.
But this aspect of our offensive game is only partially developed (i.e. we have 2 or 3 of those options which sometimes work, but can be beaten by teams with lots of LB and S speed to put a spy on our RB and adjust to our strategy).
