One thing I think we can look at is rushing without the quarterbacks. Any team that has Cam Newton or Colin Kaepernick is going to get that extra 500-plus rushing yards. But those teams aren’t necessarily good at running the ball out of a structure offense with running backs.
Below are the running back stats for just running backs. Note the three teams with immobile quarterbacks actually run the ball a lot better than the pure stats indicate. New England, San Diego and Denver ranked 9th, 13th and 15th in rushing, but they finish 1st, 4th and 5th in pure running back rushing.
Five teams (and I’ve got them in bold) fall at least eight spots when you set aside the quarterback scrambles. San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, most notably, go from being top-5 running teams to being just average running teams.
RUNNING BY RUNNING BACKS | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | RB | Team | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
9. | 1. | New England | 435 | 2035 | 4.7 | 19 |
1. | 2. | Philadelphia | 400 | 2019 | 5.0 | 14 |
2. | 3. | Buffalo | 456 | 1999 | 4.4 | 12 |
13. | 4. | San Diego | 447 | 1873 | 4.2 | 9 |
15. | 5. | Denver | 423 | 1853 | 4.4 | 15 |
7. | 6. | Green Bay | 402 | 1816 | 4.5 | 16 |
8. | 7. | Minnesota | 359 | 1715 | 4.8 | 15 |
17. | 8. | Detroit | 400 | 1690 | 4.2 | 13 |
6. | 9. | NY Jets | 393 | 1688 | 4.3 | 4 |
20. | 10. | Houston | 393 | 1639 | 4.2 | 6 |
3. | 11. | San Francisco | 401 | 1614 | 4.0 | 14 |
4. | 12. | Seattle | 402 | 1613 | 4.0 | 12 |
5. | 13. | Washington | 352 | 1590 | 4.5 | 14 |
10. | 14. | Kansas City | 340 | 1556 | 4.6 | 16 |
16. | 15. | Chicago | 352 | 1536 | 4.4 | 12 |
14. | 16. | Tennessee | 393 | 1514 | 3.9 | 11 |
23. | 17. | Arizona | 389 | 1508 | 3.9 | 12 |
22. | 18. | Tampa Bay | 381 | 1502 | 3.9 | 6 |
19. | 19. | St. Louis | 373 | 1470 | 3.9 | 8 |
18. | 20. | Cincinnati | 398 | 1468 | 3.7 | 12 |
24. | 21. | Dallas | 310 | 1447 | 4.7 | 12 |
25. | 22. | New Orleans | 347 | 1424 | 4.1 | 7 |
11. | 23. | Carolina | 360 | 1396 | 3.9 | 8 |
12. | 24. | Oakland | 333 | 1361 | 4.1 | 14 |
21. | 25. | Indianapolis | 336 | 1328 | 4.0 | 11 |
27. | 26. | Pittsburgh | 357 | 1272 | 3.6 | 8 |
29. | 27. | NY Giants | 356 | 1239 | 3.5 | 10 |
32. | 28. | Atlanta | 303 | 1185 | 3.9 | 11 |
31. | 31. | Jacksonville | 337 | 1157 | 3.4 | 7 |
26. | 29. | Miami | 298 | 1154 | 3.9 | 6 |
30. | 30. | Baltimore | 385 | 1135 | 2.9 | 6 |
28. | 32. | Cleveland | 302 | 1006 | 3.3 | 4 |
—Ian Allan