I have another thought on Chris Ivory and Stevan Ridley. The Jets just signed Ridley, so these backs will be playing together this year. There was a factoid about their (lack of) receiving ability yesterday.
With Ivory, I really like his ability to run physically and pound out tough yards. He was slam it up in there, as they say. And in this regard, he’s definitely been better than Ridley – and most other backs.
Look, for example, as key short-yardage plays. Specifically, look at plays when a team needed 1 yard to either score or to keep a drive alive (on third or fourth down). On those kind of plays, Ivory has been successful on 21 of 27 carries over the last two years. That’s really good.
Ridley, on the other hand, has played on a far better team, yet he’s gone only 12 of 20 in the same situations.
Below is the list of all 32 running backs who’ve had at least 15 of these carries in the last two years. There are some weird names here. Who would have figured, for example, that Jed Collins would be No. 1? He tends to get his attempts on change-of-pace fullback dives, which are a different animal.
Ryan Mathews and Trent Richardson show up in the top 10, which is higher than I would have thought.
Marshawn Lynch, Alfred Morris, LeGarrette Blount and Mark Ingram are in the bottom 10, which is much lower. With Lynch (famously ignored on the 1-yard line at the end of the Super Bowl) there’s the added dynamic that at least some defenses are keying on him more. Lynch is in the bottom 10 but might still be one of the best half-dozen short-yardage runners in the league.
But I digress. Ivory is the guy I wanted to draw attention to. I think he’s pretty good, and I don’t think Ridley is going to move past him anytime soon.
| "AND ONE" RUSHING, 2013-14 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Good | Att | Pct |
| 1. | Jed Collins | 13 | 16 | 81.3% |
| 2. | Ryan Mathews | 16 | 20 | 80.0% |
| 3. | Adrian Peterson | 15 | 19 | 78.9% |
| 4. | Joique Bell | 18 | 23 | 78.3% |
| 5. | Chris Ivory | 21 | 27 | 77.8% |
| 6. | LeSean McCoy | 27 | 35 | 77.1% |
| 7. | Shonn Greene | 12 | 16 | 75.0% |
| 8. | DeMarco Murray | 31 | 42 | 73.8% |
| 9. | Matt Asiata | 14 | 19 | 73.7% |
| 10. | Trent Richardson | 18 | 25 | 72.0% |
| 11. | Jamaal Charles | 22 | 31 | 71.0% |
| 12. | Matt Forte | 22 | 31 | 71.0% |
| 13. | Eddie Lacy | 20 | 29 | 69.0% |
| 14. | Lamar Miller | 13 | 19 | 68.4% |
| 15. | LeVeon Bell | 23 | 34 | 67.6% |
| 16. | Frank Gore | 20 | 30 | 66.7% |
| 17. | Zac Stacy | 10 | 15 | 66.7% |
| 18. | Fred Jackson | 21 | 32 | 65.6% |
| 19. | Rashad Jennings | 15 | 23 | 65.2% |
| 20. | Willis McGahee | 11 | 17 | 64.7% |
| 21. | Arian Foster | 15 | 24 | 62.5% |
| 22. | Maurice Jones-Drew | 13 | 21 | 61.9% |
| 23. | Steven Jackson | 19 | 31 | 61.3% |
| 24. | Marshawn Lynch | 18 | 30 | 60.0% |
| 25. | Alfred Morris | 12 | 20 | 60.0% |
| 26. | Stevan Ridley | 12 | 20 | 60.0% |
| 27. | BenJarvus Green-Ellis | 11 | 19 | 57.9% |
| 28. | Mike Tolbert | 11 | 19 | 57.9% |
| 29. | LeGarrette Blount | 9 | 17 | 52.9% |
| 30. | Bernard Pierce | 7 | 15 | 46.7% |
| 31. | Ben Tate | 8 | 18 | 44.4% |
| 32. | Mark Ingram | 7 | 18 | 38.9% |
—Ian Allan