Week 10 served as a reminder that teams change. Offenses can evolve as the season progresses, shoring up their weaknesses and altering their approach.
In particular, three stagnant running games came to life, and they all did so against top-10 run defenses. The Bengals, Chargers and Falcons all look like they might run the ball a lot better in the second half of the season.
The Bengals entered the week ranking last in rushing, averaging only 60 yards per game. And they were facing a Baltimore defense ranked 2nd against the run. You might reasonably assume Cincinnati would be the least productive running team of the week.
But there was Joe Mixon, running hard and getting plenty of carries. On multiple carries, he looked like possibly one of the league’s 10 best running backs. Cincinnati finished with 40 carries for a season-high 157 yards – over double its total in all but two other games.
The Falcons entered the week having run for more yards than only four teams, and the only team passing on over 70 percent of its plays. But it was clear from the get-go that they intended to play differently at New Orleans. They came out with a lot more patience sticking with the run, and they were banging it hard. Playing against a Saints defense ranked 4th against the run, they piled up 143 rushing yards – 40 more than their previous season high (and over twice as much as in all but three other games).
Devonta Freeman left that game early (and Ito Smith is on IR) but they still kept running it, with Brian Hill finishing with 20 carries. With the Falcons having remembered that it’s OK to run the ball, Hill looks like one of the better waiver claims for Week 11 (he’ll start if Freeman is sidelined).
And I will include the Chargers in this group, though their turnaround actually started the previous week (when they ran for 159 yards in their win over the Packers). They switched offensive coordinators two weeks ago, and they’ve got more of a running mindset now. They were on the road against the Raiders (who ranked 7th in run defense entering the week) and were running it successfully all night long, finishing with 146 yards. Even after falling behind 10-0 early, they stuck with the run – actually went with more of a run-oriented approach after some early issues with their passing game.
The Los Angeles turnaround was particularly surprising, with the team operating without both of its offensive tackles (and it lost its starting center a few weeks back). Yet, there was Melvin Gordon, running for yards and looking like a top-10 back again (after looking hardly competent earlier in the year).
With both the Chargers and Bengals, they ran for fewer than 40 yards in half of their first eight games, but that’s seemingly gone now. The teams still have lesser offensive lines, but they have made more of a commitment to calling running plays. That’s the key difference, I think.
| REBOUNDING RUNNING GAMES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | YPG | Rank | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Bengals | 60 | 32nd | 40 | 157 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Chargers | 79 | 28th | 30 | 146 | 4.9 | 1 |
| Falcons | 69 | 29th | 34 | 143 | 4.2 | 0 |
—Ian Allan