(09-26-2019, 09:34 PM)Jagsfan32277 Wrote:

(09-26-2019, 09:09 PM)Marylandjagsfan89 Wrote: It still does if you have offensive linemen that can run block and true lead backs like you did in the past. Most running backs today are not 3 down backs but are complimentary  backs. Fournette is more like the latter than the former. And the coaching staff still believes he is a true lead 3 down back like fred taylor or maurice Jones drew. There are only like 4 true franchise backs in the league now Gurley, Elliott, Barkley and bell.

Teams with Franchise RB today

Gurley:  performer poorly in Super Bowl.
Elliott: no Super Bowl, no playoff wins
Barkly: TBD, but no Super Bowl probably for some time
Leveon Bell: no Super Bowl, probably never.

A lot of those guys you listed above though have been ran ragged throughout their careers and have flat out taken over games at times. With that said. It's been the Golden Age of Passing now for nearly a decade and some teams still hold onto old habits. If you look at last year's leading rushers. It's pretty wild. 

Elliott was No. 1 with 1,434 on the ground. Chubb was 10th with 996 yards on the ground. If we go back just to 7 years ago to 2012. We saw 16 rushers crack 1,000 yards in the NFL on the ground. Essentially half of the NFL was still relying on the ground game as a featured component to their respective offenses. 

With Peterson cracking 2K, Morris cracking 1600 with the Redskins and we saw two other runners in Lynch and Charles crack 1500 yards. Bradshaw with the Giants rounded out the list by slightly breaking the 1K mark. And he probably did that splitting carries and missing time with the Giants.

The game has clearly changed or transitioned into featuring more RB's in essentially a poor man's role of being Roger Craig, Thurman Thomas & Marshall Faulk. That's another problem with this team selecting Leonard Fournette two years ago. They were behind the 8-Ball and had they eyed guys like McCaffrey and Kamara they would have realized THOSE were the guys you wanted since it was beginning to trend that way in the NFL. Especially in Hackett's West Coast influenced offense from the 80's. We saw Grant being used in that mold, albeit, a little too late but it would have been interesting to see a guy like McCaffrey or Kamara installed in it over a guy like Fournette. 

But hey... it's not dated guys. It's not archaic at all. Never mind the fact that 2017's rushing total was also skewed thanks to Bortles' ability to run for his [BLEEP] life behind a suspect offensive line and several chunk plays were created on the ground thanks to Grant's rushing ability on special team's during fake punt attempts. Let's also ignore the fact that we played virtually NOBODY at the QB position in 2017 and we really just needed to grind the clock out and let the defense do most of the dirty work. 

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