Will We See Improvement In The Running Game?

[Ben_in_Austin]

Last year wasn't a good year for multiple reasons. Murray was hurt, our oline sucked and Ronald McDonald was in charge of play calling. We were near last in the league last year. Just how much improvement do you hope to see this year, if any, and why?

 

[Omegasupreme]

Yes, but it is a commitment. If you decide to run the ball and run the ball often, the defense still has to attend carefully to the LOS that the skilled player with the ball will not gash a large amount of yards or continually move the chains, or wear down their defense. A pass is still a probability and there are several variable that have to go right in order for a pass play to be completed. A run play does not have those variables. But what happens if your QB is not even trusted by his own coach to manage any other types of passes except high percentage throws, shouldn't that inhibit a running game because theoretically the defense can put more defenders in the box? What happens if your running back is not even a home-run threat or really cannot outrun a LB? Would continually to trying to run the ball despite those confounding factors be just an absurd exercise of futility? What if your running back has games of 77 yards or 58 or even 2.7 yards per carry in some games, should you just abandon the running game and call the O-line weak, the running back in need of upgrade, etc? Or do you just keep running the ball at the defense until they break?

http://www.nfl.com/teams/sanfrancisco 49ers/schedule?team=SF&season=2011&seasonType=REG

Check out Frank Gore's stats from 2011. Alex Smith playing the part of the effete QB. There were some games with terrible rushing stats and with no recourse in the passing game, did the team stop running, even with a predictable game plan?

 

[superpunk]

If healthy I'd expect us to be about average. Which would be a huge improvement.

We have average RBs and average at best offensive linemen across the board (including Tyron). with an excellent passing game (almost guaranteed) that should translate to above average run game at least in terms of ypc. With us it will probably be average, and imo that's good enough for year two of our Oline overhaul.

 

[Ben_in_Austin]

I think Murray is a freaking stud, if healthy. I think the rest of the players are average--when averaged together..maybe a bit below. I agree with what SP said, but Omega too. We have to commit to it at some points. I feel like we should have been running more frequently last year, but injuries made that difficult. So I'm hoping to see less of those this year and I'm glad we have Randle in case Murray is sidelined once again.

 

[dbair1967]

A lot depends on the quality of the OL and whether our defense can keep teams from running up and down the field on us, and playing from behind so much.

 

[Cowboysrule122]

Todd Archer ‏@toddarcher 7m
DeMarco Murray walks off field after going through some rehab work with his cleats off. Unaware of injury