A look at how the 1st round RB's have performed thus far (1 Viewer)

[Blue-Kun]

The point of this thread isn't to declare busts or 'ZOMG I WAS SOOOO RIGHT FOR DRAFTING X/Y OVER Z, LOLLERSKATES!!1!'. It's week 3. I simply wanted to take a look at how the RB's have done so far and basically ask if anyone has noticed anything particularly useful to explain their respective performances.

Going by general AntSports mock drafts and drafts I did / saw this season, here's the list of the top 13 drafted RB's and their scores for the first 2 weeks. I originally just had the first 11, but Portis' injury sort of messed up the average for him. So I threw in Westbrook and McGahee for completeness.

The scoring I used was standard stuff, 1 pt / 20yrds Rushing, 1 pt / 20yrds Receiving, no PPR.

RB's taken in the first round, first 2 week scores -

LJ: 7. 6

LT: 12, 17

SA: 0, 10

Barber: 8, 4

Rudi: 10, 19

S-Jax: 6, 6

Brown: 14, 5

Edge: 9, 4

Lamont: 1, 1

Caddy: 2, 1

Portis: 7, 0

Westbrook: 12, 9

McGahee: 4, 4

In order of total points

LT: 12, 17 - 29

Rudi: 10, 19 - 29

Westbrook: 12, 9 - 21

Brown: 14, 5 - 19

LJ: 7. 6 - 13

Edge: 9, 4 - 13

S-Jax: 6, 6 - 12

Barber: 8, 4 - 12

SA: 0, 10 - 10

McGahee: 4, 4 - 8

Portis: 7, 0 - 7

Caddy: 2, 1 - 3

Lamont: 1, 1 - 2

Not suprisingly, LT has done the best so far in scoring. This can pretty much be explained with the simple input of LT is LT and he played against two of the most disorganized teams in the league with bottom 10 run defenses last year. The fact that Rivers = more runs and more dump-offs can't hurt.

Rudi Johnson was a bit of a suprise until I remembered the last two years. Rudi playing against the Browns seems like a mortal lock for 100+ yrds and a TD. Against a solid KC run D, he ran for just under a hundred and a TD. Out of curiousity, I ask if anyone has seen anything notable in the KC game to indicate a positive or negative for him really.

Westbrook outside of a PPR league seems out of place on this list; and yet he's third. We can partially blame Houston for this oddity, but it's intresting to see even without the PPR bonus he's still been scoring like a #1 RB thanks to his dual role.

Ronnie Brown, looks ugly by any account vs. Pitt, yet scores twice. Does a pretty good job of getting through BUF defenders, but sees almost no running plays in the 3rd quarter and the run is completely abandoned by the 4th quarter. Honestly I have no real clue what to make of Brown. Love his ability, confused by the play-calling and bringing Suggs in.

LJ. See the 9 page thread. Maybe 20ish posts of which was relevant / helpful. If anyone has any comments that won't start a huge war, go for it.

Edge has looked scary so far and I don't mean that in a good way. He had a pathetic 2.8 ypc against the 49ers (A team S-Jax got 4.6 ypc and 100+ yards on) and had medicore runs against the Seattle defense. Arizona's offensive line really seems to be pulling Edge down. At this point he seems to be running OK, but continually seeing an Edge run for 1-3 yards has to be painful most weeks where he's not getting a TD.

S-Jax runs well in both games... but is allergic to the red zone? Rams fans; little help here?

I haven't had a chance to see Barber, SA or McGahee play this season, so I'll refrain from any comments on them.

Portis is hurt. Go figure. He still outproduced Jordan and Caddy. Speaking of which, what the hell happened to these two? Did anyone really think the Raiders would suck this badly coming into the season? Bad, sure. But downright terrible with that talent pool? Jordan's performance could be explained purely as a result of playing against two of the best run defenses in the league, combined with a poor O-line. We'll get to see for sure after their bye week, but I'm not holding my breath.

And poor Caddy has a current ypc of under 2.8. I keep seeing short bursts of power and runs for 4 yards, then the next drive I'll see him seemingly slow and lacking any force or presence for no gain or a loss. His dismal 2 performances and similar showings against top tier rush defenses last year seem to signal that he simply can't put up numbers on a consistent basis. And with Chris Simms already 5 INT's in the hole, it's doubtful teams will start freaking out about the passing game.

Again, just my thoughts from those I've seen play so far. I'm mainly posting this thread to get insight from others who may be following their teams more closely.

 

[PMENFAN]

LJ: -Too much lost. Getting what he's getting, because they'll just keep feeding him the ball, and 5 receptions again. I don't expect it to get better, but worse. You miss all world linemen when they go, and OC"s. This team will get worse, and LJ's numbers will reflect that.

LT: Like you said, he's LT Rivers was better yesterday, but it was TN. Also, it was a blowout, so Turner saw a lot of action. Rivers has to get the ball downfield. He's LT, and the best RB in the game right now. He'll get his, no matter what. If Rivers excels, he's #1 at the end, but I see him as #2. That said, Turner is so electrifying, they have got to let him see the field. LT is great, but you can't keep a guy like Turner off the field. That'll be an interesting situation.

SA: - Losing all world linemen hurts, and they lost one of the best. I see the Branch acquisition as insignificant. Good player, but his supplementation is irrelevent. I expect numbers closer to week 2 than 1, but much in the Alexander tradition, a few huge weeks, and more weeks like week 2 scattered throughout, but a must start.

Barber: He'll get the yards.. The goaline touches are Jacobs, so Tiki has to score from afar. The Giants appear to be a far better passing team than running, but he should be involved int hat. Still a solid play, but don't expect last years numbers.

Rudi: Will be the best fantasy back. Sollid production week in and out. Not flashy, just solid. The Bengals are sogood on the outisde that he'll see soft fronts, and get his yards. The goaline carries are his. He's a fantasy owners dream.

S-Jax: Who is wearing Marc Bulgers jersay? Because that dude looks bad. The line is looking bad, leading to a pretty weak passing game, leaving them to stack the line. SJax is an exciting back, who could be a top flight back, on a better team. I don't see much room for improvement until Bulgers play improves, but he's still a solid start.

Brown: -No line to make holes. In fairness, you can't really measure the effectiveness of the line against Pittsburgh or Buffalo. Both have very active and effective front 4/7. I knew if from Pittsburgh, and have gotten to see Buffalo 2x now, and they're for real. That defense is top notch. That was no fluke in NE last week, and shutting down Brown was the same. Miami has got to figure out how to make room. Brown is not the problem, making holes for him to square up get through is.

Edge: Haven't seen much of edge, so can't comment here.

Lamont: -Raiders are pathertic. It's a bad situationall the way around. Can Fargas take the job? You have to start thinking something has to happen.

Caddy: He's been hurt, so you have to cut him some slack. Back spasms suck.

Portis: Hurt, and out this week. Looked good at times last week. Must start when he gets back.

Westbrook: Must start. Andy Reid has got to realize this is the NFL, and you ahve got to develop schemes to run the ball and protect the lead. Even if you're not running, quick passes/screens to replace the run. That was an embarrasment yesterday. They dominated the Giants. Losing that game is on Andy Reid and poor coaching. Westy is a must start, because he'll see the touches needed to produce.

McGahee: The Bills offense is very conservative. Their D is going to be expected to keep close, and when they get a short field, they'll try to move the ball. Unless they open it up a little, you've got to be cautionus w/ McGahee. He'll see the ball a lot, and occasionally break one. But, the line is not that good, and he's not going to see a lot of daylight.

All of these guys are good backs, but captive to the system they're in. The studs of years past have significant change in their system. They've lost their QB or significant linement. That takes time to replace. Where you're ysed to hitting a hole, you're now not seeing one. That's what is effecting LJ.

 

[Sonny Lubick Blowup Doll]

I wouldn't be so surprised about Edge, whatsoever.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Brown: -No line to make holes. In fairness, you can't really measure the effectiveness of the line against Pittsburgh or Buffalo. Both have very active and effective front 4/7. I knew if from Pittsburgh, and have gotten to see Buffalo 2x now, and they're for real. That defense is top notch. That was no fluke in NE last week, and shutting down Brown was the same. Miami has got to figure out how to make room. Brown is not the problem, making holes for him to square up get through is.

Buffalo really did not shut Ronnie down, Saban and Mularkey did. They just stopped running the ball entirely in the second half. Shotgun formation after shotgun formation. Ronnie was running well, with a YPC of 4.7. Had he been given the rock steadily in the second half I have no doubt he would have broken a big gain.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

FWP should also be in this discussion as he crept up into the top 12 of some drafts late in the preseason.

 

[PMENFAN]

Brown: -No line to make holes. In fairness, you can't really measure the effectiveness of the line against Pittsburgh or Buffalo. Both have very active and effective front 4/7. I knew if from Pittsburgh, and have gotten to see Buffalo 2x now, and they're for real. That defense is top notch. That was no fluke in NE last week, and shutting down Brown was the same. Miami has got to figure out how to make room. Brown is not the problem, making holes for him to square up get through is.

Buffalo really did not shut Ronnie down, Saban and Mularkey did. They just stopped running the ball entirely in the second half. Shotgun formation after shotgun formation. Ronnie was running well, with a YPC of 4.7. Had he been given the rock steadily in the second half I have no doubt he would have broken a big gain.

They also got their lone score when they changed. Shut down is probably too harsh. bottled up is probably better. He had runs of 8, 11 and 14, every thing else was 6 and under. , with on.e 3 of the remaining 12 buing 5 or 6 yards. Of the 15 carries, 9 were 4 yards or less, 8 were 3 or less, or half of them. I thought he was pretty well contained in watching the game, and at no point did I feel he was a threat to break a long one. That said, a back of Ronnie Browns caliber is always a threat. I just felt Miamis offense was overmatched by the Buffalo defense. I mean, if Mularky/Saban stay with the run, you can say if they pass more they could have won. Monday AM Quarterbacking is easy. Whatever they did that didn't work was the wrong thing. Passing got them one TD. Running hadn't. They stuck with it.

 

[PsychoMan]

I wouldn't be so surprised about Edge, whatsoever.

same with caddy, lamont & mcgahee - i bet whoever drafted those guys wishes they picked up manning in the first instead