Tau837
Footballguy
This is an interesting post, but it ignores three important elements of playing RB, especially in a Peyton Manning offense: pass blocking, receiving, and fumbling. It has been posted in this thread that Moreno is strong in all of those areas. I know that is true for pass blocking and receiving; I don't know if he fumbles less often than his Denver RB counterparts.Adam Harstad said:Since entering the league, Knowshon Moreno has 20 carries that (a) came inside the 5 yard line and (b) came with 2 or fewer yards to go for a first down. On those 20 carries, he has scored 9 TDs, good for 45%.SaintsInDome2006 said:I enjoy watching Moreno play. It seems like since after his rookie year, Moreno has just come in and done well every time. Catches the ball well, blocks well, good at the goal line, and the Broncos (Elway) just keeps trying to find a replacement.LOCO said:i think Moreno is worth a flyer. other than that, I think i am passing.
For comparison, over that same span, all other Broncos RBs combined have 23 carries and 10 TDs, good for a nearly-identical success rate (43%). In this case, "all other RBs" includes McGahee (9 carries), Jacob Hester (2), Peyton Hillis (3), Correll Buckhalter (1), Lance Ball (4), LaMont Jordan (1), and Laurence Maroney (3). In other words, there's an awful lot of roster trash in those numbers.
I think this is Knowshon Moreno's career in a nutshell. He'll perform the same as any other generic RB would, no better and no worse. Since he entered the league, Broncos RBs as a whole (including Moreno) average 4.18 ypc, while Moreno alone averages 4.02 ypc. All Broncos RBs combined (including Moreno) get a first down on 21.6% of their carries, while Moreno alone gets one on 20.4%. He's the platonic ideal of replacement level. He's basically Isaac Redman, or Chester Taylor, or any number of other replacement-level RBs who have managed to put up some solid production when given the opportunity, but who weren't nearly good enough to keep the opportunity once they had it. Elway and Fox keep trying to replace him, because that's what you do to replacement-level players- you try to get an upgrade. In Willis McGahee, they succeeded. In Ronnie Hillman, they failed (at least during his rookie year). Will 2nd-year Hillman or 1st-year Ball be an upgrade over Knowshon Moreno? Maybe, maybe not. If they aren't, though, and if Knowshon Moreno winds up winning the starting job, I guarantee you one thing- Denver's going to spend next offseason trying to upgrade from Knowshon Moreno, too. He's the Mendoza Line of NFL RBs.
The point of Adam's post is to highlight that Moreno is average as a runner. But if he is average as a runner and above average at pass blocking, receiving, and fumbling, isn't the net outcome that he is an above average RB?
Also, here are some other numbers to think about, all from last season:
1. Moreno ranked as the #18 RB in rushing DVOA and the #5 RB in receiving DVOA. He ranked higher than all other Denver RBs in both categories, and mostly by large margins.
2. Moreno ranked as the #2 RB in rushing success rate as defined by Football Outsiders. McGahee was #1, 2% higher (58% to 56%) than Moreno.
3. Moreno ranked as the #22 overall RB in ProFootballFocus ratings (among RBs who took at least 25% of their teams' snaps). He ranked higher than McGahee, the only other Denver RB to qualify. He had a positive rating in every category (overall, pass, run, blocking, penalty).
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