2014 offensive snaps by Titans RB
Sankey 354 36.6%
McCluster 233 24.1%
Greene 164 17%
Wahington 235 24.3%
Andrews 14 1.4%
In 2014 Sankey had 152 rushing attempts and 23 targets. That is 175 times out of the 354 total snaps he had which is 49.43% of the time he was on the field.
If you look at the
career advanced splits
63% of his rushing attempts have been on 1st down and he has averaged 4.2 ypc on 1st down.
35% of his rushing attempts have been on 2nd down and he has averaged 3.3 ypc on 2nd down.
Barely any use on 3rd down. This is not unusual for a rookie to not be used in critical 3rd down situations.
That's just manipulating some stats or a time stats don't tell the story or somesuch.
There is no manipulation of statisitcs and I do trust that these numbers are accurate. They may not tell the whole story. Never suggested they do. They tell the story of how much he was on the field and what down and distance he was utilized.
I honestly don't believe he averaged 4+ on first and am too lazy to redo the research, I trust PFR it's just....looks wrong.
He did break a few maybe they were on first making the average look good.
As I said I believe these stats are accurate. It may be that Sankey had a few big runs on 1st down improving that average. The same is true for ALL players. A RB only getting 0-3 yards on 1st down is pretty normal and happens a lot to ALL RB. The sample size is small because they did not give Sankey much opportunity.
I can probably spin that back and say Andrews averaged 6 in preseason.
FWIW Andrews currently has 65 rushing attempts on 1st down for 4.8 ypc he has 31 rushing attempts on 2nd down for 2.2 ypc.
IIRC Sankey's average for 2014 was nearly identical to his preseason average.
Preseason is not regular season. This was likely used to determine the starter at the beginning of the season and I know Wiz was running his full offense in the preseason not vanilla like most good teams do. That didn't take long to catch up with him although it may have helped the Titans in week 1.
Check out the rest of advanced stats downs- 3.3 ballpark or less.
Not sure what you are referencing but here are all of Sankeys advanced stats.
Cmon you watched some games. A year later you're his fan?
I wouldn't say I am his fan. I just don't really agree with your statement that the coaching staff gave Sankey every opportunity to become the starter.
The conflict was (this could also be worded as what Whisenhunt did wrong with Sankey)
He couldn't pickup the blitz (can now) and with Dexter slated to play WR as Wright's backup and only sometime RB, ugh they had to pick up Leon for 3rd downs.
From game five on (guess), very good FB Battle was about benched and barely played from that point on as they went with a single back set. Sankey looked wayyyy better with a FB. He also lost outstanding blocking TE Stevens about this time too. Two very key run blockers. Single back set was the worst possible reaction Whis could have had but...he went that way.
Most major issue was he ran excellent between the Ts at Washington. I mean so well that it made him the back drafted first. In NFL, he did not always hit holes and did not move piles. He got near a hole and danced many times. This infuriated Whis. Their line was so bad, if he had a crack between two linemen then he had better take it as a hole to run through. That dancing ruined his momentum and allowed that small crack to close. Lewan was guard and RT before replacing Roos. They had some blocks at times and some decent linemen in spots (before it all collapsed late in the season) and he had no vision. Lewan or Roos could move their man back 4-5 yards (which rarely happens in the NFL) and he'd be stuck behind them as if they're a FB. Pick a side and go!
All of the context above is helpful. Perhaps you are correct that Sankey has no vision which is an important trait for a RB to have.
Sankey ran real well outside, like Curtis Martin and so many others that have preferred "the corner" in the NFL. Foolishly Whisenhunt wasn't letting him have it. He wanted him to run inside, he did at Washington, and he ought to do that. One week Sankey ran tough and did pretty well. I want to guess 60-70 yards against a real good D but well earned yards that got Whis' praise. That was the only week he did. Whis called him out and used "tough runs" "run hard' and phrases like that. Ya might look back and feel like he thought he was a wimp even. I'm sure it was to motivate, but it was just insulting him.
I do remember this and as you say, the coach insulted Sankey and despite Sankey performing pretty well the coach still did not reward Sankey with increased opportunity.
Week 11-12 or so, Leon 90 year old Washington was getting the starts and/or featured back role. Whis quit on him. Sankey went in a bit, but Whis lost all faith. This is when Andrews articles began popping up. He was activated from PS.
To not call him a starter is another stretch. You list 50% of plays. I'd guess that was 65-75% and tallied off when Leon took over.
He techinically started 9 games in 2014 and 3 games in 2015. As you know however starting did not mean he would get more than 30-40% of the offensive plays as the roach rotated many different RB throughout the game.
Shonn would start and Sankey would be in right away.
Leon late, I mentioned.
PFR has Leon with zero stats, Sankey nine, and Shonn 5. Above I mentioned probably 11 for Sankey so...gimme 2 where he came in right away for Greene and that works out.
He made some dopey drops on screens.
This is a fair criticism. Sankey seemed like a natural pass catcher in college and pretty good at pass protection as well. College is not the NFL.
Whis wanted him to run tough, protect the ball, pickup the blitz, and focus/mental aspect of screens. He did most of that. He was a good boy this offseason. I like him on 3rd down a lot. He ran hard in preseason but once regular season came he was same ol Sankey.
My last point which was Whis' greatest focus was making something out of nothing. He ought to get back to the LOS and negative yardage was the absolute worst thing he could do. Whis would get on the slew of bad QBs to throw it away rather than take a sack and get on Sankey for being stopped behind the LOS. Andrews' fight, to battle just to get back to the line, was seen as this huge positive. A bit much maybe, but Whis was trying to build a culture where any negative yardage was unacceptable. Sankey showed this quality at Washington, in camp, and in preseason. In 2014 and 2015, in games though, he runs into a brick wall or gets squished like a bug. It does affect morale and Andrews bruising thru or carrying a guy does help but in no way did I ever agree that either were as grandiose a problem or benefit as Whis made it seem.
None of this really holds much logic as to why he ran outside well and they didn't just do that, other than Whis' ego and plan.
I am (within reason of course) glad McCluster is out and Sankey will get some carries now and 3rd down work WITHOUT Whis around. He is definitely the bluechip here and far better combine type stats than Cobb or Andrews. Certainly the only one of them that can pull off a pretty run that'll make casual fans ooh and ahh.
He was benched this week, what 18 months after being the first back in NFL draft? He saw firsthand West get cut from CLE after leading them as a rook and benched for fumbles in TEN. The hustle and effort of Andrews was promoted. Cobb's good and bad. In a short time, Sankey has seen a lot of what happens with the NFL's brutal personnel aspect of the game. Don't forget he was benched despite the coach saying he's been doing well in practice. He's still got some games. He's getting another chance. He may just have the right chip on his shoulder to "bring his career back to life" here.
I've said it since summer. I expect him to do well on 3rd downs. He might not need to beat Cobb or Andrews for 1st and 2nd down work. In a few weeks, he could show next year's coach (with or without the Titans) how fluid he can be and his outside speed. We'll see, of couse, but I'm very curious of him now. I love a story of overcoming adversity
Pretty much everything you said I agree with and is the point I was trying to make about Sankey not really getting a chance to be the starter. When Sankey did well the coach went away from him anyways. He was asked to do things that were not really his strengths, such as getting yards after contact, he improved in that area as I recall and even made a top 20 or so list (maybe better I don't recall exactly) in yards gained after contact showing that he was doing what the coaches told him to do. The offensive line and a shuffling of multiple QBs certainly were not good support around him or any RB to be successful, thus the emphasis on not losing yardage on runs (despite poor blocking).
needs time
