Oh Arlen Harris...
So I just got my first comment from anonymous (thanks E). I guess at some point this blog was going to have to address this: Arlen Harris does indeed suck. Now this is meant as nothing personal to Mr. Harris. I have never met him. I'm sure he is a nice guy (and if not, well then maybe I do mean it). Anyway... Mr. Harris is a professional football player. He was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Virginia in 2003 and was signed by the St Louis Rams (go Lou). For those of you who don't know, the St. Louis Rams at that time had one of the greatest running backs of all time, Marshall Faulk. Mr. Faulk has lead the league numerous times in such categories as rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and yards from scrimmage. He was a dual receiving and rushing threat and a 7 time pro bowler.
Well Marshall was on the downside of his career that year. He was injured for the game in Pittsburg on October 26. The second string running back, Lamar Gordon was also injured. The running game was to be trusted in the hands of one Arlen Harris.
Now if you just look at the box score of the game quickly, you would see A. Harris, 81 yards and 3 touchdowns. Great game? Well loyal reader FGS would like to think so. However, there are more numbers in football than yards and touchdowns (ahh.....numbers....). Anyway.... you will first note that Harris had 34 carries. That's an average of 2.4 yards per carry. Certainly an anemic number for a professional football player (rushing plays should average in the 3.5 to 4.5 yards per play range and pass plays should be in the 7-8 yards per attempt range). However, delving even deeper, his long run of the day was 12 yards. He had a touchdown run of 8 yards. Thus he had 61 yards on 32 of his carries, or 1.9 yards per carry.
1.9 yards per carry is a pathetic number. No football player, on any level, should ever have numbers that ugly. Sure, Mr. Harris had three touchdowns. Sure, his team won the game. But E and I argue that he hurt his team. The official AP recap of the game states, "Despite St. Louis' huge advantages in almost every statistic -- including 2-to-1 in time of possession and Bulger outpassing Maddox 375-159 -- the Rams twice settled for field goals after driving to first downs inside the Pittsburgh 5." Why, you might ask? Because they had no running game.
I could go on and on providing examples as to why this was just an awful game (I won't because I'm at work...), but the fact of the matter is, any replacement player in the NFL could have done a better job. Harris's VORP (value over replacement player- maybe I'll address this another day- its very interesting if you are a math geek and a sports nerd) had to be negative. SO SUCK IT, FGS.
3 comments:
I agree with the post. I will add that the argument started because the announcers the next week said "Arlen Harris had a 'good game' last week against Pittsburgh." As explained in the post, actually, virtually any other halfback or fullback in the league could have averaged 2.4 yards per carry. Nfl.com lists the top 30 rushers in the NFL during the 2003 season. The runner with the LOWEST yards per carry of that group - Olandis Gary - still had an average of 3.4 yards, a full yard more than Arlen Harris in the fateful game.
I would like to direct the blogger and the first anonymous commenter to the example of one Willie Parker in last years Super Bowl. 93 yards on 10 carries - a great game on its face, particularly if one subscribes to the YPC-centric approach to running back evaluation that the blogger and commenter so clearly prefer. However, if Willie's long run of 75 yards is discounted he is left with 18 yards on 9 carries - a meager 2.0 ypc, and a number shockingly similar to our friend Arlen Harris's 1.9 ypc figure mentioned in the original post. Can a single play be the difference between a stellar game and an effort detrimental to a team's success? Following the misguided logic of the blogger and his anonymous supporter, apparently it can.
Anonymous poster #2, (cough, FGS, cough) you have to look at the whole picture; not just YPC. Willie Parker had nine carries. That's it. Yes, 2.0 YPC is awful. But the team wasn't depending on Willie Parker to carry them. They only asked him to rush nine times. And without knowing how many of those carries were short yardage situations, the Parker example doesn't work. Mr. Harris, as evidenced by the fact that he had 34 carries that day, was the focal point of the offense. And he let them down....
Post a Comment