Quote:
Originally Posted by Bengalsrocket
When you start talking about Leonard's stats, you need some context. This is a guy who is primarily in on 3rd down. Which means if it's 3rd and 14, he's getting a draw play that will certainly rack up 9 yards because the defense is protecting the deep pass. I like Leonard a lot, but his stats are really misleading.
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So should we discredit all backs who get most of their playing time in passing formations?
2nd and 1 at CLE 17
B.Leonard left guard to CLV 13 for 4 yards (B.Pool).
3rd and 2 at CIN 33
B.Leonard up the middle to CIN 34 for 1 yard (T.Gooden).
3rd and 12 at CIN 26
(Shotgun) B.Leonard left end to CIN 38 for
12 yards (T.Suggs).
3rd and 4 at BAL 25
B.Leonard right guard to BLT 25 for no gain (T.Suggs).
1st and 10 at PIT 24
B.Leonard up the middle to PIT 23 for 1 yard (J.Harrison; B.Keisel).
2nd and 1 at CIN 30
B.Leonard left tackle to CIN 32 for 2 yards (B.Keisel, W.***).
1st and 10 at CIN 49
B.Leonard up the middle to PIT 48 for 3 yards (C.Hampton; L.Timmons).
1st and 10 at CIN 22
B.Leonard up the middle to CIN 23 for 1 yard (G.Ellis).
1st and 10 at OAK 16
B.Leonard left tackle to OAK 16 for no gain (M.Mitchell, M.Huff).
1st and 10 at OAK 41
B.Leonard up the middle to OAK 30 for 11 yards (M.Huff).
2nd and 1 at OAK 11
B.Leonard up the middle to OAK 5 for 6 yards (D.Bryant, T.Branch).
1st and 5 at OAK 5
B.Leonard left guard to OAK 1 for 4 yards (M.Huff).
2nd and 10 at CIN 25
B.Leonard right guard to CIN 26 for 1 yard (T.Kelly).
3rd and 9 at CIN 26
B.Leonard right end to CIN 24 for
-2 yards (T.Branch).
1st and 10 at OAK 19
B.Leonard up the middle to OAK 11 for 8 yards (N.Asomugha; H.Eugene).
2nd and 2 at OAK 11
B.Leonard up the middle to OAK 8 for 3 yards (H.Eugene).
1st and 3 at OAK 3
B.Leonard up the middle to OAK 5 for -2 yards (T.Howard).
2nd and 5 at OAK 5
B.Leonard left guard to OAK 1 for 4 yards (T.Kelly).
1st and 10 at OAK 24
B.Leonard right tackle to OAK 23 for 1 yard (S.Williams).
1st and 10 at CIN 33
B.Leonard up the middle to CIN 34 for 1 yard (G.Warren).
3rd and 7 at CIN 32
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right end to CIN 33 for
1 yard (M.Roth; C.Williams).
1st and 10 at CIN 26
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right guard to CIN 35 for 9 yards (C.Greenway).
3rd and 16 at CIN 18
(Shotgun) B.Leonard left end to CIN 26 for
8 yards (B.Thomas).
1st and 10 at CIN 43
B.Leonard up the middle to CIN 49 for 6 yards (D.Landri, J.Beason).
4th and 2 at CIN 40
B.Leonard right end to CIN 44 for 4 yards (M.Hudson)
4th and 1 at CAR 33
(Shotgun) B.Leonard left end to CAR 27 for 6 yards (J.Beason).
3rd and 2 at CIN 30
(Shotgun) B.Leonard left end to CIN 28 for -2 yards (G.Hayes). CIN-R.Kelly was injured during the play.
1st and 10 at CIN 45
(Shotgun) B.Leonard up the middle to CIN 45 for no gain (Q.Black; C.Grimm).
2nd and 10 at CIN 26
B.Leonard left end to CIN 28 for 2 yards (T.McDaniel).
4th and 1 at CIN 24
(Run formation) Direct snap to B.Leonard. B.Leonard left tackle to IND 34 for 42 yards (J.Hughes, J.Lacey).
3rd and 3 at NO 9
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right tackle to NO 5 for 4 yards (D.Sharper; J.Vilma).
3rd and 5 at CLE 40
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right tackle to CLV 41 for
-1 yards (T.Ward). CIN-B.Leonard was injured during the play.
3rd and 23 at CIN 8
B.Leonard right tackle to CIN 19 for
11 yards (J.Mitchell).
3rd and 7 at CIN 36
B.Leonard left tackle to CIN 40 for
4 yards (S.Fujita).
3rd and 1 at CIN 32
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right end to CIN 34 for 2 yards (M.Dareus; L.McKelvin).
1st and 10 at CIN 34
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right guard to CIN 47 for 13 yards (D.Edwards).
1st and 10 at CIN 36
(Shotgun) B.Leonard right tackle to CIN 43 for 7 yards (N.Barnett).
yeah those 3 plays on 3rd and long where he got a good chunk of yardage really inflated his stats (even though he still averages 4 ypc without them), and the fact that there were quite a few 3rd and longs where it didn't seem the defense was fooled trying to protect the deep pass and were ready to tackle him as soon as he got the handoff.
If they ran him like a regular runningback (let him get into some sort of rythym, not 2 carries here, 4 carries there every few games, at least 10 carries a game) and more runs where he isn't in shotgun (hard for a bigger guy to run out of shotgun, not going downhill when taking the handoff), he would probably be even better and break off some bigger runs, also more variety so not he's not just running straight up the gut every time he gets a handoff in a regular formation. He has been pretty consistent though, he has been able to break off a few 20+ yard plays as receiver. And there was the 42 yard run last year with nice zone blocking blocking that wasn't just straight up the gut.