Well, those were games that we got to see an hour after we were supposed to. I am extremely disappointed in my team losing, my lack of stats, and the hour long delay.
As for what this is, this is an efficiency rating created by Football Outsiders, which works like follows: A run is successful when it gains 40% of the yards to gain on first down, 50% on second down, and 100% on third or fourth down. I went through rush by rush to find who did their best to move the sticks this week.
Yellowknife Wraiths at Chicago Butchers
Wraiths Rushers:
Acura Skyline: 5/15
Jameson Vermillion: 5/12
Butchers Rushers:
Baby Yoda: 9/27
Julio Tirtawidjaja: 0/2
Zed Keppler: 0/1
My first thought looking at this game was...man this game was not quite as good running as the statlines would show for Vermillion. Not bad running by any stretch, though. And 5/12 might actually end up being a decent success rate, I'm not sure. 2 of his successes were runs on third down that gained a first down, including a 5 yard run on 3rd and 4. The 3 other successes came on 3 runs that gained a total of 92 yards, each on first down, each gaining over 20 yards, supplementing 2 drives getting into the red zone. Skyline, on the other hand, didn't really have a game worth remembering, neither in terms of efficiency nor in straight stats.
Meanwhile, on the other side, this was an extremely rough running performance, especially considering they were behind the best line in the league. With 4:40 left in the first half, Baby Yoda ran for 19 yards on 2nd and 4 to bring the Butchers into the Red Zone. The Butchers would not have a successful run for the entire rest of the GAME. And it's not like they weren't running at all during the 2nd half, they ran the ball 15 times after that, with a longest run of 4 yards. The Butchers winning this game was off the backs of their passing game and their defense/special teams creating clutch field position.
Sarasota Sailfish at Colorado Yeti:
Sailfish Rushers:
Raphtalia Chan: 7/23
Mike Boss Jr: 1/2
Sigismund Sternenstaub: 0/1
Yeti Rushers:
Richard Gilbert: 4/17
Anders Christiansen: 0/2
This metric is really going to punish people who had one big run all game drive up their YPC. Raphtalia Chan had 5 yards per carry. Take out her amazing 61 yard touchdown run and it falls to 2.4. That goes a LONG way to explain why she has a worse success rate than Acura Skyline. Not helping that 2/4 yards per carry is that 2 of Chan's successes were 1 yard touchdown runs set up by other players getting her to the 1. 2 more successes were gaining 1st downs on 1st and 10 back to back halfway through the 2nd. Chan was inches away from getting another successful run, but was stopped at 3rd down by inches. By the way, Mike Boss' successful run was a 2 yard run to get to the inch line from the 2 on 1st and Goal.
Gilbert had no long runs to help him out, which is why he has only 2.4 yards per carry overall. His 4 successes were a 1 yard touchdown run, a 1 yard run on 3rd and inches, a 12 yard run on 2nd and 8 (which was immediately followed by a sack fumble), and a rush for 9 yards on 3rd and 2...which he fumbled on and got lucky that his team recovered. To be honest, his 4/17 looks extremely unimpressive and gets even worse with context, with only 1 successful run that he didn't fumble on over 1 yard. You can also point a specific unsuccessful run to being a reason they didn't win, with his failure to convert or even get positive yardage on 4th and short.
Berlin Fire Salamanders at Baltimore Hawks:
Salamanders Rushers:
Joseph Petrongolo: 6/15
Terry Yaki: 5/9
Hawks Rushers:
Mai Fukushu: 6/19
Matthias Hanyadi: 1/2
Petrongolo has had the best efficiency so far from anyone with more than 10 rushes, and Terry Yaki has just flat out had the best efficiency so far. Despite Petrongolo also having one massive run that pumped up his yards per carry, it was nowhere near as massive a boost as Chan's scamper, at "only" 55 yards. Take that out and he still had 3 yards per carry. Terry Yaki only got the ball 10 times this game, but when he did he usually made something happen, getting a receiving touchdown along with 3 first downs and setting up 2 easy conversions. His yards per carry was actually lower if you took out his 29 yard scamper at only 2.6, but he made those yards count pretty consistently.
The Hawks were not quite as hopeless rushing as their lack of scoring would have you believe. Granted, 2 of those successes were 2 runs to set up a third and inches which they promptly threw away with an incomplete pass. But in general, terrible 3rd down efficiency and more missed field goals than they actually made neutered the scoring output of this team. I don't want to appear to be pumping up this team too much, though. Mai Fukushu has the 2nd worst efficiency of any RB1 so far, only Gilbert was worse.
Honolulu Hahalua at Philadelphia Liberty:
Hahalua Rushers:
Nicholas Ayers: 2/22
Cobra Kai: 5/11
Luke Skywalker: 0/1
Liberty Rushers:
Sam Torensen: 4/16
Darrel Williams: 6/15
Fuzzy Dotson: 0/2
Oh my god. 2/22. What the hell happened exactly? Well, technically Ayers had more than 2 runs that counted as successful. He had 2 more runs where he actually got first down yardage, much less the line to gain, which would have improved his ratio to 4/22. Still abysmal and easily the least efficient running back we've covered, but not less than 10% success rate! So what happened on those 2 runs? He fumbled the ball away to the other team. He gave the Liberty half of the turnovers they'd need to get back in this game and eventually win. Luke Skywalker did the rest. As for Cobra Kai, he was pretty efficient considering he was only being used in short bursts. He got a number of key first downs throughout the game, all the way into OT.
The Liberty didn't really have any standouts. Nobody great, nobody absolutely abysmal. It's probably important to note that most of the successful runs came from the first half for them, including 3 back to back successful runs ending in a 44 yard touchdown run to start the scoring for them. I actually went into this expecting to say, "This is definitely the sim being stupid, why did they give as many runs to Torensen as they did to Williams when Williams is not only the better player, but was performing better?" Turns out, for much of the game they were in lockstep in terms of successful runs. Fuzzy Dotson on the other hand...
New Orleans Second Line at New York Silverbacks:
Second Line Rushers:
Mr Forty Two: 4/12
Mike Rotchburns: 5/10
Silverbacks Rushers:
Captain Rogers: 8/21
Ashley Owens: 2/6
Buster Bawls: 0/1
This game was a rollercoaster! Despite featuring 2 of the weaker running back cores in the league, these 2 were generally successful enough to keep the chains moving a decent amount of the time. I have to give credit to Rotchburns especially, who coming off of a record setting season for YPC kept up the efficiency at a 50% clip. Mr Forty Two wasn't bad either, and was very close to having an even more successful day than otherwise, getting stopped at the 1 yard or inch line twice.
When it comes to Silverbacks rushers, I'd like to start by talking about Owens. Owens only had 3 yards total this game. They had a longest rush of 2. Despite that, they had two successes, two very important, one yard successes: A 1 yard touchdown run to open the scoring for the Silverbacks, and a 1 yard rush on 4th and 1 to keep the Silverbacks alive on their eventual last second touchdown drive. Captain Rogers, meanwhile, was very streaky. He had successful runs multiple times in a row during this game, but would also have long droughts were he couldn't get going. Also, dot sim coaches, why would you run your blocking fullback 3rd string runner on a 4th and 9?
Austin Copperheads at Orange County Otters:
Copperheads Rushers:
Zoe Watts: 2/10
Otters Rushers
Ace Savage: 2/14
Suleiman Ramza: 1/1
You know, considering how great Zoe Watts has been in her career so far, I really didn't expect for her to 1. get leaned on less than their rookie QB with less TPE than any other QB in the league, and 2. perform so utterly awfully that she was almost out efficiencied by the rookie on the opposite side. Granted, she ended up having better efficiency, but it was REALLY close there. Then again, that's what happens when all but 10 of your yards come on one long rush. Take out her 49 yarder and you have an absolutely abysmal 1.1 yards per carry. And the only reason Watts even had another successful rush all day was because she was given the ball at 3rd and 2, ran 1 yard to get to 4th and inches, and then ran 1 more yard. Watts was excellent on one run all day and besides that was profoundly awful.
Don't think you're off the hook either, Ace. Granted, removing your longest rush only brings you down to a 1.2 yards per carry, but that rush was only 12 yards. That was his only success besides a 3 yard run on 2nd and 2, and being unable to get any successes late on gave the Copperheads another lease on life, even if they did end up squandering it. In summation, the most efficient runner on either side this game, by far, was Suleiman Ramza, who ran 4 yards on 1st and 10 on his only rush attempt to get a perfect 1/1. Considering nobody else got more than 2 successful rush attempts all day, I don't care that this was only a single rush.
San Jose Sabercats at Arizona Outlaws:
Sabercats Rushers:
Rando Cardrissian: 6/16
Jamar Lackson: 3/8
Outlaws Rushers:
Tatsu Nakamura: 11/22
Gunner Thorbjornsson: 9/15
I was extremely surprised at how, despite extremely low yards per carry, lower than even Savage, and I believe the lowest of any running back through week 1, Cardrissian had OK efficiency. Then again, when half of your successes in the game come from a series where you got 5 yards on 1st down, 3 on 2nd, and 2 on 3rd, for 3 successes on a cool 3.3 ypc, your efficiency will look a lot better than your ypc. I don't really have much to say about Lackson, he didn't get the ball that often, but generally made good plays when he did, including a 33 yard touchdown run to tie the game soon after halftime.
Arizona definitely had the best running game this week, without a doubt. Featuring literally the only 2 players with over a 50% success rate on more than 10 rushes, Nakamura and Thorbjornsson consistently kept the chains moving and don't even suffer too much if you take their longest runs out of the equation. Nakamura falls to "only" 4.2 yards per carry, and Thorbjornsson falls to "only" 6.4 yards per carry. There was a reason we were in this game, and it certainly wasn't a passing game with fucking 3.3 yards per attempt what the hell cortez you should be better than this arglbargl...anyways. I think giving Nakamura or Thorbjornsson the title of Running Back of the Week wouldn't be too shocking or undeserving, I lean towards Thorbjornsson because 9 yards per carry on 15 carries is FUCKING RIDICULOUS.
(1987 words)
As for what this is, this is an efficiency rating created by Football Outsiders, which works like follows: A run is successful when it gains 40% of the yards to gain on first down, 50% on second down, and 100% on third or fourth down. I went through rush by rush to find who did their best to move the sticks this week.
Yellowknife Wraiths at Chicago Butchers
Wraiths Rushers:
Acura Skyline: 5/15
Jameson Vermillion: 5/12
Butchers Rushers:
Baby Yoda: 9/27
Julio Tirtawidjaja: 0/2
Zed Keppler: 0/1
My first thought looking at this game was...man this game was not quite as good running as the statlines would show for Vermillion. Not bad running by any stretch, though. And 5/12 might actually end up being a decent success rate, I'm not sure. 2 of his successes were runs on third down that gained a first down, including a 5 yard run on 3rd and 4. The 3 other successes came on 3 runs that gained a total of 92 yards, each on first down, each gaining over 20 yards, supplementing 2 drives getting into the red zone. Skyline, on the other hand, didn't really have a game worth remembering, neither in terms of efficiency nor in straight stats.
Meanwhile, on the other side, this was an extremely rough running performance, especially considering they were behind the best line in the league. With 4:40 left in the first half, Baby Yoda ran for 19 yards on 2nd and 4 to bring the Butchers into the Red Zone. The Butchers would not have a successful run for the entire rest of the GAME. And it's not like they weren't running at all during the 2nd half, they ran the ball 15 times after that, with a longest run of 4 yards. The Butchers winning this game was off the backs of their passing game and their defense/special teams creating clutch field position.
Sarasota Sailfish at Colorado Yeti:
Sailfish Rushers:
Raphtalia Chan: 7/23
Mike Boss Jr: 1/2
Sigismund Sternenstaub: 0/1
Yeti Rushers:
Richard Gilbert: 4/17
Anders Christiansen: 0/2
This metric is really going to punish people who had one big run all game drive up their YPC. Raphtalia Chan had 5 yards per carry. Take out her amazing 61 yard touchdown run and it falls to 2.4. That goes a LONG way to explain why she has a worse success rate than Acura Skyline. Not helping that 2/4 yards per carry is that 2 of Chan's successes were 1 yard touchdown runs set up by other players getting her to the 1. 2 more successes were gaining 1st downs on 1st and 10 back to back halfway through the 2nd. Chan was inches away from getting another successful run, but was stopped at 3rd down by inches. By the way, Mike Boss' successful run was a 2 yard run to get to the inch line from the 2 on 1st and Goal.
Gilbert had no long runs to help him out, which is why he has only 2.4 yards per carry overall. His 4 successes were a 1 yard touchdown run, a 1 yard run on 3rd and inches, a 12 yard run on 2nd and 8 (which was immediately followed by a sack fumble), and a rush for 9 yards on 3rd and 2...which he fumbled on and got lucky that his team recovered. To be honest, his 4/17 looks extremely unimpressive and gets even worse with context, with only 1 successful run that he didn't fumble on over 1 yard. You can also point a specific unsuccessful run to being a reason they didn't win, with his failure to convert or even get positive yardage on 4th and short.
Berlin Fire Salamanders at Baltimore Hawks:
Salamanders Rushers:
Joseph Petrongolo: 6/15
Terry Yaki: 5/9
Hawks Rushers:
Mai Fukushu: 6/19
Matthias Hanyadi: 1/2
Petrongolo has had the best efficiency so far from anyone with more than 10 rushes, and Terry Yaki has just flat out had the best efficiency so far. Despite Petrongolo also having one massive run that pumped up his yards per carry, it was nowhere near as massive a boost as Chan's scamper, at "only" 55 yards. Take that out and he still had 3 yards per carry. Terry Yaki only got the ball 10 times this game, but when he did he usually made something happen, getting a receiving touchdown along with 3 first downs and setting up 2 easy conversions. His yards per carry was actually lower if you took out his 29 yard scamper at only 2.6, but he made those yards count pretty consistently.
The Hawks were not quite as hopeless rushing as their lack of scoring would have you believe. Granted, 2 of those successes were 2 runs to set up a third and inches which they promptly threw away with an incomplete pass. But in general, terrible 3rd down efficiency and more missed field goals than they actually made neutered the scoring output of this team. I don't want to appear to be pumping up this team too much, though. Mai Fukushu has the 2nd worst efficiency of any RB1 so far, only Gilbert was worse.
Honolulu Hahalua at Philadelphia Liberty:
Hahalua Rushers:
Nicholas Ayers: 2/22
Cobra Kai: 5/11
Luke Skywalker: 0/1
Liberty Rushers:
Sam Torensen: 4/16
Darrel Williams: 6/15
Fuzzy Dotson: 0/2
Oh my god. 2/22. What the hell happened exactly? Well, technically Ayers had more than 2 runs that counted as successful. He had 2 more runs where he actually got first down yardage, much less the line to gain, which would have improved his ratio to 4/22. Still abysmal and easily the least efficient running back we've covered, but not less than 10% success rate! So what happened on those 2 runs? He fumbled the ball away to the other team. He gave the Liberty half of the turnovers they'd need to get back in this game and eventually win. Luke Skywalker did the rest. As for Cobra Kai, he was pretty efficient considering he was only being used in short bursts. He got a number of key first downs throughout the game, all the way into OT.
The Liberty didn't really have any standouts. Nobody great, nobody absolutely abysmal. It's probably important to note that most of the successful runs came from the first half for them, including 3 back to back successful runs ending in a 44 yard touchdown run to start the scoring for them. I actually went into this expecting to say, "This is definitely the sim being stupid, why did they give as many runs to Torensen as they did to Williams when Williams is not only the better player, but was performing better?" Turns out, for much of the game they were in lockstep in terms of successful runs. Fuzzy Dotson on the other hand...
New Orleans Second Line at New York Silverbacks:
Second Line Rushers:
Mr Forty Two: 4/12
Mike Rotchburns: 5/10
Silverbacks Rushers:
Captain Rogers: 8/21
Ashley Owens: 2/6
Buster Bawls: 0/1
This game was a rollercoaster! Despite featuring 2 of the weaker running back cores in the league, these 2 were generally successful enough to keep the chains moving a decent amount of the time. I have to give credit to Rotchburns especially, who coming off of a record setting season for YPC kept up the efficiency at a 50% clip. Mr Forty Two wasn't bad either, and was very close to having an even more successful day than otherwise, getting stopped at the 1 yard or inch line twice.
When it comes to Silverbacks rushers, I'd like to start by talking about Owens. Owens only had 3 yards total this game. They had a longest rush of 2. Despite that, they had two successes, two very important, one yard successes: A 1 yard touchdown run to open the scoring for the Silverbacks, and a 1 yard rush on 4th and 1 to keep the Silverbacks alive on their eventual last second touchdown drive. Captain Rogers, meanwhile, was very streaky. He had successful runs multiple times in a row during this game, but would also have long droughts were he couldn't get going. Also, dot sim coaches, why would you run your blocking fullback 3rd string runner on a 4th and 9?
Austin Copperheads at Orange County Otters:
Copperheads Rushers:
Zoe Watts: 2/10
Otters Rushers
Ace Savage: 2/14
Suleiman Ramza: 1/1
You know, considering how great Zoe Watts has been in her career so far, I really didn't expect for her to 1. get leaned on less than their rookie QB with less TPE than any other QB in the league, and 2. perform so utterly awfully that she was almost out efficiencied by the rookie on the opposite side. Granted, she ended up having better efficiency, but it was REALLY close there. Then again, that's what happens when all but 10 of your yards come on one long rush. Take out her 49 yarder and you have an absolutely abysmal 1.1 yards per carry. And the only reason Watts even had another successful rush all day was because she was given the ball at 3rd and 2, ran 1 yard to get to 4th and inches, and then ran 1 more yard. Watts was excellent on one run all day and besides that was profoundly awful.
Don't think you're off the hook either, Ace. Granted, removing your longest rush only brings you down to a 1.2 yards per carry, but that rush was only 12 yards. That was his only success besides a 3 yard run on 2nd and 2, and being unable to get any successes late on gave the Copperheads another lease on life, even if they did end up squandering it. In summation, the most efficient runner on either side this game, by far, was Suleiman Ramza, who ran 4 yards on 1st and 10 on his only rush attempt to get a perfect 1/1. Considering nobody else got more than 2 successful rush attempts all day, I don't care that this was only a single rush.
San Jose Sabercats at Arizona Outlaws:
Sabercats Rushers:
Rando Cardrissian: 6/16
Jamar Lackson: 3/8
Outlaws Rushers:
Tatsu Nakamura: 11/22
Gunner Thorbjornsson: 9/15
I was extremely surprised at how, despite extremely low yards per carry, lower than even Savage, and I believe the lowest of any running back through week 1, Cardrissian had OK efficiency. Then again, when half of your successes in the game come from a series where you got 5 yards on 1st down, 3 on 2nd, and 2 on 3rd, for 3 successes on a cool 3.3 ypc, your efficiency will look a lot better than your ypc. I don't really have much to say about Lackson, he didn't get the ball that often, but generally made good plays when he did, including a 33 yard touchdown run to tie the game soon after halftime.
Arizona definitely had the best running game this week, without a doubt. Featuring literally the only 2 players with over a 50% success rate on more than 10 rushes, Nakamura and Thorbjornsson consistently kept the chains moving and don't even suffer too much if you take their longest runs out of the equation. Nakamura falls to "only" 4.2 yards per carry, and Thorbjornsson falls to "only" 6.4 yards per carry. There was a reason we were in this game, and it certainly wasn't a passing game with fucking 3.3 yards per attempt what the hell cortez you should be better than this arglbargl...anyways. I think giving Nakamura or Thorbjornsson the title of Running Back of the Week wouldn't be too shocking or undeserving, I lean towards Thorbjornsson because 9 yards per carry on 15 carries is FUCKING RIDICULOUS.
(1987 words)