07-20-2020, 10:16 AM
(07-20-2020, 08:42 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The Rams 2018 offense was actually based more on the run than the pass. They were 8th in rush attempts and only 14th in pass attempts. But Gurly wore down late in the season and in the playoffs. He missed the final two games of the regular season and in the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl he only had a total of 14 carries.
So Zac comes here where he has another great RB in Mixon, but Mixon had never been able to stay healthy and play a full 16 game season.
That is when Bernard got his big contract. I honestly believe that Taylor meant to use Bernard more, but after the first two games where Gio had 13 carries it seemed like we were behind so much that there were just not a lot of rushing attempts.
I was surprised to see that Bernard played 42% of the offensive snaps last year. It seemed like he disappeared over the last half of the season, but he was playing quite a few snaps to give Mixon a break. He just was not getting a lot of touches.
2019 totals. Instead of "touches" (receptions + carries) I am using (targets + carries) to show how much they were used. And I am not counting any special team snaps.
Bernard...443 snaps... 96 use
Mixon......653 snaps... 323 use
It was also hard to warrant the carries last year when both running backs got stonewalled behind the line a majority of the time.
People complained about Marvin for sticking with the run too long and Zac did the opposite by throwing. It wasn’t working and we went away from it... they fixed it in the 2nd half of the season, but I’d have to assume the 1st half of the year weighed the carries down a bit as well.
Both backs probabaly would have been used more in the passing game as well, but they had to stay in to block to keep The QB upright.
I guess what I’m getting at is that the O-line woes detracted from how both Mixon and Gio were used last year.
