PJ is injuring his running backs and it has to stop

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LesBolstad said:
He is wrong and starting a new thread on this stupid. As I posted in game thread:

There's a hundred reasons to be irate after that debacle, but this "overworking" our RB theme is not one of them
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The anger is not about overworking anyone. It’s about the stupidity of doing that when the passing game was also working.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Why not give it to him 50 times then? There's a limit somewhere. He's not a robot and can get fatigued over time. It's just odd that we don't see a few carries here and there from other guys besides Bryce Williams. Williams is a nice guy to have in obvious passing situations but that should be the extent of his playing time.

It's weird too because prior to 2020, Fleck's teams (at MN and WMU) usually had multiple guys that would get a lot of carries.
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Correct

There is a limit to what is optimal

Is it 20?
17?
24?
30?
45?

It’s probably different for different guys.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I agree that Fleck likes to run his top RB into the ground.

the issue is that there is apparently no other RB on the team that the Head Coach will allow to play - except for Bryce Williams. Tyler in the doghouse for fumbling. Evans in the doghouse for reasons known only to Fleck.

and the odd thing - it wasn't always like this - remember Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks splitting carries?

(live update) --------------Barreiro just said that Taylor should enter the transfer portal to keep Fleck from over-working him-----------------
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The issue of lack of depth at RB is a season-long problem. Talking about last night we might well have held on had we gone heavier to the passing game and kept Darius fresher.

AK was 9-9 the first half. He was sharp in putting it where it needed to be. We had a WR who made one of the best catches in Gopher history.

With real balance in the attack we had realistic opportunity to make first downs and win handily.
 

kisarazu said:
1 - Can you find a source for that statement? The only ones I find are because of the Lions being the Lions. "Since retiring, Sanders wrote co-authored a book — Barry Sanders: Now You See Him ... His Story in His Own Words — in which he made it pretty clear that he retired because he was losing interest in playing for a franchise that didn't put a winning team on the field."
2 - The average RB career in the NFL is 3.3 years. Barry Sanders played for 10 years and had over 3000 carries.
3 - Barry Sanders had tree trunks for legs. (Nit-picking hehe)
4 - Even though I am personally uncomfortable with a freshman RB having 30+ carries per game, my only reasons for that are ultimately based on feelings. I feel like a team probably shouldn't do that, but I'm not a coach and I'm not a doctor.
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You need be neither a coach nor a doctor to have common sense. Your instincts here are correct.
 

Dakota2 said:
The issue of lack of depth at RB is a season-long problem. Talking about last night we might well have held on had we gone heavier to the passing game and kept Darius fresher.

AK was 9-9 the first half. He was sharp in putting it where it needed to be. We had a WR who made one of the best catches in Gopher history.

With real balance in the attack we had realistic opportunity to make first downs and win handily.
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We don’t lack depth at running back.
 


Gopherchase said:
We don’t lack depth at running back.
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but the Coach has to be willing to use that depth. Tyler and Evans are - as far as we know - healthy and available. But the Coach will not put them in the game.

if you have a lot of money in the bank, but you refuse to spend it, what good is it doing you?

what good is the Gophers' depth at RB doing them if the Coach won't use them?
 

Gopherchase said:
We don’t lack depth at running back.
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Yes we do. Tyler hasn’t been trusted to carry the ball in the last two games. Bryce was injured two games and has injury history. Evans hasn’t seen the field.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
but the Coach has to be willing to use that depth. Tyler and Evans are - as far as we know - healthy and available. But the Coach will not put them in the game.

if you have a lot of money in the bank, but you refuse to spend it, what good is it doing you?

what good is the Gophers' depth at RB doing them if the Coach won't use them?
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He doesn’t understand depth means guys you trust to play.
 

There was a play, where Taylor had a long grueling run, and took a helmet to helmet hit, at the end of the run. (I think down at the 5 yard line).
The very next play, they handed the ball to him again, for no gain. That was a wasted down, and the ball should have gone to anyone else, except Taylor.
 



hello-world said:
This post is 0% about the outcome of the game and 100% about PJ putting his RBs in a really rough position. RBs run sprints every time they touch the ball and end every carry by running into a 250 lb body builder that is trying to twist their ankles and knees. Asking a 19 y.o. kid with less than a year of college training to do that is going to get them injured in just the same way that asking Mo to run 30 times in the first game out of the season led to a devastating overuse injury.
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He's averaging 22 carries per game.
 

LesBolstad said:
He is wrong and starting a new thread on this stupid. As I posted in game thread:

There's a hundred reasons to be irate after that debacle, but this "overworking" our RB theme is not one of them
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Yes it is. Over working Mo ruined his entire football career.
Over working a true freshman who was playing HIGH SCHOOL teams last year is equally if not more valid.
 

Dakota2 said:
Yes we do. Tyler hasn’t been trusted to carry the ball in the last two games. Bryce was injured two games and has injury history. Evans hasn’t seen the field.
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No we don't. Why hasn't Evens seen the field? He's a dynamic running back.
 

PMWinSTP said:
No we don't. Why hasn't Evens seen the field? He's a dynamic running back.
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Neither of us know why he's not playing. But we both know someone who has not seen the field is not depth.
 



kisarazu said:
Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State in 1988
_____
  • Sept. 10 vs. Miami (Ohio): 18 carries, 178 yards, two touchdowns, one kickoff return touchdown
  • Sept. 24 vs. Texas A&M: 20 carries, 157 yards, two touchdowns, one punt return touchdown
  • Oct. 1 vs. Tulsa: 33 carries, 304 yards, five touchdowns
  • Oct. 8 at Colorado: 24 carries, 174 yards, four touchdowns
  • Oct. 15 at Nebraska: 35 carries, 189 yards, four touchdowns
  • Oct. 22 vs. Missouri: 25 carries, 154 yards, two touchdowns
  • Oct. 29 at Kansas State: 37 carries, 320 yards, three touchdowns
  • Nov. 5 vs. Oklahoma: 39 carries, 215 yards, two touchdowns
  • Nov. 12 vs. Kansas: 37 rushes, 312 yards, five touchdowns
  • Nov. 19 at Iowa State: 32 carries, 293 yards, four touchdowns
  • Dec. 3 vs. Texas Tech: 44 carries, 332 yards, four touchdowns
  • Holiday Bowl vs. Wyoming: 44 carries, 222 yards, five touchdowns
I'm not saying heavy loads are a good idea - just that heavy loads throughout at least 8 games can be done.
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Plus he had an offensive line that actually blocked someone. Much different than our decoys.
 




Saturday's loss just felt different.
My confidence in the program is for the first time under fleck, shaken.

An upset would help correct balance.
 


Taylor won't last if he's even healthy at this point. He leads the P5 in carries and that's having only 1 carry in week 1. 29 carries for a true freshman is way too many. He will transfer before his career is destroyed. Heck my kid's 7th grade football team has a running back that, chose to be re-drafted this year because his team last year, gave him the ball too much.

Look at Fleck's history. He just pounds the hell out of one guy until they get hurt and then puts in the next guy. Every single RB in his 7 years has had significant injuries. If the next guy is just as productive, which has been the case for the most part, play them more and keep guys fresh. Heck if they are the best players maybe find a way to get them on the field with mor than 1 at a time.

Mo fumbled against Iowa last year after carrying it 10 straight plays and his 38th carry of the game. One could make the conclusion he was tired after going against a top 5 defense.

At some point recruiting will start to be affected.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
but the Coach has to be willing to use that depth. Tyler and Evans are - as far as we know - healthy and available. But the Coach will not put them in the game.

if you have a lot of money in the bank, but you refuse to spend it, what good is it doing you?

what good is the Gophers' depth at RB doing them if the Coach won't use them?
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Yep.
 

Taylor is 4th in FBS in total carries.

He had 1 carry against Nebraska, and 86 the last 3 weeks.

I honestly can't comprehend how anyone on here can defend this from our coach.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
Taylor is 4th in FBS in total carries.

He had 1 carry against Nebraska, and 86 the last 3 weeks.

I honestly can't comprehend how anyone on here can defend this from our coach.
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I agree. Have to spread out the carries some. The disappointing thing to me is the kid they brought in from Western Michigan. He is flat out not a power 5 type back.
There has to be someone else though that can handle the rock for 10-12 carries a game? Don't run this kid into the ground, he has ALL BIG TEN written all over him.
 



Zeppelin Gopher said:
Taylor is 4th in FBS in total carries.

He had 1 carry against Nebraska, and 86 the last 3 weeks.

I honestly can't comprehend how anyone on here can defend this from our coach.
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It's not much different than the NFL. Running backs have become mostly disposable.
 

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