I like Blount and think he was a good pickup but to put him in the same sentence as Corey Dillon is ambitious in my opinion. Blount has done well as I said but many of his yards are gained in the fourth quarter of decided football games.
QUARTER = 1 - 34, 140, 4.1, 14, 1
QUARTER = 2 - 29, 115, 4.0, 14, 0
QUARTER = 3 - 18, 68, 3.8, 12, 0
QUARTER = 4 - 48, 260, 5.4, 47, 4
He has run for 323 yards on 81 carries for a 3.98 average, 1 touchdown and 2 lost fumbles in the first three quarters of the football game. He best games occurred against the Tampa, Atlanta, Pittsburg and Baltimore which coincidently were all games we led by 10+ points heading into the fourth quarter.
I am not diminishing what Blount has done, that clock killing RB at the end of a ball game is nice to have but I think that people need to take into consideration the causation vs. correlation of Blount’s stats when assessing what he has done and how much value he has added. For a depth player he has been fantastic but he has not done anything close to what Dillon did for this team.
First, I'd say that Blount is a much different runner lately compared to the beginning of the season. He's much more decisive and hits the hole harder. I don't know if it's a coaching thing or maybe he understood the playbook better and so he's not thinking as much, but he's definitely a different player than we saw in training camp.
I also think you need to look at the situational splits a bit further. Yes, he's gotten some garbage yards in the 4th, as does every running back. But he certainly hasn't been terrible during competitive situations.
LeGarrette Blount: Situational Stats at NFL.com
You've mentioned the 4th quarter thing a few times, so let's start there. Sure, he averages 5.4 YPC in the 4th quarter, but did you know he also averages 5.4 YPC in the 4th quarter when the game is within 7 points?
He only has 12 carries when we're ahead by 15+. He has more than 5 times as many carries with the game between 1-8 points. He actually has twice as many carries when we're behind by 1 score, averaging an impressive 4.9 YPC.
In fact, 471 of his 583 yards (81%) have come at times when the game was within 14 points (two scores). That number is meaningless without context, so as a comparison of yards generated in "garbage" situations (not in talent), LeSean McCoy leads the league in rushing and has gained 78% of his yards during 2-score situations. Jamaal Charles has only gained 62%. Adrian Peterson is at 86% this season, and during his 2,000 yard MVP-season, he was at 81%. Matt Forte is at 76%, Alfred Morris at 70%, Marshawn Lynch 61%, Frank Gore 63%, Eddie Lacy 91%, Ryan Matthews 81%, and DeMarco Murray 59%.
Those are your top 10 NFL rushers this year and only 2 of them have a higher percentage of yards gained in two-possession games than Blount. So let's stop treating him like the garbage man.
83 of Blount's 129 carries (64%) were done when the game was within 0-7 points, and he's averaging a healthy 4.2 YPC. Sure, it's lower than the 5.4 YPC when the game is decided by 15+, but that 4.2 YPC mark is the same as Marshawn Lynch, Frank Gore, Eddie Lacy, DeAngelo Williams, and Stevan Ridley, a very respectable number.
This is all a long way of saying that Blount got some yards in some blowouts early on, but that's not all he does. And it's unfair to continue to criticize him for it.