I do not think in my entire life I have a statistic utilizes that answers a question better than what you just did.
This could be the most compelling argument ever on this board; that is that Maroney absolutely does not have a 'high rish, high reward' running style or that his ypc is skewed higher because of many longer runs, many short runs, and few 'good' runs.
Congratulations. This is probably the most lopsided argument victory I have ever seen on this board.
Football Outsiders is a legitimately awesome resource, and I can't encourage people to check it out enough. You'll find out a lot of things that will surprise you, especially about running backs. For example, I'm looking at 2008 right now, and am seeing some really interesting things:
Sammy Morris had an extremely efficient year. He only had 156 carries, so his final stats weren't great, but he was solid. Not nearly as good as Maroney in 2007, though, even after you perform situational adjustments, but he was good.
I wish Kevin Faulk had gotten 20 more carries, just so that he could have met the minimum. His 46.5% DVOA is comically good- it would have put him at #1 in the league by a mile. Just quantifies what we Pats fans already know: That Faulk, in spite of his limited touches, is actually one of the most indispensable players in our (or any) offense- every touch he gets has a tangible impact that contributes significantly to the Pats winning the game.
Tomlinson and Peterson both had negative DVOAs last year, and pretty average success rates. Their yard and touchdown totals were high because of occasional long runs and a ton of rushing attempts, but they weren't terribly efficient runners. Tomlinson, Turner, and Peterson are all overrated.
DeAngelo Williams was out-of-this-world good. Favorable schedule had a little to do with it, but it was mostly him.
Derrick Ward and Brandon Jacobs were both remarkably efficient, combining to form a rushing attack that was even better than most realized. Their stats were skewed down because they played a bunch of good defenses, too- they're just a scary combo.
BJGE didn't get enough touches to have a measured success rate, but his DVOA came in at 6.7%, which is respectable. It's above league-average, which is impressive in its own right, but substantially below Faulk, Jordan, and Morris.
DeShaun Foster, in his 76 carries, continued his longstanding reign as probably the most overrated RB in recent football history. He's a legitimately bad RB who, for some reason, people think is pretty good.
In the receiving game, Faulk, MJD and Forte all combined quantity of touches with quality in a way that put them head-and-shoulders above everyone else. Washington, Westbrook, Bush, Gore, Tomlinson, Barber, Rhodes, Jackson and Dunn all had a lot of balls thrown to them, but weren't nearly as effective as the top three. Some were even outright inefficient.
Sproles, despite catching less than half as many passes thrown his way, was ridiculously effective when he did. He's going to catch a ton of passes this year, at Tomlinson's expense.
