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Are Wide Receivers the New Workhorse Running Back in Today's NFL?
By Ty Schalter , NFL National Lead Writer Sep 20, 2015
[bleacherreport.com]
The time of the bell-cow running back is long past, and the days of the 5,000-yard spread quarterback may be numbered—but Week 2 of the 2015 NFL season might be the dawn of the workhorse wide receiver.
The NFL's top offenses in Week 2, and through the first two weeks of the season, have widely been funneled through just one wideout. The recent trend of four- and five-target offenses geared to maximize quick-release triggermen may be waning, as the league's best quarterbacks increasingly lock on to their favorite target and work that matchup over and over again.
The teams that scored big points in Week 2 ran everything through their top wideout. Primary receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones didn't just make big catches, but ground out yards between the 20s and got their numbers called again and again in short-yardage situations.
Per ESPN.com's box scores, Jones, Odell Beckham, Jr. and Demaryius Thomas all had more targets than any running back on their team got carries. After the early slate of games, there were only four 100-plus-yard backs in all the NFL.
It's still a pass-first league, but as defenses have moved to nickel and dime defenses with mixed-up fronts and disguised zones to gain a numbers advantage, offenses seem to be isolating their in-space matchup and pressing that advantage over and over.
Are top receivers really replacing running backs in today's top NFL offenses? If so, will offenses that don't have a dominant receiver find themselves struggling to score?
The Arizona Cardinals offense got big boosts from rookie sparkplug David Johnson, who returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and safety Tony Jefferson, who added a pick-six. Even so, 34 of the team's 48 points came from the offense—and 18 of those 34 points came from Larry Fitzgerald.
Scoring on an eight-yard slant, a smoke-route hit from nine yards out and a 28-yard flea-flicker down the seam, Fitzgerald scored on the Chicago Bears just about every way a receiver can. Besides the three scoring plays, Fitzgerald hauled in five catches for 67 yards, averaging a healthy 13.4 yards per catch. John Brown's five catches for 45 yards led all non-Fitz Cardinals in both categories.
Save his first catch, which cut a 2nd-and-17 down to a 3rd-and-10 that Arizona converted, every Fitzgerald catch either moved the chains or scored six points. If he keeps this production up, he'll finish the season with 112 catches for 1,592 yards and a ludicrous 24 touchdowns, all career highs (and the latter an NFL record).
The next-highest-scoring team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, ran all 43 points through their offense. Even though No. 1 wideout Antonio Brown only accounted for seven of them, his nine catches for a stunning 195 yards leaves no doubt as to whom was stirring the Steelers' drink.
Brown, though not blessed with the enormous frame of Fitzgerald, Jones and other elite receivers, has erased any doubt he belongs in their class with his 2015 performance. As silly as it is to do this after two games, he is "on pace" for 144 catches, 2,624 yards and 16 touchdowns; the first two marks would be NFL records.
The Atlanta Falcons didn't hang a 40-burger on the New Orleans Saints, but there's no doubt who makes their offense go: Julio Jones, whose incredible 13-catch, 135-yard day slightly outshone his counterpart on the other side, Beckham, whose seven catches for 146 yards and one score included a 67-yard bomb.
When asked about his amazing one-handed, leaping catch, Jones asked reporters which one they meant, per Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News:
ME: We pay 7 Mill a year to run the opposite type offense these teams above play. If we come ready to play and put together a no penalty 7-10 play drive with an occasional 3rd down must make we score. Drives can't have anything go wrong. The skins played RAM Ball yesterdaay with 3 TE sets that set the edge and we never adjusted. Our TE's don't block. I think Harkey does. I think we have a GT Fullback on PS. The three teams we've faced counting the steelers have a fullback. Maybe we should add ours.
By Ty Schalter , NFL National Lead Writer Sep 20, 2015
[bleacherreport.com]
The time of the bell-cow running back is long past, and the days of the 5,000-yard spread quarterback may be numbered—but Week 2 of the 2015 NFL season might be the dawn of the workhorse wide receiver.
The NFL's top offenses in Week 2, and through the first two weeks of the season, have widely been funneled through just one wideout. The recent trend of four- and five-target offenses geared to maximize quick-release triggermen may be waning, as the league's best quarterbacks increasingly lock on to their favorite target and work that matchup over and over again.
The teams that scored big points in Week 2 ran everything through their top wideout. Primary receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones didn't just make big catches, but ground out yards between the 20s and got their numbers called again and again in short-yardage situations.
Per ESPN.com's box scores, Jones, Odell Beckham, Jr. and Demaryius Thomas all had more targets than any running back on their team got carries. After the early slate of games, there were only four 100-plus-yard backs in all the NFL.
It's still a pass-first league, but as defenses have moved to nickel and dime defenses with mixed-up fronts and disguised zones to gain a numbers advantage, offenses seem to be isolating their in-space matchup and pressing that advantage over and over.
Are top receivers really replacing running backs in today's top NFL offenses? If so, will offenses that don't have a dominant receiver find themselves struggling to score?
The Arizona Cardinals offense got big boosts from rookie sparkplug David Johnson, who returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and safety Tony Jefferson, who added a pick-six. Even so, 34 of the team's 48 points came from the offense—and 18 of those 34 points came from Larry Fitzgerald.
Scoring on an eight-yard slant, a smoke-route hit from nine yards out and a 28-yard flea-flicker down the seam, Fitzgerald scored on the Chicago Bears just about every way a receiver can. Besides the three scoring plays, Fitzgerald hauled in five catches for 67 yards, averaging a healthy 13.4 yards per catch. John Brown's five catches for 45 yards led all non-Fitz Cardinals in both categories.
Save his first catch, which cut a 2nd-and-17 down to a 3rd-and-10 that Arizona converted, every Fitzgerald catch either moved the chains or scored six points. If he keeps this production up, he'll finish the season with 112 catches for 1,592 yards and a ludicrous 24 touchdowns, all career highs (and the latter an NFL record).
The next-highest-scoring team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, ran all 43 points through their offense. Even though No. 1 wideout Antonio Brown only accounted for seven of them, his nine catches for a stunning 195 yards leaves no doubt as to whom was stirring the Steelers' drink.
Brown, though not blessed with the enormous frame of Fitzgerald, Jones and other elite receivers, has erased any doubt he belongs in their class with his 2015 performance. As silly as it is to do this after two games, he is "on pace" for 144 catches, 2,624 yards and 16 touchdowns; the first two marks would be NFL records.
The Atlanta Falcons didn't hang a 40-burger on the New Orleans Saints, but there's no doubt who makes their offense go: Julio Jones, whose incredible 13-catch, 135-yard day slightly outshone his counterpart on the other side, Beckham, whose seven catches for 146 yards and one score included a 67-yard bomb.
When asked about his amazing one-handed, leaping catch, Jones asked reporters which one they meant, per Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News:
ME: We pay 7 Mill a year to run the opposite type offense these teams above play. If we come ready to play and put together a no penalty 7-10 play drive with an occasional 3rd down must make we score. Drives can't have anything go wrong. The skins played RAM Ball yesterdaay with 3 TE sets that set the edge and we never adjusted. Our TE's don't block. I think Harkey does. I think we have a GT Fullback on PS. The three teams we've faced counting the steelers have a fullback. Maybe we should add ours.
