Does a running game even matter in the NFL anymore?

Running doesn't set up the passing game. That is old conventional wisdom that has no place in today's game. Teams that put up good rushing numbers and win generally do so because they run the ball in the end of the game. read more

The running game matters in football, but dominate runners no longer matter. The running game is about controlling the clock and wearing down the defence. It is no about accumulating yardage. read more

First of all, when using wRSR the correlation to ANY/A jumps all the way to 0.51. The R-squared value suggests that 26% of the season total passing game is explained by the rushing game, which is significant and waaaaaay more than YPC (take that stat-nerds). read more

Chicago bottomed out at 101 losses in 2012, going 271-377 (.418) over a four-year span from 2011 to 2014. Houston was even worse over that stretch, playing putrid .358 ball (232-416) in the midst of their own four-year morass, losing 111 games in 2013. read more