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I see that Gerry Fraley of the Dallas News is bashing Marion Barber today. Barber, Fraley notes, has converted only 10 of 17 plays when the Cowboys needed 1 yard on either third or fourth down.
"Barber tends to run directly into the pile, not always the best plan," writes Fraley at his blog.
We double-checked the numbers (Andy Richardson dumps all of those plays into a database so we can play around with him). The 10 of 17 figure is correct. If anything, Barber has been even worse. He's also had 5 other carries from the 1-yard (on first and second downs) and scored on only one of those plays. So in terms picking up a money yard, we've actually got Barber down at only 11 of 22.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's his fault. The offensive line is also involved. And if you look into the numbers from previous years, you'll see that Barber in the past has been one of the league's best in those kind of situations.
In 2007, Barber was success on 14 of 18 plays when he needed a crucial yard. That was 4th best out of the 30 backs with at least 10 such carries.
And in 2008, Barber went 13 of 18 on those plays. He was 15th of 37 that year (again, among players with at least 10 attempts).
So I don't necessarily buy into Fraley's theory that Dallas should be using Tashard Choice rather than Barber in goal-line situations.
—Ian Allan
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Posted by Todd Weigel | Jan. 14 at 05:54 AM
I recognized the name Gerry Fraley. A few years ago, the late, great FireJoeMorgan.com took him to task for several articles he wrote about baseball. FJM.com doesn't do new stuff anymore, but you can still check their archives. You really shouldn't buy any theory Fraley has.