Factoid
Justin Eleff raised an interesting point, I thought, when he pointed out that while Adrian Peterson had a problem with fumbles late last year, he actually didn’t fumble the ball any more often Earl Campbell in his prime. I checked the numbers. Campbell fumbled 21 times in his first three seasons; Peterson has fumbled 20 times in three years.
Eleff was responding to the YouTube link showing the best runs of Earl Campbell’s career.
It got me thinking. How does Peterson stack up against the best runners we’ve seen in the last 35 years? Is this guy a fumbler? Or is he just an average back (in terms of ball security) who happens to log a lot of a carries.
Below see the numbers of a bunch of other running backs who were heavily used in their first three season. The numbers show only production in each player’s first three seasons – the number of times he touched the ball (on a run or catch), his number of fumbles, and his average number of touches per fumble.
Peterson comes in middle of the pack.
Backs who fumbled the ball far more often include Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, George Rogers, Billy Sims and Marcus Allen. (Sims didn’t have a long career, but he was a phenomenal player in his first few years).
Peterson so far average a fumble for every 50 touches. He’s been very similar to Barry Sanders, Campbell, Ricky Williams and Ricky Watters.
The best backs at avoiding fumbles? Corey Dillon, LaDainian Tomlinson, Curtis Martin and Terrell Davis – at least in their first three years.
RUNNING BACKS / FUMBLES IN FIRST THREE YEARS
Shown are significant and heavily used backs of the last 35 years. Stats include touches (combined catches and rushing attempts), fumbles (whether lost or not), and average number of touches per fumble.
Att Fum Avg
944 6 157.3 Corey Dillon
1262 13 97.1 LaDainian Tomlinson
1075 12 89.6 Curtis Martin
1078 14 77.0 Terrell Davis
871 13 67.0 Jerome Bettis
1056 16 66.0 Edgerrin James
965 15 64.3 Marshall Faulk
1111 19 58.5 Emmitt Smith
756 14 54.0 Roger Craig
793 15 52.9 Ricky Watters
1082 21 51.5 Earl Campbell
978 19 51.5 Barry Sanders
998 20 49.9 Adrian Peterson
946 20 47.3 Ricky Williams
964 23 41.9 William Andrews
903 22 41.0 Thurman Thomas
1018 28 36.4 Ottis Anderson
871 27 32.3 Marcus Allen
894 28 31.9 Billy Sims
788 25 31.5 George Rogers
1153 37 31.2 Eric Dickerson
921 30 30.7 Walter Payton
859 28 30.7 Tony Dorsett
—Ian Allan
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Posted by KEVIN WEAKLAND | Jul. 30 at 01:55 PM
it doesn;t matter because in fantasy football the man puts up the numbers