Stoney's He-Man Steeler Haters NFL Playoff Thread ... No Yinzers allowed

The Packers' problem in their two recent home playoff losses has been not Rodgers but a team-wide case of the dropsies.

 

The expand on this, here are both teams' rushing statistics for their past six games.

Dallas: 190 attempts (31.6 per game), 776 yards (129.3 per game), 4.08 yards per attempt
Green Bay: 184 attempts (30.7 per game), 895 yards (149.2 per game), 4.86 yards per attempt

Which one comes in as the stronger running team?

BTW, both teams' last game was against Detroit, one of the league's top rushing defenses. Green Bay ran 38 times for 152 yards (4.0 ypc), Dallas ran 21 times for 73 yards (3.5 ypc)

 

As fan of the Cowboys, I'm shocked by the love they're getting this week. My theory is that people are so turned off by the other NFC game, and Dallas is an exciting fun team to watch - they play interesting games as much as any team in the league and people need what to talk about. If Rodgers is healthy, I have no confidence in the defense to be able to do much at all and I doubt the offense can keep up.

Not sure why everyone is assuming that it's Murray who has gotten tired / broken down, when the pass protection has deteriorated just as much as the season went on. Maybe it's the big, 300 pound guys who are getting fatigued. But that would screw up the narrative.

 

It's because Murray has the second-most touches of anybody in the last decade and is beyond what everyone would agree are normal human limits.

 

Are they terrible against the run?

Here are their rushing defense numbers over their past eight games -- an entire half of the season: 192 attempts (24.0 per game), 691 yards (86.4 per game), 3.6 yards per attempt.

Let's take out the Tampa Bay game (14 carries for 16 yards) as an aberration against a horrendous offensive team. Green Bay still allowed only 96.4 rushing yards per game on 25.4 carries, an average of 3.8 yards per carry.

For reference, using the final season stats, the yards per game and yards per rush numbers -- without the Tampa Bay game -- would both rank sixth in the league.

With the Tampa Bay game, their numbers are top four.

 

In the last decade? Damn.

Is someone going to be dumb enough to give him a massive new contract this spring?

 

Could be all of them.

 

Does that explain why Romo has gotten beat up more in the last month than he did the first half of the season combined?

 

Dallas won't.

 

Romo holding onto the ball for 49 seconds might have a little to do with that. #HotTakeAlert

 

It could. Having to commit extra defenders to the run would naturally make it tougher to get to the quarterback. But if Murray hasn't been as explosive, teams might not be feeling like they need to do that.

I'm not saying it for certain, only a real analyst could delve into something like that, but of the various explanations, Murray's overuse does seem to be the most likely one.

 

Teams also barely ran the ball against them because they were either down by so many points that they were throwing on almost every play or they were trying to match the pace of Rodgers. The Pats ran the ball 13 times against them. The Falcons ran it 18 times. The second time they played the Bears, they only ran it 19 times.

The only backs they faced who had good years were Lynch and Forte. Lynch demolished them. Forte did well against them the first time, but didn't do much the second time.