Lynch, Jackson need a lesser triplet

By Anthony Bialy  |   Thursday, January 22, 2009  |  Comments( 50 )

Buffalo Bills
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Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson stood alone together in 2008. The Buffalo Bills’ ground duo of course performed magnificently last season, but they were importantly the only ones who performed at all at rushing. This team needs to give them an unequal third partner for 2009, as the offense should run more but have someone else available to perform a bit of the extra work.

The two found themselves overcoming issues with, at various times, the play of the quarterback, line, and wideouts along with the previously discussed skewed play-calling balance; other than those issues, everything else went perfectly fine with the rest of the offense. The fact that this team managed a good if unspectacular 4.2 yards a rush last campaign doesn’t capture the lameness of some of the offense’s other limbs.

And the running brothers from other mothers didn’t even get a little ground support, as Lynch and Jackson combined for 380 of the 439 attempts the squad made; the only other players who got to double-digit rushes were quarterbacks Trent Edwards and J.P. Losman with 36 and 12, respectively. Some of the NFL's backs get breaks thanks to elaborate blocking, the distraction provided by a fantastic passing aspect, or having a third player ease the load; on the other hand, Buffalo’s bash pair did the breaking on their own.

That’s bad, of course. There’s the fear of injury striking one of them, but the more continual and likely concern is fatigue from both alone lugging the cart. The only strategic remedy is to run less than desired, which might be why Buffalo only had the 13th-most rushing attempts last season. The Bills tried running 27.4 occasions per game, lagging behind the leaders, the Baltimore Ravens, by almost 10 carries each outing.

By comparison, Baltimore was smart enough not to make rookie passer Joe Flacco win on his own, which is partly why he and his team won 11 regular-season games and twice more in the playoffs. During the regular season, Le’Ron McClain led the former Browns with 232 attempts, while Willis McGahee, famous for his million-dollar talent and 10-cent attitude, added 170 tries, not including one that ended with a memorable pop last Sunday. Most importantly, first-year back Ray Rice took 107 handoffs, which freed the first and second guys from having to take nearly every snap.

Baltimore racked up the eternal NFL average, namely 4.0 yards per try, but the Ravens kept at it even though they weren’t as proficient while keeping at it as Buffalo was. The key was the third man in, as the Ravens were able to successfully employ the backup’s backup. Unfortunately, the Bills didn’t have Rice as a side: Their third rusher, Xavier Omon, made six unmemorable rushes for 5 undistinguished yards.

Buffalo needs a third back who can carry at least three or four times per outing as opposed to one who’s active for two games as its rookie option was last year. Whether it’s Omon or a currently mythical back, the player’s workload wouldn’t be taken away from the current tandem but would rather be in addition to the two incumbents’ approximate work.

Lynch and Jackson were great and great, but they need a third guy; it will benefit the offense in general and the two established guys in particular. While both could handle more tries, another back would be an easy way to pump this team’s rushing totals. He won’t be as good as the top two options, but he doesn’t have to be.
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