The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired a new running back in free agency, Rico Dowdle. Today, I wanted to examine what he was able to do last season situationally. Specifically, I look at statistics regarding runs between the tackles and outside runs, courtesy of Sports Info Solutions (SIS).
What I wanted to learn most was which RBs provided the most spark in these situations, and vice versa. SIS has “boom” and “bust” stats, using Expected Points Added (EPA), with at least 1 considered a “boom” run, and -1 or lower a “bust” run.
Let’s start with the between-the-tackle runs:
What jumps out right away is a strong 14 percent boom rate from Dowdle last season with the Panthers.