[Arky]

Originally Posted by RunninRaven

Looking at the statistics, it would appear that Slaton and Taylor both ran at the same efficiency yesterday, but the statistics can lie. I was MUCH more impressed with Slaton's job. Almost all his carries were against the Dallas first team defense, and he broke off a couple good, long runs I have deeply missed watching Ron Dayne out there for the past couple years. Slaton's stats are skewed somewhat because there were a couple run plays where the offensive line just completely blew up and Slaton got gang tackled 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage. LT wouldn't have been able to do anything with those carries. I didn't see any such line breakdowns on any of Chris Taylor's carries.

Well, while I agree that Slaton looked like the best RB out there, the statistics are what they are. For example, though Slaton played a lot against the Dallas' 1st team defense, he also had the Texans 1st team offense blocking for him. Studdard, the guy who was getting blown up (and getting murdered on some messageboards), was subbing for an injured Pitts and playing 1st team. This makes Slaton's good runs that much more remarkable. All this proved to me was that while Studdard did well against New Orleans 2nd team defense, he's (Studdard) still not ready for prime time. Taylor, I believe, put up his stats with both 1st and 2nd team blocking and combinations thereof against similar and equal Dallas fronts. So, IMO, both backs did well with what their teammates provided for them.

One cannot selectively pick and choose stats to prove a point. Well, you can, but it is a bit disingenuous. Rushing stats against 1st team/2nd team, 8-9-10 man fronts, goal line defenses...... they all count on the stat sheet. Another variable in statistics is the sample size. We're talking about 1 preseason game here. The larger the sample size, the better. Let's check the stat totals after all 4 preseason games.... Even better would be 1 full year of regular season games ...

Some games you have a backup guard playing and the rushing stats aren't as good as they could have been. Some games the defense has a backup lineman starting and the rushing stats look better than they normally would have. It works both ways....

Not picking at you RR, "stat spinning" is something I keep seeing on messageboards and I wanted to get it out of my system so I'm addressing it here... Give me enough time and I could probably take Ron Dayne's stats and make him look like an explosive scatback....

If anything, one should realize that all stats should be consumed with a grain of salt. Slaton's speed doesn't show up on the stat sheet and that should lead to the point that stats are just a part of the big picture....

The offense just ran so much smoother once Slaton got in the game. Unless Ahman Green gets healthy, I think I'd rather see Slaton as the starting RB against Pittsburgh (and maybe even if Green IS healthy).

The Texans are being very coy about both Green and Brown so it's hard to tell what they're up to - they are not tipping their hand. What I'm getting right now is that neither one is going to play till Pittsburgh. Then again, I'm not sure if one or both is going to make it to Pittsburgh..... We probably won't know till they make the cut @ 53.....