Lamar Miller’s time with the
Texans has been less than perfect. In his two full seasons with the team, he’s had 506 rushing attempts that went for a total of 1,961 yards. That’s an average of 3.8 yards per carry. Those numbers are unimpressive, especially when put into the context of each running back who has a similar number of carries over the past two seasons.
RB’s With 500 Carries Over The Last 2 Seasons
Name: Total Carries: Total Yards: Yards Per Attempt Yards Per Game Total Touchdowns
Le'Veon Bell 582 2,559 4.3 94.7 16
Ezekiel Elliott 564 2,614 4.6 104.5 22
Todd Gurley II 557 2,190 3.9 70.6 19
Melvin Gordon 538 2,102 3.9 72.4 18
Jordan Howard 528 2,435 4.6 78.5 15
Frank Gore 523 1,986 3.7 62 7
LeSean McCoy 521 2,405 4.5 77.5 19
Lamar Miller 506 1,961 3.8 65.3 8
This list teaches us two things. One, for every sin that the Texans committed with using
Lamar Miller, the
Colts committed twofold with Frank Gore. Two, the usage of Lamar Miller within the Texans’ offense has been as a blunt instrument that’s flung towards the line of scrimmage in order to get three to four yards a clip. The problem with that is it just doesn’t do much. It puts Miller into high traffic areas with three to four tacklers around instead of getting him to work in more space, where he might only have to face one or two defenders. This, in particular, is the crux of Bill O’Brien’s strategy when it comes to the the run game within the Texans’ offensive structure. The run game with Lamar Miller only seems to subsist on inside runs.
Total Runs: 812
% of Runs to Left Sideline 6%
% of Runs to Left Tackle 13%
% of
Runs to Middle 62%
% of Runs to Right Tackle 11%
% of Runs to Right Sideline 7%