2019 Baltimore Ravens with most season games over 5.0 y/a

[RyanChristiansen]

The 2019 Baltimore Ravens have the most games in a single season (11) with over 5.0 yards per carry rushing (currently 5.5 y/a). The Ravens have passed the 2004 Atlanta Falcons (5.1 y/a) with Michael Vick, the 2011 Carolina Panthers (5.4 y/a) with Cam Newton, the 1963 Cleveland Browns (5.7 y/a) with Jim Brown, and the 1990 Detroit Lions (5.3 y/a) with Barry Sanders, each of which had 10 games in a single season with over 5.0 y/a.

The 1963 Browns only had 14 games, but the Ravens achieved this feat within the first 14 games.

The most recent three teams with 10 or more games in a single season with over 5.0 yards per carry rushing had running quarterbacks.

What will the future hold? How will the Ravens's success change football at all levels in terms of offensive schemes and quarterback draft strategies?

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[Rupert Patrick]

I brought that topic up in my book, the sudden leap in league rushing average between 2017 and 2018, where it increased a third of a yard from 4.084 YPC in 2017 to 4.416 in 2018. In 2019, after 14 weeks, it has dropped a little, to 4.305. I mentioned the pretty steady increase between 1994 and 2012, where it increased from about 3.81 in 1994 to 4.30 in 2012, and attributed this to the rise of the running quarterbacks, the Michael Vicks and Cam Newtons and everybody in between. It decreased between 2012 and 2017 before shooting back up in 2018 by a third of a yard in a single season. Does anybody have a theory as why it increased like that in 2018? The drop in 2019 was not unexpected, whenever there is a historic increase or decrease in one direction, it will move back the other way the next season about 90 percent of the time, and will generally settle halfway between where it was between the two seasons.

Here is the annual chart from the book, years on the x-axis, YPC on the y-axis. I added a line showing the 1994-2012 increase.

[RyanChristiansen]

Does anybody have a theory as why it increased like that in 2018?]

In my opinion it’s the result of tougher rules and enforcement of roughing the quarterback. Defenders are less willing to treat quarterbacks like running backs once they begin to run.