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Texans Slaton wins rookie rushing title
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Your NFL rookie rushing champion (Bill Baptist)
Back in April who really thought that our little third down back - our 3rd round pick from Levittown, Pennsylvania who came to us via West Virginia - could top the NFL 2008 rookie class in rushing yards?
If your hand is up, I don't believe you.
As it turned out, our 'little' back is a 22 year old man who played much larger than his 5-9, 203 lb. frame would suggest, and he proved to be much more than a 3rd down back. And he made us all believers.
Congrats Steve Slaton on your accomplisment. You should be going to Honolulu.
Slaton carried much more of the load this year than was planned. He was thrust into the primary back - or more accurately the only back - role when Ahman Green and Chris Brown (remember him?) once again were felled by injuries.
That's one of the reasons Slaton should be front and center in the discussion for NFL Rookie of the Year, although Matt Ryan probably has that one deservingly locked up
Luckily Slaton held up healthwise this season but he will need help next year in the form of a 220 lb. cutback style runner (or two) that can help him carry the load.
The Texans would be making a huge mistake if they continue to lean this heavily on Slaton. The last thing you want to do is wear him out like Domanick (Davis) Williams.
So let's all raise our glasses and propose a toast to Steve (and to the great running back enabler Alex Gibbs) and simply say "great job, and thanks for a great season."
The Gibbs factor
I was talking with a friend at our tailgate yesterday and we discussed whether Slaton would have had as productive a season if he was with a team like the Bears.
We concluded the obvious that Slaton is a perfect fit for the Texans offense and that Alex Gibbs' system has helped him tremendously. We also tended to agree that although Slaton has shown the abililty to run between the tackles, he may not have had this much success in a power blocking scheme like Chicago's or Mike Sherman's for that matter.
Gibbs has made a career out of improving the rushing attack of the teams for which he works. Gibbs has worked with seven teams prior to joining the Texans. In his first year with a new team, Gibbs’ squads have averaged over 1,900 rushing yards and nearly 14 rushing touchdowns per season [per the Houston Texans media release dated December 22, 2008].
The Texans finished this season with 1,846 rushing yards, a 4.3 yard per carry average, a 115.4 yards per game average, and 16 rushing TDs. With the Slaton and Gibbs combo, the Texans were able to improve from 22nd in the league in rushing last season to 13th this season.
Slaton smashed the Texans single season rushing record previously held by Williams with 1,188 yards. Slaton has already jumped to #3 all time on the Texans rushing leader list behind Williams and Ron Dayne.
The following is a listing of the top ten rookie rushers in the NFL this season: (data from nfl.com)
Rk | Pos | ||||||||||||
1 | RB | 268 | 16.8 | 1,282 | 4.8 | 80.1 | 9 | 71T | 13 | 5 | 2 | ||
2 | RB | 316 | 19.8 | 1,238 | 3.9 | 77.4 | 8 | 50T | 8 | 2 | 1 | ||
3 | RB | 251 | 16.7 | 1,228 | 4.9 | 81.9 | 9 | 66T | 9 | 3 | 1 | ||
4 | RB | 238 | 14.9 | 976 | 4.1 | 61.0 | 8 | 50 | 8 | 1 | 2 | ||
5 | RB | 184 | 11.5 | 836 | 4.5 | 52.2 | 10 | 41 | 8 | 1 | 2 | ||
6 | RB | 113 | 8.7 | 499 | 4.4 | 38.4 | 4 | 50 | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||
7 | RB | 92 | 5.8 | 472 | 5.1 | 29.5 | 2 | 38T | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
8 | RB | 107 | 8.2 | 454 | 4.2 | 34.9 | 0 | 60 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
9 | RB | 143 | 8.9 | 399 | 2.8 | 24.9 | 10 | 30T | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
10 | RB | 67 | 4.2 | 357 | 5.3 | 22.3 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
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