New QB Run Rule

At the beginning of the season, QB running restrictions were reduced temporarily to see whether it would enhance the game. This was a controversial decision and one that excited a great deal of debate but ultimately, the changes were rolled out with the understanding that after experimenting with them, they would be analyzed. The purpose of this post is to summarize the analysis, not to summarize the arguments in favor or against the new rule.

The first seven games of the season have offered a set data to evaluate the impact of the rule changes. There have been games of Large (18), Medium (16), Small (14), and even Very Small (12) sizes:

	# of Series by Size of Game
Week	Large (18)	Med (16)	Small (14)	Very Small (12)
1	14	4	0	0
2	20	2	0	0
3	25	0	0	0
4	0	0	26	0
5	4	7	10	0
6	13	2	0	0
7	0	0	19	3

What’s interesting about the data is that because there were so many size changes, it’s possible to see how QB running changed within the same game as the size of the game increased or decreased. Game level data are presented after the Findings.

Finding #1 - QBs Run more in Small/Medium games than they do in Large games even though QBs can run on every play in the Large games but only once per set of downs in the Small/Medium games:

	Large	Med	Small	Very Small
# of Series by Size	76	15	55	3
QB Runs	33	8	26	0
QB Runs Per Series	0.434	0.533	0.473	0

Finding #2 - In the aggregate, the smaller the game, the more success QBs have running the ball. Average Per Carry for QB runs is higher in Medium games than Large games and higher still in Small games than Medium Games. QB Runs in Medium games average roughly 50% more than yards than QB Runs in Large games. QB Runs in Small games average over 90% more yards than QB Runs in Large Games. Further QB runs have much higher yards per carry the RB runs:





Finding #3 - Individual QBs have higher yards per QB run in Medium/Small games than Large games. This is a supplement to Finding #2 and only involved an analysis of Nick and Street because they were the only QBs who had had a sufficient number of QB runs in different sized games to analyze (and Street, only barely).





These are the statistics. You can argue all you want with the implications and what we should do but the numbers are what they are.

Here are the per game running plays, running summaries, and QB summaries:

Week 1
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Comments
Burleson	QB	18		Med
Jesse	RB	7		Med
Street	QB	12		Large
Cain	QB	9		Large
Nick	QB	-2		Large	designed run
Mark	RB	7		Large
Nick	QB	3		Large
Nick	QB	11		Large	designed run
Cain	QB	14		Large
Nick	QB	15		Large	designed run
Cain	QB	10		Large

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	2	14	7.00			Burleson	14	1
QB Runs	9	90	10.00			Cain	28	3
Receptions	29	355	12.24	2		Street	18	1
						Nick	17	5

Week 2
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Mark	RB	1		Med
Mark	RB	-1		Med
Leo	RB	3		Large
Street	RB	5	TD	Large
Nick	QB	2		Large
Leo	RB	15	TD	Large	Basically a reverse
Nick	QB	15		Large	These are three plays in a row
Nick	QB	7		Large
Nick	QB	13		Large
Cain	QB	7		Large
Cain	QB	4		Large
Nick	QB	8		Large
Nick	QB	0		Large
Street	QB	4		Large

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	5	23	4.60	1		Street	41	1
QB Runs	9	60	6.67	1		Cain	9	2
Receptions	28	330	11.79	4		Nick	30	6

Week 3
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Street	QB	30		Large
Street	QB	7		Large
Nick	QB	9		Large
Nick	QB	10		Large
Leo	QB	7		Large
Nick	QB	4		Large
Nick	QB	13		Large
Leo	QB	7		Large
Chris	RB	-2		Large
Chris	RB	15		Large
Nick	QB	1		Large

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	2	13	6.50			Street	16	2
QB Runs	9	88	9.78			Leo	26	2
Receptions	31	483	15.58	5		Nick	50	6

Week 4
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Chenault	RB	-1		Small
Nick	QB	10	TD	Small
Nick	QB	5		Small
Burleson	QB	41		Small
Jermaine	RB	8		Small
Kuzi	QB	9		Small	Direct Snap Play
Nick	QB	6		Small	Option Play with Pitch to Kuzi
Kuzi	RB	14		Small
Kuzi	RB	0		Small
Jesse	RB	-5		Small
Burleson	QB	10		Small
Nick	QB	16		Small
Nick	QB	17		Small
Nick	QB	12		Small
Burleson	QB	11		Small
Nick	QB	2		Small

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	5	16	3.20			Nick	39	8
QB Runs	11	139	12.64			Burleson	47	3
Receptions	22	243	11.05			Kuzi	0	1

Week 5
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Nick	QB	6		Large
Nick	QB	5		Large
Street	QB	20		Med
Street	QB	12		Med
Nick	QB	7		Med
Nick	QB	28	TD	Small
Leo	QB	4		Small
Nick	QB	15		Small
Nick	QB	20		Small
Canadian	RB	-1		Small
Nick	QB	22		Small
Nick	QB	6		Small
Nick	QB	10		Small

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	1	-1	-1.00			Street	22	2
QB Runs	12	155	12.92	1		Leo	15	1
Receptions	25	428	17.12	5		Nick	33	9

Week 6
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Nick	QB	10		Med
Nick	QB	5		Med
Nick	QB	16		Med
Street	QB	9		Med	This could have been a 63 yard TD run if an illegal block call had gone differently
Nick	QB	3		Large
Street	QB	9		Large
Jesse	RB	-4		Large
Street	QB	7		Large
Street	QB	8		Large
Street	QB	10		Large

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	1	-4	-4.00			Nick	50	4
QB Runs	9	77	8.56			Street	30	5
Receptions	35	522	14.91	7		Leo	1	0

Week 7
Run Play Listing
Player	Type	Yards	TD?	Size	Misc. Comments
Nick	QB	11		Small
Nick	QB	16		Small
Jeremy	QB	17		Small
Jeremy	QB	72	TD	Small
Jeremy	QB	22		Small
Jeremy	QB	5		Small
Jeremy	QB	12	TD	Small
Nick	RB	6		Small	Hook-n-ladder right at the line is more of a "RB run" than a "QB run" since there are more defenders in the area
Nick	QB	11		Small

Summary	#	Yards	Avg Yds	TDs		QB Summary	Passes	Runs
RB Runs	1	6	NA			Nick	45	4
QB Runs	8	172	21.50	2		Jeremy	28	5
Receptions	31	634	20.45	6