On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here . The NFL isn’t going back to old-school, smashmouth running football.
Even though rushing yards are up and passing numbers are down over the first three weeks of the season, it’s too soon to call it a new trend. “It’s still early with the sample size,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “But it is something that we looked into because it is noticeable, and it is a really big difference.
But we’ll continue to monitor that and what we are trying to do, though, is be efficient on offense. Hit your explosive plays. Take care of the football.
Those things will never change. Not give up sacks.” NFL teams are averaging 119.
5 yards rushing per game, up from 112.7 last season. But the league average was 121.
6 yards per game in 2022. Teams actually aren’t running more; they’re just having more success. Average rushing attempts per team per game this season going into Week 4 is 26.
9 vs. 26.8 last year.
Twenty players are on pace for 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Twelve players accomplished that feat in 2023, down from 16 in 2022. There were only seven in 2021, the first year the NFL went to 17 games in the regular season.
Five teams are averaging 150 yards rushing per game and 13 are averaging 125. Only the Baltimore Ravens were above 150 in 2023 and nine teams averaged 125. One reason why running backs are having better success is that more defenses are geared.
