The Chiefs’ success is not uncommon in the NFL today. The New York Giants’ tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs combined for over 2,000 yards in 2010. The New York Jets combination of LaDanian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene combined for 1,600 yards. Denver Broncos’ head coach John Fox‘s former team, the Carolina Panthers, used the tandem of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart had over 2,200 yards in 2009.

More and more, teams are finding that having one running back is too much of a burden for any one player to carry. Look at the Cleveland Browns’ Peyton Hillis: his first 100-yard game was the third game of the 2010 season, yet his carries went down from 21 to six between Weeks 14 and 17, and his yards-per-attempt went from 5.1 to 2.2 in the same range.
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Knowshon Moreno as picked up production of late. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

There’s no one that knows the benefit of keeping players healthy more than Eric Studesville. As the former running backs coach, Studesville saw way too many of “his” guys go down with injuries.

Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter missed most of training camp and have had to miss games. Their temporary replacement, LenDale White, tore his Achilles tendon in camp. White’s replacement, Justin Fargas, was coming off arthroscopic knee surgery and many wondered how much he had in the tank during camp (he was later released).

It wasn’t just the backs that Studesville saw as detrimental to his team’s ability to succeed on the ground. The offensive line was constantly rotating due to injuries as well.

Thus, the Broncos struggled to get their ground game going and were ranked dead last in the league in that aspect of the offense.

Perhaps that’s why Studesville kept his team out of pads yesterday, a move that Josh McDaniels rarely made on a Wednesday.

“I want these guys to be fresh when we’re down in Arizona,” Studesville said on Thursday. “The fresher we can keep our guys, the better they will play on Sunday.”

The Broncos are currently ranked 29^th in rushing, and have actually had games where the ground game has complimented the primarily passing offense.

When asked about the NFL swaying away from the run and being more of a pass heavy league, Studesville said that to be successful, teams have to do both.

“The play action passes come off of the run which is the way you can get big plays down the field, and make safeties run up on the ball,” Studesville said. “It’s a physical game and the most physical part of the game is the running game.”

Now that the Broncos have a former running backs coach as their head coach, will the Broncos run the ball more? Studesville says not necessarily.

“We’re going to do whatever we can to win football games. If that means running the ball, we’re going to run the ball. If we need to throw it, we’re going to throw it,” Studesville said.  

With an optimistic outlook and a win first attitude, Studesville is clearly a coach with a 0-0 record and a lot to prove.

Sunday’s outcome will tip the scales in one direction or another. For the sake and sanity of the Broncos organization, let the weight fall on the left column.

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