Frank gore's role in the offense (an analytics dive) | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Frank gore's role in the offense (an analytics dive)

Aqua4Ever04

Aqua4Ever04

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I was a little bearish on the Gore signing at first, but then I dove into some of his splits. Aside from the fact that he's ultra-durable and a terrific locker room presence, he's pretty damn good at two things we need desperately - short yardage and red zone running.

I pulled his numbers in those areas and compared them to Drake and Ajayi, as well as the top 10 rushers in the NFL from 2017.

https://www.lockedondolphins.com/dolphins/frank-gores-role-in-the-2018-miami-dolphins-offense/

The short-yardage specialist moniker ought to apply to Frank Gore as well. In short yardage situations (3rd or 4th down and 3 yards or less to gain), Gore converted 87% of his 15 carries for first downs.
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I don't think Gore's production will fall off a cliff. His style of running doesn't rely on speed...just vision, timing and setting up blocks. Some people look at the drop off in production at Indy, but if you watched Indy with regularity, you'ld have seen that they hamstrung Gore and all their RBs with predictable playcalling, a bad OL and virtually no QB play. With improvement at even 2 of 3 of these factors, Gore should be more productive.
 
andyahs said:
Age aside this was a terrific signing.
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I'm surprised what he's doing isn't more of a story. A 34-year old running back still producing, and carrying the ball as much as anyone in the league. He's an enigma. Probably because he's played for an irrelevant franchise. Hopefully he's a big story en route to a Dolphins playoff run.
 
A8bil said:
I don't think Gore's production will fall off a cliff. His style of running doesn't rely on speed...just vision, timing and setting up blocks. Some people look at the drop off in production at Indy, but if you watched Indy with regularity, you'ld have seen that they hamstrung Gore and all their RBs with predictable playcalling, a bad OL and virtually no QB play. With improvement at even 2 of 3 of these factors, Gore should be more productive.
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Savvy is the word that comes to mind. It looks like he knows what he has to work with the minute he gets the football. He knows when he has to bury his nose and squeak out some yardage, he knows when he has the cut back lane, he's just as smart as they come.
 
Aqua4Ever04 said:
I'm surprised what he's doing isn't more of a story. A 34-year old running back still producing, and carrying the ball as much as anyone in the league. He's an enigma. Probably because he's played for an irrelevant franchise. Hopefully he's a big story en route to a Dolphins playoff run.
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636173205022185586-jim-mora-playoffs-copy.jpg


:D
 
I could see Gore being productive for 2 more years. He could be our short yard specialist on critical 3rd and 4th downs. He may not be a homerun threat, but with other speedsters on the team, that is not a need. Just get those short first downs, keep the drives alive and he has fulfilled his contract. I don't see more than 600 yards this season. I expect Drake to get around 1100 and the rookie to get 300-400.
 
Interesting to note that when Gase was asked about what he liked with Damien Williams, he mentioned that once they got Frank afore on their radar, Williams was an afterthought.
 
miamiron said:
Seems like we had a very immature team with little leadership
with the addition of Gore, Amendola,Sitton I believe they'll light a
fire under our offensive players azzes...hopefully our defense follows suit
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Ya and I don't think it's the current regime's fault, or any specific player's fault for that matter.

I don't think we have "bad" guys or but we certainly didn't have the right combination of guys leading almost all across the board.

It's easy to overlook the team part of team building because these FO guys are trained to breakdown players and positions to their absolute core and evaluate them all individually.

We drafted a guy in the 2nd round last year who hasn't been talked about much since, if he's healthy, you will always know where Raekwon McMillan is.
 
A good middle relief pitcher isn't as flashy as a starter or a top notch closer, but the ability come in and get a big out when needed or to step in for a starter who is out or having a bad day is invaluable. Gore very much be Miami's top notch middle reliever. In that analogy Gore would also be great closer, grinding out first downs at the end of close games. You won't need him to be a 20 carry or 80 yards per game back, although he could still do that to a degree too if needed.
 
Who is everybody's flavor in terms of the RBs in the draft? I feel like you'd have to try hard to NOT come away with a good one on day two or early day three.
 
Aqua4Ever04 said:
Who is everybody's flavor in terms of the RBs in the draft? I feel like you'd have to try hard to NOT come away with a good one on day two or early day three.
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My two favorites are Derrius Guice in the 2nd or Royce Freeman in the 4th if either are on the board at those points. Drake, Guice and Gore would mean Tannehill woud see a lot of 8 in the box defenses and play action opportunities.
 
claytonduper said:
I could see Gore being productive for 2 more years. He could be our short yard specialist on critical 3rd and 4th downs. He may not be a homerun threat, but with other speedsters on the team, that is not a need. Just get those short first downs, keep the drives alive and he has fulfilled his contract. I don't see more than 600 yards this season. I expect Drake to get around 1100 and the rookie to get 300-400.
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I wont bore you with the stats to back it up, but "big" plays from RB are often just as much the result of play calling and downfield blocking, than pure speed. Pure speed certainly helps guys like McCoy, Charles and CJ, but each year some of the slower backs in the league end up with the most 20+ and 40+ yard TDs. The reality is that even a 4.6 40 guy at RB will outrun most LBs, and unless a DB has turned and is running with the RB, it will take a 4.4-4.5 DB 30-40 yds to run down that back from behind. They'll never run the RB down however if there is a WR throwing a good block. Problem with the Colts was that they had perhaps the worst blocking WRs and TE in the league as a whole, so Gore got no help once he got beyond the LOS. Watch some of Gore's highlights from last year and you'll see a swarm of unblocked defenders close on him once he gets beyond the LOS.
 
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