With Jerry Jones assuring us that "I really look for you to see a lot more of Felix Jones" earlier this week, I wanted to take a quick glance at what we have seen so far as a baseline.
So, I went through every snap of the season so far to see who is on the field and who wasn't to see how the snap distribution is sliced up so far.
Please keep in mind that this is not "touches" or "carries". This is simply a question of which RB is on the field for a given play - regardless of what the play is and who is on the sideline.
A few things to keep in mind here:
*- There are a few instances where there were no RBs on the field.
*- There were times where 2 RBs were on at the same time (with eachother) and that one instance in Washington where all 3 RBs were on the field at the same time.
*- These numbers are quite unofficial. The NFL does not keep these totals, so while I believe they are accurate, it would not surprise me if I am off by one snap here or there. I gave it my best shot.
But, here is what we have so far:
TOTAL SNAPS FOR RBs SEASON TO DATE (198 Total Plays)
| Half | 24-Barber | 28-Jones | 23-Choice |
| WK 1 | 28 | 28 | 13 |
| Wk 2 | 31 | 33 | 7 |
| Wk 3 | 30 | 17 | 10 |
| Total | 89 | 78 | 30 |
TOTAL SNAPS FOR RBs AT WASHINGTON (71 plays)
| Half | 24-Barber | 28-Jones | 23-Choice |
| 1st | 16 | 12 | 8 |
| 2nd | 12 | 16 | 5 |
| Total | 28 | 28 | 13 |
Against Chicago, we saw Felix Jones with more snaps than Marion Barber. This is certainly something of a rarity during his Cowboys career.
TOTAL SNAPS FOR RBs vs CHI (71 plays)
| Half | 24-Barber | 28-Jones | 23-Choice |
| 1st | 14 | 16 | 2 |
| 2nd | 17 | 17 | 5 |
| Total | 31 | 33 | 7 |
In Houston, they were using plenty of Barber to ground and pound the ball in the 2nd half with the lead.
TOTAL SNAPS FOR RBs AT HOUSTON (57 plays)
| Half | 24-Barber | 28-Jones | 23-Choice |
| 1st | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| 2nd | 14 | 7 | 3 |
| Total | 30 | 17 | 10 |
This data should help us factor in whether or not we are seeing "more of Felix" over the next few weeks. Touches are more important from a production standpoint, but the more snaps a RB gets, we can assume the more comfortable the team is with that player in "any situation". If the knock on Felix has been pass protection and blitz pick-up in previous years, I think we are seeing the Cowboys getting more comfortable with that and to this point in 2010, he is eating into more of Tashard Choice's workload in the 2-minute offense and 3rd Down package.
While I like Choice as a solid runner, I fear he may be suffering from the "back up running back love affair" syndrome that happens so often in football. Remember, Hambrick? Anyway, I'm not accusing you of loving Choice or what not, but I wanted you to put your sports brain to use on this question: Is he really that great or just solid (I think the latter and he needs to see less time) and, more importantly, does he have "ball hog" tendencies? It seems he is used often in the Cowboys ridiculous version of the Razorback. And, I cannot for the life of me recall a single time that he did not keep the ball for himself. Two times this year it appears that he has kept the ball when he clearly should've optioned to Felix. One, was the 3 RB option play that you reference in this post. That would've been a TD, I'm 95% sure (unless MBIII just whiffs on the corner/safety). The other was a Razorback against Chicago that ended up looking like a 2 yard FB dive. Felix, however, had a full head of steam and what appeared to be a sealed right end. I love the guy's competitiveness, but if he's just going to keep the ball everytime we run out a tricked up formation, it is likely defeating the purpose. Thoughts?
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