(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
The Trendspotting articles have been a series on the thunderingblurb.com website this season where we look at various players and try to decide whether they will keep up their stats and production (or in some cases, get them back on track) or if they are candidates for a down-turn.
After a brief break, they're back with a look at Marucie Jones-Drew, running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I'll be the first to admit that I had a bunch of concerns about Maurice Jones-Drew coming into this season. Most of those concerns—regarding his size, weight and their impact on his durability as well as the fact that he has never carried the ball as many times as the Jaguars want him to—are things which take a whole season to play out.
I felt he was still a top ten back. Six weeks in, he's not only that but a top two back. The top back in some leagues.
However, while his overall numbers are very good his week to week numbers have fallen flat a few times.
A quick look at his overall games (credit to footballguys.com for supplying the stats ) shows a few games where his owners might have struggled.
| WK | OPP | RSH | YD | TD | TARG | REC | YD | TD | FPT | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IND | 21 | 97 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 18.3 | ||
| 2 | ARI | 13 | 66 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 0 | 8.3 | ||
| 3 | HOU | 23 | 119 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 28 | 0 | 32.7 | ||
| 4 | TEN | 6 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 10.0 | ||
| 5 | SEA | 12 | 34 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 23 | 0 | 5.7 | ||
| 6 | STL | 33 | 133 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 45 | 0 | 35.8 | ||
| TOT | 108 | 463 | 8 | 37 | 26 | 165 | 0 | 110.8 |
Looking at the numbers I was struck by how inconsistent the production has been. His big games are big—very few backs have had games like that this season, much less more than one.
On the other hand, he’s had a few subpar games to alternate with those huge games.
What is going on with Jones-Drew? Is there a cause for concern? What is causing the yo-yoing production?
In this week's Trendspotting, we look at the diminutive back and examine whether his owners need to sell high—or if the rest of us need to buy.
While I was working on the research for this, I did something a little different and threw out a post in the Footballguys forums to take the temperature of his owners and see what people felt might be going on if anything. You can check out response here, but I found very little worry for his prospects and some thoughts on the up and down production which mirrored what I was already thinking.
A few people are selling high(ish) and a few are looking to buy but overall his owners are patient and calm.
Good stuff there though and I encourage you to check it out.
And why shouldn't his owners be patient. The overall picture in fantasy right now is one of struggling first round running backs.
Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, Steven Jackson, Steve Slaton—all are players taken in the first who have had issues in the first six weeks. We could add folks like Tom Brady and Randy Moss (Week Six fireworks notwithstanding) as well.
So it isn't a reach to say that Jones-Drew has more than been worth his pick, along with the other survivor of the first round, Adrian Peterson.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Jacksonville Jaguars articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
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