Post by Reignman on May 4, 2018 21:42:50 GMT -6
Did Adrian Peterson actually rush for more yards than Eric Dickerson but have it go unnoticed due to measurement error?
What a coincidence. I actually started researching this last fall (I was bored xD). I went back to watch every Peterson carry and score it myself. I ran into several early problems however. First it's not always easy to tell what yard line the ball is actually on. Sometimes the center moves it, and sometimes due to the angle on TV, the ball is obscured by the offensive or defensive line. And you can't trust the blue line.
And no, that guy is wrong. That's not exactly how they measure yardage. Yardage is always scored from the next hash mark.
www.nflgsis.com/gsis/documentation/stadiumguides/guide_for_statisticians.pdf
Determining the Yard Line
If any point of the football rests on or above any yard stripe, future action is to be computed from that
yard line. However, if all of the football has been advanced beyond any yard stripe, future action is
computed from the first yard line in advance of the football.
The principle is to be followed on all spotting situations, regardless of down, with the following
exceptions:
NOTE: When there is a change of possession and the ball rests between two yard stripes, the line of
scrimmage may change as the “nose” of the football is reversed.
yard line. However, if all of the football has been advanced beyond any yard stripe, future action is
computed from the first yard line in advance of the football.
The principle is to be followed on all spotting situations, regardless of down, with the following
exceptions:
- In certain situations where there is less than a yard to gain for a first down, it may be necessary
to spot the ball back one yard to conform with the principle that there must always be, for
statistical purposes, at least one yard remaining to be gained for a first down. This principle
also shall be applied when a team loses the ball to its opponent on downs. - When, on first down, the ball rests just outside a defensive team’s 10-yard line, it will be
necessary to designate the scrimmage line at the 11 inasmuch as it would be possible for the
offensive team to advance for a first down without scoring a touchdown. - See field goal section, p. 35, for determining yard line of attempts.
NOTE: When there is a change of possession and the ball rests between two yard stripes, the line of
scrimmage may change as the “nose” of the football is reversed.
Then there are some special rules when it comes to laterals and fumbles too. Also penalties. On some offensive penalties you still get full or partial credit for yards gained. Those are a little more difficult to score.
So I tried to do 2 things with this little project. Score it based on the official rules, and score it based on virtual yards. Like if Peterson scored a TD from the 3½ yard line, I gave him 3½ yards and not just 3 in my newly invented virtual yards category which was just for my own curiosity. I wanted to see if players are cheated or benefit from the way the league scores it. I only finished the first game and lost interest lol. It was more tedious than I thought it would be. Against Jacksonville I ended up with the same number of actual yards and virtual yards as what they statistically gave Peterson credit for. I'm surprised nobody else has done it yet. Maybe I'll continue the project.
The problem is, even if I or someone else manages to find the 10 yards needed, Dickerson could make the same argument. Maybe they scored some of his gains wrong too. That was over 30 years ago so in his case it's more likely. Or maybe they gave him too many yards. I imagine scoring has gotten better. But unless someone has access to all the Rams games from 1984, we'll never find out.
Also I don't think the league would recognize the extra yards. It would call into question every single close record on the books. In the final game of the 2013 season, Peyton Manning was credited with a forward pass that probably should have went down as a backward lateral and thus a rushing attempt. Nobody realized this mistake until after the game. Manning came out of that game early having broke Drew Brees single season yardage record by just 1 yard. Brees should technically still have the record, but the league and the Elias Sports Bureau determined the play would stand as a pass.
Looks like a pretty obvious lateral to me. More obvious than the Wycheck lateral anyway.
Manning releases the ball damn near on the 49 yard line.
And Decker catches it at damn near the 48.
Yep still looks backward to me lol. That's why you don't break records by just 1 yard and quit.
Manning did the same thing in 2004 when he broke Marino's single season TD record. After he threw his 49th he shut it down. Just a few years later Brady threw 50. Manning eventually shattered the record with 55 in 2013.
And maybe I remember it wrong, but I could have swore Marcus Allen's consecutive games of 100 yards rushing streak ended by a yard or 2, but the league or someone reviewed all his carries that game and determined he in fact went over 100 yards to keep the streak alive, but that was 30 years ago and I can't seem to find any information about it now. I believe it was the season opener in 1986 when he finished with 102 yards, which was his 10th straight game and the game which broke Walter Payton's record of 9 straight. I believe he initially finished with 99 in that game. The streak eventually ended at 11, and then Barry Sanders shattered the record when he went over 100 for the final 14 games in 1997 and finished with 2053.
