Although this week’s poll results make the question seem a bit obvious, I believe it was tougher to decide than the answers may show.
But it’s hard to argue that the running back position won’t be perhaps the most important room for this year’s team.
And honestly, it’s been the most important position group for this offense the last many years. It just hasn’t been able to live up to its potential nor its need. After all, the absolute best thing an offense can be is multidimensional.
But when the running
game is so-so at best, a defense can do a lot to make the offense uncomfortable — and that’s all it takes to make it one dimensional.
Thankfully Bo Nix has been able to use his legs to keep a defense honest, but that’s not really a sustainable philosophy.
“It’s one of his superpowers. It’s hard to sack some quarterbacks; he’s one of them,” head coach Sean Payton said this week during training camp. “That was something you saw on college tape. In our league when you take a sack, you just do the analytics on what your points become in that drive, or likelihood to kick a field goal and it all drops dramatically. So it’s certainly one of his strengths.”
And it’s a strength Nix is going to continue to use no matter what.
“I think like any strength, it can be overutilized and it can be overused,” Nix said Sunday. “For me, it’s just about the balance. It’s making the plays when they’re there, but at the same time using that creativity and skill set when it’s not. I always feel like at every practice I’ve ever been in, there’s a time or two in practice that you have to move and escape and practice that dynamic play. Our guys are in tune with it, and those guys are moving around with me. It’s just all about the play’s never over and also being smart and just making plays.”
