Had he been on that '03 team, his numbers may have been better than Sproles's.
Get the eff outta here
I don't think that's too crazy. Thomas's '10 season (1585 yds on 298 carries; 5.3 ypc) was roughly on par with Sproles's '04 season (1318 yds on 244 carries; 5.4 ypc). My point is that the surrounding cast matters. Sproles benefited from Roberson just like Roberson benefited from Sproles. When Ell left, defenses could stuff the box and limit Sproles' production. Thomas was basically handicapped throughout both his seasons in the way Sproles was handicapped in '04.
I'm not saying Thomas would have been better than Sproles, but I think it's fair to say that Thomas would have been much more effective with a quarterback that was more of an offensive threat than Queso and Gregory.
Why did you use Sproles' worst year as a full time player, a year in which he was playing behind a sorry line, as the point of comparison?
Because the 04 offense is more similar to the '10 offense than '02 or '03's offenses.
That 2004 offense was the worst LHC Bill Snyder offense I've personally seen. I'd love to have the 2010 offense right now.
The '04 offense is more similar to the '10 offense than '02 or '03 though. Which is why I used '04.
Anyhow, I think we're getting stuck in the weeds here. My original point wasn't that DT was as good or better than Sproles, and maybe that comparison by me was careless. My point was that comparing players when the relative skill of the rest of the offense is significantly different is really tough. Sure maybe CCQ was better than Hubener is, but it's hard to tell, really, because CCQ had DT and about 5 better receivers than we currently have. Hubener has Charles Jones and Kyle Klein.
