Steve Davis: The Toll On Rice
I was at the dentist's office with my son, and the dentist told me he watched Ray Rice in college. He said was convinced that Rice had a larger workload than most running backs do in college, and as a result, has more wear and tear on his body than the average 6th year running back. He suggested a look it up. Because he was probing my child's mouth with dangerous tools, I assured him I would, and because I believe in karma and because I am not an anti-dentite, I did.
Sure enough, the man with the drill nailed it.
In Rice's three years at Rutgers, from freshman to junior year, he had 195, then 335, then 380 carries. The 380 would put him at 16th for the most carries ever.... in an NFL season.
Now, compare Rice's carries to other premier running backs in their college days, and you will be startled by how many more he had. I did a sample of his Pro Bowl peers.
Adrian Peterson: 339, 220, 188
Chris Johnson 134, 176, 78
Marshawn Lynch 71, 196, 223
Arian Foster 183, 91, 245, 131
Frank Gore 62, 89, 197.
I stopped there. The dentist had a point. Rice had more carries in college than his peers. What does it mean? Not sure yet, but we might be able to surmise something if the current trend doesn't change.
