Bishop Sankey didn't have a lot of big games to choose from, but honestly I don't think that was 100% his fault. The rookie only had five games where he ran the ball more than 10 times. In fact, in his best game he only touched the ball 11 times, despite being very difficult to stop.
The game I am talking about is the Week 3 matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals.
These are the notes I came up with as I was watching:
-The first three plays the Titans roll out with Shonn Greene twice who does nothing on two runs, and then Leon Washington comes in on third down. Luckily Jake Locker sees a hole in the defense and sprints for 30 yards on 3rd down.
-Delanie Walker and Jake Locker hook up for a big gain to keep the chains moving, but still no Sankey despite the RBs doing nothing.
-Succop misses and easy field goal. Ugh. The Titans first quarter offense last year was disguising.
-I am writing these so you can see how good Sankey does in contrast to other runners, however after a great block from Justin Hunter down the field Shonn Greene picks up 20.
-Start of the 2nd quarter, finally we get some Sankey.
-Bishop Sankey showed exactly what he really is on his second run in this game. He takes his time and lets Brian Schwenke catch up to the pull where he stumbled and sees a crease behind him and takes off. Sankey takes it for 11.
-Delanie Walker is great, but if he had just held his block a split second longer he could have turned a 2-yard run into a 20-yard run from Sankey. The lane was there and it was read perfectly, Walker just got bullied backwards.
-Side-to-side runs last year killed the Titans. They are built to be a physical man-handling type of team now, they need to do that.
-Ok fast forward two interceptions and another missed field goal later and Bishop Sankey is back in the game.
-Sankey gets skinny and turns the corner for a big 18-yard gain. I am realizing now just how terrible Michael Oher was. The team was so scared to run the ball behind him and rightfully so. I believe if they would have had anyone else with potential they would have started him instead of Oher.
-Sankey shows he can run inside with a grinding four yard gain where he makes pushes the ball forward by never lets anyone get a clean hit on him.
-Titans smartly run a draw and Sankey follow Chance Warmack for a 9-yard gain. Very good vision here.
-The play works so well that the Titans run the same play again to the other side, and Sankey again sees the right hole and takes it 9 more yards.
-Titans try to run it right tackle and Oher screws it up by getting turned inside.Sankey sees and cuts inside for a gain of two.
-Sankey has a great run to the left where he eludes three defenders and runs through two more for 22 yards, but a holding call from Andy Levitre brings it back. The defender wouldn't have made the tackle, so I hate to see Sankey lose the yardage for this because it was a very good run.
-Sankey catches a swing pass and beats his defender to the corner (again) for a 9-yard gain.
-Another good run by Sankey to the left side, but penalties on each team wave off the play.
-Was this a game-breaking game by Bishop Sankey? No. But the player on this film would be a good starter for nearly every team in the league. He was shifty and avoided contact in the backfield. He caught the ball well when asked and got some yards after the catch. He wasn't afraid to run inside and read his blocks very well. This was a very good running back, and in a system where defenders had to worry about the quarterback running he did very well. I expect a better year from Sankey in year two, and hopefully he will be taking over third down responsibilities. If so, I could see him being a strength in this offense rather than a weakness.