Who wins a footrace...Crouch or Martinez?

[strigori]

Crouch had way better lateral quickness and change of direction, but Martinez wins in a straight run.

This. Crouch was better at making guys miss, but Martinez has such a burst in his first few steps. I would take Crouch for most running football plays, but in a strait line race, Martinez would win.

ESPN Sports Science did a feature on Martinez a couple years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21mYRtUmc8k

 

[ZRod]

Martinez got caught from behind a lot more than you realize. Plus Martinez breaks a long run about 1 once a game and Crouch did it multiple times in a game when we were a more run oriented offense.

How many times a game you break a long run has about as much to do with being fast as it does with how many times you're asked to run, and like you said we ran a lot more when Crouch was under center so I don't think that's really a valid argument. I'm not really going to argue with your previous post, I'll just say I strongly disagree with it and you probably won't find too many people that think Taylor takes too long to get going.

 

[WAHusker]

Taylor would win a 20yd dash, his burst speed is great - but his top speed and evasive moves aren't all that great. Crouch had great moves, top speed and a good burst of speed. Id take Crouch over Martinez.

 

[tmfr15]

I guess I don't care who would win. Both are fast. Both make plays.

 

[Mavric]

Martinez takes too long to get going. Crouch was running full speed from the get go.

Perhaps the first time I've agreed with Stephen A.

 

[Mavric]

Martinez takes too long to get going. Crouch was running full speed from the get go.

Martinez got caught from behind a lot more than you realize. Plus Martinez breaks a long run about 1 once a game and Crouch did it multiple times in a game when we were a more run oriented offense.

I remember exactly once. Can you enlighten us with more examples?

 

[Landlord]

Taylor would win a 20yd dash, his burst speed is great - but his top speed and evasive moves aren't all that great. Crouch had great moves, top speed and a good burst of speed. Id take Crouch over Martinez.

In general, or just running a race?

Because Taylor is 2x the passer that Crouch was.

 

[Mavric]

Martinez takes too long to get going. Crouch was running full speed from the get go.

Martinez got caught from behind a lot more than you realize. Plus Martinez breaks a long run about 1 once a game and Crouch did it multiple times in a game when we were a more run oriented offense.

So we were in a "more run oriented" offense. That means we ran more, right? That means Crouch had more opportunities, right? And so your argument is that he did more with more opportunities?

 

[WAHusker]

Landlord, Id take Crouch for my QB. I will say that Taylors passing has improved considerably, his fumbles and decision making abilities still need attention. I also like Crouch's leadership and overall stability he provided at QB.

 

[Mavric]

I think I'd take Crouch but it'd be close. Gotta remember Crouch ran 10.4 in high school as well as 4.4 at the combine. Crouch would be a god running the modern day spread. Was just watching the Wisconsin game from last year and saw a play where Taylor had a crease between two guys in the open field and got caught. My first thought was that Crouch would've split it and took it to the house. Martinez is electric but Crouch was something else.

Eh ... Crouch may have been clocked at 10.4 hand-held at a meet but his senior year he ran 10.82 in the prelims then 10.96 in the finals at state (electronically timed). Still pretty fast but a long ways from 10.4. He ran 4.47 at the combine. I'd bet Martinez will beat that next year.

 

[Landlord]

Landlord, Id take Crouch for my QB. I will say that Taylors passing has improved considerably, his fumbles and decision making abilities still need attention. I also like Crouch's leadership and overall stability he provided at QB.

Crouch's fumble's per attempts career number is actually worse than Taylor's, for the record.

 

[ZRod]

Landlord, Id take Crouch for my QB. I will say that Taylors passing has improved considerably, his fumbles and decision making abilities still need attention. I also like Crouch's leadership and overall stability he provided at QB.

Crouch's fumble's per attempts career number is actually worse than Taylor's, for the record.

Now that's something truey interesting right there.

 

[husker07]

Landlord, Id take Crouch for my QB. I will say that Taylors passing has improved considerably, his fumbles and decision making abilities still need attention. I also like Crouch's leadership and overall stability he provided at QB.

Crouch's fumble's per attempts career number is actually worse than Taylor's, for the record.

Now that's something truey interesting right there.

Option offense. Also, he played with Dan Alexander.

 

[zoogs]

Now that's something truey interesting right there.

Not that much. We ran the option so much in those years. I don't think ball security was as much an issue for Crouch -- granted you could argue he had less opportunity to get strip-sacked. Or perhaps it was just overshadowed by Dan Alexander. But with the option comes more missed pitch connections, and I remember that was a real problem.

I also think Crouch's arm was underrated. Frost and Frazier weren't passers but I think he rather held his own. It was just a different offense and a different time.

As for who's faster I have no idea, but Landlord makes a great point about how Crouch always looked like he was blazing, and Taylor not in the same way, despite possessing probably similar amounts of speed. It'd probably come down to who has the better hang of "40-yard-dash" technique.

 

[beanman]

Landlord, Id take Crouch for my QB. I will say that Taylors passing has improved considerably, his fumbles and decision making abilities still need attention. I also like Crouch's leadership and overall stability he provided at QB.

Crouch's fumble's per attempts career number is actually worse than Taylor's, for the record.

Now that's something truey interesting right there.

Option offense. Also, he played with Dan Alexander.

I'm pretty sure it's also not true. I tallied up fumble stats to compare the two and Martinez was way worse. If I still had the data, I'd post it, but I lost it when my hard drive crashed 2 months ago. The only way to get Crouch's fumble numbers was to go through the play-by-play for each game back then. It took a couple hours so I'm not going to do it again.

Also, I don't recall Crouch leading the nation for 3 straight years in fumbles for QBs as TMart has. Throw Crouch in a read-option offense and his fumbles are cut in half easy.

As far as a footrace goes, it would be a close finish. I don't even know who I'd pick in that one.