Willis McGahee to keep his grip on football

WillisMcGaheeBroncos
In the spirit of John Fox's "you always strive for perfection, but you don't usually get it" philosophy, there is some red ink on the Broncos' season so far.
Right after the words "fumbles lost."

In most years, for most teams, quarterbacks lead in lost fumbles because they are the guys routinely getting hit on the blind side by some of the leagues best athletes.

But through nine games, the Broncos are 31st in the league in lost fumbles with 12 — only 1-8 Kansas City has more with 15.

There are two Broncos position players who have lost more fumbles than Peyton Manning, who has lost two on in-the-pocket hits: running back Willis McGahee has lost four fumbles and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has lost three.

McGahee's are especially troubling, given it hasn't been a problem previously in his career and he is the team's primary back, the kind of player the Broncos would like to power a big part of the offense down the stretch, to protect leads and run the clock.

But those plans come with a warning label if McGahee can't tighten his grip. He's lost four fumbles in 160 carries this season — one for every 40 carries.

That total would be slightly worse had McGahee been unable to scramble his way on a second fumble he had lost against the Panthers this past Sunday.
Last season McGahee lost three fumbles in 249 carries, one for every 83 carries. And this is now the first seasons in McGahee's career, a career that includes four years with at least 1,100 yards rushing and five years with at least 249 carries, when he has lost more than three fumbles.

It is a rare total for a back. McGahee's four mark the highest total for any running back in the league at the moment, and he's the only back with more than three.
Just three backs have lost three fumbles this year — Buffalo's Fred Jackson, the Giants' Ahmad Bradshaw and the Titans' Chris Johnson. And only 10 running backs have lost two fumbles this year.

By contrast there are five teams — the Falcons, the Texans, the Saints and the Buccaneers, that have lost three fumbles overall this season. The Falcons and the Texans, both 8-1, have each lost just one fumble so far.

Coaches are always pessimists when it comes to turnovers and most running backs coaches will preach the "three points of contact" mantra, that if runner consistently, and without fail, maintains three points of contact on the ball, it is exceedingly difficult to knock it out, even from behind.

Some defensive coaches see the same trend in McGahee's fumbles, that they often come when he believes he's cleared the first wave of traffic and is trying to kick into another gear so he tends to swing his arm with the ball away from his body a bit.

That's when the ball can be knocked out, especially from behind, by a well-placed punch by the defender.

McGahee has promised to repair the issue, which would be good news for the Broncos. Because the best way to protect Manning from opposing pass rushers is for Manning to hand the ball to McGahee some and go from there.


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(denverpost.com)
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