Alt rushing yards, short for alternative rushing yards, is a specific metric used to measure the rushing production of a team or player while intentionally excluding yardage gained by quarterbacks during designed passing plays that become scrambles or kneel-downs at the end of games.
Traditional Rushing Yards vs. Alt Rushing Yards
- Traditional Rushing Yards: Includes all yardage gained by any player on any rushing attempt. This includes running back carries, wide receiver end-arounds, quarterback sneaks, and crucially, yards gained by the quarterback when a passing play breaks down and they run (scrambles), as well as kneel-downs.
- Alt Rushing Yards: Focuses solely on yardage gained from designed runs. It aims to isolate the ground attack intentionally called by the offensive coordinator. To achieve this, it typically removes:
- Yardage gained by quarterbacks when scrambling on passing plays.
- Yardage gained (usually negative) during quarterback kneel-downs.
Quarterback Contribution to Rushing Stats
Quarterbacks contribute significantly to traditional team rushing totals in two ways:
- Designed QB Runs: Sprints, options, sneaks – explicitly called runs.
- Scrambles: Unplanned runs occurring when the initial passing play collapses.
Alt rushing yards includes yardage from designed QB runs but deliberately excludes scrambling yardage and kneel-downs.
Why Alt Rushing Yards Matter
- Assessing Intended Run Game Performance: By removing scramble yards, alt rushing provides a cleaner picture of how well the intentionally designed ground game is performing.
- Evaluating Running Backs: Offers a view of rushing yards generated primarily by running backs and potentially receivers on designed runs, separate from QB improvisation.
- Team Comparison: Useful for comparing teams where one heavily features scrambling QBs, as their traditional rushing totals might be inflated by unplanned runs. Alt rushing levels the playing field.
Key Characteristics
- Not an Official Statistic: Primarily an analytic metric used by websites and analysts, not an official NFL stat category.
- QB-Specific Exclusion: The key exclusion criterion is QB scrambling, not the concept of scrambling itself. If a RB/WR scrambles, it's still considered a designed run.
- Measuring Intent: Aims to quantify the success of plays where the run was the designed outcome.
In essence, alt rushing yards offer a focused lens to evaluate the productivity of a team's deliberate rushing strategy by filtering out yards accumulated incidentally through quarterback scrambles.
