I've wondered about some of the things said around here (and Steeler Nation) that don't match up with the numbers.
One of them is that Mendenhall has problems fumbling the football.
MYTH: Mendenhall is a fumble machine. He can't hold on the ball.
FACT: Mendenhall has handled the ball 634 times. He has fumbled the ball 6 times. That is an fumble average of .94% or under 1 percent of all carries end up as a fumble. He is the best featured RB the Steelers have ever had in protecting the football. Here are the numbers:
In comparison (featured RB defined as anyone with 39 or more games played and 500 rushing attempts to rule out WRs, QBs and backups):
The categories are total games, total attempts, fumbles, then career fumble percentage (how many times they fumbled divided by how many times they carried the ball.
Rashard Mendenhall 39 634 6 0.95%
Jerome Bettis 145 2683 28 1.04%
Willie Parker 79 1253 17 1.36%
Walter Abercrombie 79 842 15 1.78%
Barry Foster 62 915 19 2.08%
John Fuqua 87 699 18 2.58%
John Henry Johnson 67 1006 26 2.58%
Merril Hoge 109 819 22 2.69%
Dick Hoak 135 1132 31 2.74%
Fran Rogel 96 900 28 3.11%
Franco Harris 165 2881 90 3.12%
Frank Pollard 111 953 30 3.15%
Tom Tracy 60 737 24 3.26%
Preston Pearson 62 573 19 3.32%
Rocky Bleier 134 928 32 3.45%
Lynn Chandnois 72 593 28 4.72%
Well great... but the game is different today. Can't compare stats from one era to another. I agree, so I took every RB that Pro-Football-Reference.com says is an active RB (so maybe not playing, but not yet retired), and used the same parameters as above. Out of 45 people who fit those parameters (3 of whom are QBs), Mendenhall is 7th in the best RBs to hold on to the ball of all RBs in the league with 39 or more games and 500 or more attempts.
Ray Rice (23) 708 4 0.56%
Joseph Addai (27) 1,016 6 0.59%
DeAngelo Williams (27) 868 6 0.69%
Chris Johnson (25) 971 7 0.72%
Ryan Grant (28) 822 6 0.73%
Brian Westbrook (31) 1,385 12 0.87%
Rashard Mendenhall (23) 634 6 0.95%
LaDainian Tomlinson (31) 3,116 30 0.96%
Laurence Maroney (25) 618 6 0.97%
Julius Jones (29) 1,280 13 1.02%
Michael Turner (28) 1,158 12 1.04%
Larry Johnson (31) 1,427 15 1.05%
Thomas Jones (32) 2,553 27 1.06%
Cedric Benson (28) 1,314 14 1.07%
Fred Taylor (34) 2,534 27 1.07%
Cadillac Williams (28) 1,018 11 1.08%
Steven Jackson (27) 1,884 21 1.11%
Maurice Morris (31) 791 9 1.14%
Ronnie Brown (29) 1,138 13 1.14%
Maurice Jones-Drew (25) 1,207 14 1.16%
Derrick Ward (30) 517 6 1.16%
Clinton Portis (29) 2,230 26 1.17%
Matt Forte (25) 846 10 1.18%
Marshawn Lynch (24) 890 11 1.24%
Willis McGahee (29) 1,595 20 1.25%
Marion Barber (27) 1,042 15 1.44%
Jonathan Stewart (23) 606 9 1.49%
Brandon Jacobs (28) 955 15 1.57%
Sammy Morris (33) 708 12 1.69%
Ladell Betts (31) 821 14 1.71%
Fred Jackson (29) 694 12 1.73%
Adrian Peterson (25) 1,256 22 1.75%
Michael Bennett (32) 842 15 1.78%
Correll Buckhalter (32) 655 12 1.83%
Frank Gore (27) 1,430 27 1.89%
Chester Taylor (31) 1,149 22 1.91%
Dominic Rhodes (31) 814 16 1.97%
Ricky Williams (33) 2,344 51 2.18%
Darren McFadden (23) 501 13 2.59%
Ahmad Bradshaw (24) 572 15 2.62%
Kevin Faulk (34) 847 25 2.95%
Reggie Bush (25) 552 21 3.80%
Michael Vick (30) 677 73 10.78%
Mark Brunell (40) 513 76 14.81%
Donovan McNabb (34) 611 94 15.38%
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SO, can we now put away the myth that Mendenhall has problems holding on to the football? The reality is, he is currently the best RB the Steelers have ever had at holding on to the ball and is one of the top 7 current RBs in the game for holding on to the ball.