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Mewelde Moore: Forgotten Man
by Sam Monson
23/10/2007
This article is a little bit of information about one of the league’s best kept secrets – so much so in fact that his own Head Coach seems blissfully unaware of what a talent he keeps rotting on the bench, despite being shown every time they hit 3rd and a mile during the 2006 season. The Vikings do seem to recognize the value of the secret they keep deactivated on Sundays though, refusing to accept anything less than a 4th round pick from Tampa Bay in a trade that would have seen Moore move to Tampa before the trade deadline. Ironically enough Tampa Bay then went and picked up Michael Bennett, the man who would blight Moore’s early career in Minnesota.
 Anybody that’s seen Mewelde Moore play any kind of meaningful time recognises that he has talent, but not everyone realises just how much. Mike Mayock was one of the only draftniks to see anything in Mewelde Moore coming out of Tulane, and talked him up at the time for his versatility. Mayock in fact still talks Moore up for that same attribute. It wasn’t long into his rookie season that he began showing it, and proving Mayock right. In 2004 as a 4th round rookie he set Vikings records for Rushing Yardage, Yards from Scrimmage, and Total Yardage for a Vikings Rookie over a 3 game span – the 3 games he started by default when the entire Vikings’ running back by committee went down.
Whilst there was a large portion of Purple Nation that jumped on the Mewelde Moore bandwagon at around that time, they were always left wondering why the coach never agreed. Mike Tice it seems was intent on letting Michael Bennett have endless opportunities to regain the form he showed in 2002, and it never came. Now Bennett was a fine player once upon a time, but by the time Moore was on the scene, Bennett had lost what he once had, and was only really dangerous when in space – something the Viking offence of 2005 especially was utterly incapable of getting for him. Moore on the other hand has no issues when being met at the handoff. In 2005 despite rushing behind THE worst line in football he had a 4.3 YPC average. Now that’s nothing special for a RB, but it is at the very worst respectable. When you start to look at the other factors beyond the runner himself that factor into rushing stats, you start to appreciate it more:
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Worst O-line in Football (statistically for rushing better than only Arizona according to Football Outsiders) – Check
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Limited/Zero Receiving threats to stretch the field – No Randy Moss Check
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Utter disappearance of any deep passing game once Culpepper’s knee went pop – Check
Moore put up 4.3 YPC despite being the only rushing threat on the team, despite teams not respecting the pass, and despite having an o-line so porous he was regularly met by D-linemen as he received the ball..
 The knock on Moore used to be durability, but that’s been answered in the last 2 years, and in truth, it was always something of a myth. In his rookie year he suffered from the dreaded high-ankle sprain. The curse of all RBs, and something that so often brands RBs as ‘fragile’. In 2005, Moore broke his wrist, so naturally wasn’t able to go – except he was. He was back there every game receiving punts – returning them for TDs (Hello Giants fans..). So why was Mike Tice claiming he wasn’t able to go? Well, because no Moore meant he could give Michael Bennett one…last…shot…The other type of durability people suggested he didn’t have was during the game – ability to carry the load..’He’s just a scatback, way too small to cope with an NFL pounding.. .’
Well, he’s heavier at 211lbs than Tiki Barber, Frank Gore and Willie Parker – 3 of the top 10 Rushers in 2006, but here’s the one you’ll like – He’s only 2 lbs lighter than Chester Taylor – the man Childress tried to kill with carries last year. Are we supposed to believe that 2lbs equals 300 carries? So if we assume he’s big enough to carry the load, the question is what happens when he’s allowed to?
In the 6 Games Moore’s had 15+ Carries – 629 Yards, at 5.1 a clip. In the 7 Games Moore’s had 20+ Touches – 975 Yards from Scrimmage. That suggests that he can handle the workload in a game. In fact, it looks, like many great backs, that the more he touches the ball, the more damage he does to the opposition.
So… Away goes Michael Bennett, and in comes new management, new coaching, new owners, clean house. And of course, a new Free Agent RB. Chester Taylor. Chester got the big FA contract so any lip service paid to the camp battle for the starting job was really just the politically correct thing to say, but Moore did emerge from the 2006 Vikings Training Camp with 3rd down back role. That in itself was interesting because another knock on Moore – or rather an explanation often given by people trying to find a reason why he wasn’t the team’s feature back – is that his pass blocking was sub-standard. Well, firstly, you don’t put a guy who’s sub-standard at pass-blocking in as your 3rd down back – especially for the Vikings in 2006, as most of their 3rd downs were SERIOUS passing situations… ‘3rd and Dakota, North and South!’ Secondly, in post-game interviews Childress – unprompted – complimented Moore’s pass-blocking on at least 3 occasions during the year.
 So, what did he do from this role, can’t have been much right, because he never got a look in when Chester Taylor ground down under the colossal workload he was given later in the season. Well, he compiled a 5.5 YPC rushing average, and finished 2nd on the entire team in Receptions, for a 10.2 average. Think about that for a second, a ten yard average per reception – as a 3rd down back primarily. We’re not talking only a few catches here either, that’s on 42 receptions. So here we find another of Moore’s strengths. His receiving ability. Moore is one of the best receiving backs in the NFL. In his 3 year career he has 110 receptions, for 1045 yards, and he’s only started 11 total games. He’s as sure handed as they get, and he can do the more vertical routes without problems. Yet when Chester went down, who came into the lineup – first Artose Pinner, and then Ciatric Fason… Moore? – Nothing, 3rd downs.
What this all boils down to is that the Vikings have a player who has amazing talent. He runs hard, he always falls forward, he is virtually never stopped with the first hit, he has all-world receiving skills, he can block, and he’s shown he can carry the load, but he’ll never get a look in Minnesota. For whatever reason, nobody knows, but sooner or later he’s going to hit Free Agency (This coming off-season), and when he does, someone’s going to pick him up, and he’s going to earn a shot. When he does, he’s not going to be a secret anymore.
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