2010 was a disaster for the Texans. There's simply no way to dress it up or take the sting out of it, but the emergence of Arian Foster was certainly the brightest spot in the cold, dark, distant world that was 6-10.
ProFootballFocus recently did an examination of running backs and dropped passes, where they look at which backs are best and worst at hauling in catchable balls. Best on the list in 2010 was Pierre Thomas with no drops out of 29 catchable balls, but really the true king is Ray Rice who had one drop out of 75. Incredible.
Not so high on the list was our own beloved philosopher, wisdom-Tweeter, Pterodactyl-Linguist, and running back Arian Foster. PFF had this to say about Foster:
One man who didn't make quite the statement in this area was Arian Foster, which is something that should worry the rest of the league. His five drops were far too many for a running back, leaving him in 19th position with a 7.04% drop percentage. Yet he still finished as our highest-graded receiving running back, in large part to his ability to make defenders miss (his 18 forced missed tackles were second of all backs). When one of the top players at his position still has room to improve, that has to be of concern to those especially in the AFC South.
So Foster, even with a high-number of drops, graded out as their top pass-catching RB. Not their top RB, mind you, but their top pass-catching RB. While I can't imagine anyone being rated higher than Ray Rice in this category, it's not surprising when you factor in the considerable amount of wiggle that Foster brings when he's in the open field. It goes to show you just how smart the guy is, because we know he's not a speed-burner. Foster's ability to break tackles and use his hips to throw off defenders comes from the fact that he clearly studies a LOT, and, well defenses - he's just smarter than you.
I could get used to this whole "having a dominant running back" thing. Let's try and get this possible future contract problem settled before it becomes an issue, shall we?