All Fumblers Are Not Created Equal - Part Two

Running Earnest out of town was Cleveland's mistake

The Curly R concludes its two part look at Ladell Betts and his fumbling problem with a look into Redskins history.

Part 1: Working Hard, Dropping the Ball
Pare 2: Earnest Byner, the Original Fumbler

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Back in August Mike Wise did a good piece on Ladell Betts and Redskins running backs coach Earnest Byner, himself a former Redskin that came from the Browns with a fumbling story.

In the 1988 AFC Championship Game fourth year 10th round draft pick Earnest Byner fumbled on the Broncos three yard line. John Elway had just led Denver on a 75 yard scoring drive, Bernie Kosar got the ball back with 3:53 left in the game and went 67 yards to the Denver eight where he handed the ball to Earnest. Defensive back Jeremiah Castille stripped it, Denver stalled then took a safety and Bernie did not have time to work, game over, Broncos headed to the Super Bowl.*

This play is so memorable to football fans that it has its own Wikipedia page, The Fumble.

Earnest stayed another year in Cleveland but was not loved and in the the 1989 offeason he was traded to the Redskins for second year third round draft pick running back Mike Oliphant. Legend has it that when Earnest reported to the equipment manager to get his Redskins uniforms for the first time he asked for his old jersey number in Cleveland to which the equipment manager is said to have replied famously, oh no you WILL NOT be wearing John Riggins' number for this team. So he settled on number 21.

The Fumble does not exist for Redskins fans, all Earnest did was help the Redskins get to and win Super Bowl 26 and in his time with the Redskins ran for 1000 yards three seasons in a row.**

However outside Washington he is remembered for The Fumble and Mike Wise wrote of Earnest comforting Ladell on the lesson of being pegged and helping try to move past it and hold onto today.

But can these two guys known for fumbling really be compared? I have shamelessly purloined the top line from Biggie's fumble table at Post Game Heroes and added a line for Earnest. Using Biggie's methodology I have crunched Earnest's numbers over his career versus Ladell's over the period 2004-2007. Here are the results:

Player	Fumbles (since 2004)	Carries (since 2004)	Catches (since 2004)	Total Touches (since 2004)	Touches per Fumble	Fumble Percentage (by touches)
Ladell Betts	10	481	87	568	56.8	1.76%
Player	Fumbles (career)	Carries (career)	Catches (career)	Total touches (career)	Touches per Fumble	Fumble Percentage (by touches)
Earnest Byner	8	2095	512	2607	325.9	0.30%

As you can see there is simply no comparison. Earnest fumbled less than one half of one percent of all touches, once every 325 touches, or 8 times in 211 games versus Ladell's tracked number of 10 times in 53 games.

Earnest is rememebered, mainly by Broncos and Browns fans, for one drop, a strip at the goal line in the biggest game at that point in his career. Ladell is on his way to fumbling himself out of the Redskins plans and out of the league.

Ladell is a great back and I would like to see him stay in Washington and thrive. Ladell, Call Tiki Barber, call an exorcist, a witch doctor, call someone, get some help and hold onto the ball.



* It is not without irony that this writer notes the team that beat the Denver Broncos in that game, Super Bowl 22 was the Washington Redskins by a score of 42-10.

** Technically Earnest accumulated 1219 yards in 1990, 1048 in 1991 and 998 in 1992 but Redskins fans will recall that in the final regular season game of 1992 against the LA Raiders that Earnest went over 1000 yards, 1004 to be specific then was hit for a six yard loss to take him back under 1000. Joe Gibbs would pull him out of the game at that point, wanting to keep him as fresh as possible for the playoffs. Yes Earnest we remember.

Earnest Byner after fumbling in the 1987 ACF Championship Game: AP photo from here.