Apr 23, 2020 13:48:04 GMT thereallt said:

Gore was my #10. To play 14 years and rack up over 15,000 rushing yards is all you need to know.

Exactly me, except I had him at #9

I didn’t vote for AP because A) he’s a terrible person and B) I’m kinda with UT on this.

AP reminds me of LeSean McCoy, except AP was the entire offence on his team for a number of years so his stats are a bit padded. McCoy played with a decent QB in his prime then got hurt a bunch.

Both were very one dimensional and both were a touch overrated.

Now, was AP one of the best in the league for a while? Yes. But top 10 all time? No way.

Apr 25, 2020 14:30:14 GMT UT said:

Apr 25, 2020 14:08:46 GMT thereallt said:

Running out of the shotgun requires that teams respect your passing game though. NO ONE had ANY respect for Christian Ponder. I remember when the Vikings lined up in a shotgun people WERE STILL lining up 8 in the box against them.

No it doesn’t? If anything it creates more space for the running game and Peterson should have been able to feast on the space it created. He wanted no part of it though and that killed the entire offense.

Watch the Titans this year, they ran Henry out of every formation and were successful. Even in a playoff games where Tannehill was struggling. The shotgun spread out the defense though and allowed Henry to get in space against one defender and run him over.

To  have that space the safeties need to drop back and linebackers have to show coverage.   Teams simply DID NOT do that against Peterson's Vikings.   The space you're talking about only happens if your QB is a legitimate threat (which Tannehill was last season)

There IS A REASON teams don't use the shotgun on obvious running downs

I had Adrian Peterson at #10 for being the best back of his generation. He combined Gore's longevity and statistical accumulation with Campbell's 3 rushing titles and 2 TD titles. Peterson also achieved a rare 2000 season and has an impressive 4.7 yards per carry for his career.

If I had put more than 5 minutes of research into this I'm sure I would have flip flopped Earl & AP at the #8 & #10 spots.

Apr 25, 2020 23:47:25 GMT thereallt said:

Apr 25, 2020 14:30:14 GMT UT said:

No it doesn’t? If anything it creates more space for the running game and Peterson should have been able to feast on the space it created. He wanted no part of it though and that killed the entire offense.

Watch the Titans this year, they ran Henry out of every formation and were successful. Even in a playoff games where Tannehill was struggling. The shotgun spread out the defense though and allowed Henry to get in space against one defender and run him over.

To  have that space the safeties need to drop back and linebackers have to show coverage.   Teams simply DID NOT do that against Peterson's Vikings.   The space you're talking about only happens if your QB is a legitimate threat (which Tannehill was last season)

There IS A REASON teams don't use the shotgun on obvious running downs

What NFL have you been watching? Teams run out of shotgun in every situation now.

Fun fact Earl Campbell is recognised by the Texas State Legislature as a Official State Hero of Texas. He is the 4th member with the other three being Davy Crockett, Stephen F Austin, and Sam Houston.

Looking at his tape again, I must say I definitely erred not including him. Especially since I'm not considering off the field stuff at all.

Apr 26, 2020 0:17:47 GMT UT said:

Apr 25, 2020 23:47:25 GMT thereallt said:

To  have that space the safeties need to drop back and linebackers have to show coverage.   Teams simply DID NOT do that against Peterson's Vikings.   The space you're talking about only happens if your QB is a legitimate threat (which Tannehill was last season)

There IS A REASON teams don't use the shotgun on obvious running downs

What NFL have you been watching? Teams run out of shotgun in every situation now.

Sure teams run draw plays every now and then (and have for the longest time now) but NO ONE uses the shotgun as their bread and butter formation for running plays.

I had Adrian Peterson #4 on my list. Honestly shocked he finished this low in the list. I thought he was a guarantee top 5 finish.

I guess him beating his kid is still a shocker to society. But I guess people are bias because he was a Viking (UT) or because they’re only ranking RBs they heard on radio back in dem good old days ( @ck,) but y’all bugging.

I’m starting to worry about Christian McCaffrey making the list (my #1 obviously) if AP finished this low.

To be fair, McCaffrey doesn't belong on the list. He's only been in the league 3 years. Only way I would vote for him in that brief amount of time is he ran for 2000 yds for all of those seasons

Apr 26, 2020 3:15:00 GMT thereallt said:

Apr 26, 2020 0:17:47 GMT UT said:

What NFL have you been watching? Teams run out of shotgun in every situation now.

Sure teams run draw plays every now and then (and have for the longest time now) but NO ONE uses the shotgun as their bread and butter formation for running plays.

Again what NFL are you watching?

The top 4 rushing teams in the NFL are ALSO the top four teams in percentage of shotgun snaps. This isn’t 1985 anymore , teams use the shotgun as a base running formation.

7. Eric Dickerson 

Years 

1983 - 1993 

Rushing Yards 

13259 

Rushing Touchdowns 

90 

Rushing Average 

4.4 

Accolades 

- 2nd overall pick in 1983 NFL Draft 

- 6x Pro Bowl Selection 

- 5x First Team All Pro 

- 1986 NFL Offensive Player of the Year 

- 1983 NFL Rookie of the Year 

- 4x NFL Rushing Champion 

- 1980's All Decade Team 

- NFL 100th Anniversary Team 

- #29 Retired by Rams  

- NFL Record for Rushing Yards in a Season 

- NFL Record for Rushing Yards in Rookie Season 

- NFL Record for Rushing Yards in Playoff Game 

I think this is right where I had Dickerson as well , I'm not as familiar with him as other old time backs that I go back and watch more but it's clear he dominated most of the 80's and set records that still stand today. His 1986 season is crazy and his peak is up there with any running back of all time. It really only lasted like 6 years though because that was about the lifespan of backs in a far tougher era.

Also a shame that he hung on for so long with stints with the Raiders and Falcons at the end and probably soured his career with some newer fans at the time.

Great back though , had we all been older in the 80's I feel like he might have been higher.

In all reality, Dickerson would’ve made my list if I wasn’t going with recency bias. Dude was a big deal and a beast.

Ran in to Dickerson at Mo's Place in Katy Texas about 10 years ago. Thought he'd be bigger

Dickerson was my #7 as well. His 1984 season was almost comical in it's awesomeness. He was literally impossible to stop, and teams were trying their damndest . He faced in 8 in the box just about every game and it didn't matter. He didn't have quite the same longevity as some of the other backs on my list, but his dominance for his first 6-7 years was unquestionable. He was Adrian Peterson before Adrian Peterson.

Eric was also a pretty good receiver his rookie year, but I guess the Rams decided throwing passes to him didn't make a lot of sense.  It didn't help that catching the ball was A LOT more punishing back then, and Eric was already taking enough hits running out of the backfield.

Apr 26, 2020 14:56:43 GMT thereallt said:

Dickerson was my #7 as well. His 1984 season was almost comical in it's awesomeness. He was literally impossible to stop, and teams were trying their damndest . He faced in 8 in the box just every game and it didn't matter. He didn't have quite the same longevity as some of the other backs on my list, but his dominance for his first 6-7 years was unquestionable. He was Adrian Peterson before Adrian Peterson.

Eric was also a pretty good receiver his rookie year, but I guess the Rams decided throwing passes to him didn't make a lot of sense.  It didn't help that catching the ball was A LOT more punishing back then, and Eric was already taking enough hits running out of the backfield.

Yeah I noticed that too. Weird. I planned on including receiving stats for backs where that was a part of their game but Dickerson was a non factor after his rookie year.

I had Peterson at 5 and Dickerson at 6. Their peaks were extremely entertaining to watch and they both put up some gaudy numbers. I gave the edge to AP for longevity though.

I also had Dickerson at #7. He took the league by storm. His 1984 season is one of the ages. Pretty crazy that his single season rushing record of 2105 yards still stands 36 years later when the "unbreakable" passing records Marino put up that same year have since been eclipsed many times over.

Dickerson's first 7 seasons were incredible. He lead the league in rushing 4 times and finished in the Top 3 every year but one- 1985 when he held out the first two games. My dad disliked him for this, and hated him even more when he later got traded to the despised Indianapolis Colts. But I couldn't hold it against Dickerson. After all, he famously had to take a pay cut when he left SMU for the NFL.

Dickerson, like most running backs of his era, faded quickly, but in those first 7 years he rewrote the record books and earned a ticket to Canton.

Fun Fact: Dickerson with the Colts (I don't really remember him as a Ram) was one of my 3 favorite players in the late 80s. He was right up there with John Elway and.....Morten Andersen  :lol:  I had an Eric Dickerson Starting Lineup!

That Dickerson trade was wild. I saw a documentary on it or some shit. They also painted him as the first diva of the NFL during it.

Dickerson is also great value on Twitter:

Apr 27, 2020 4:24:15 GMT KING KID said:

That Dickerson trade was wild. I saw a documentary on it or some shit. They also painted him as the first diva of the NFL during it.

A very unfair portrayal.   The Rams were lowballing the hell out of him.   Especially given what Dickerson had done for them

6. Marshall Faulk 

Years Active 

1994 - 2005 

Career Rushing Attempts 

2836 

Career Rushing Yards 

12279 

Career Rushing Touchdowns 

100 

Career Rushing Average 

4.3 

Career Receptions 

767 

Career Receiving Yards 

6875

Career Receiving Touchdowns 

36

Career Accolades 

- 2nd overall pick 1994 NFL Draft 

- 7x Pro Bowl Selection 

- 3x First Team All Pro 

- 3x Second Team All Pro 

- 3x NFL Offensive Player of the Year 

- 2000 NFL MVP 

- 1994 Offensive Rookie of the Year 

- #28 Retired by Rams 

Faulk was great , the best dual threat back I have probably ever seen and he built upon what Roger Craig did and changed the way running backs are viewed even in todays era. I had him above of some of the old timers like Dickerson and Campbell because he was a dual threat and changed the game in more ways - they all were dominant but Faulk was dominant and dangerous in any spot on the field in any situation, and showed what could be possible when you built an offense around a dual threat running back.

Dude average over 100 total yards a game for his career - that's pretty insane and he was the most dangerous weapon in the league for at least a three years span. Worthy #6.

First guy from my list! My #10.

Recall him being a highly entertaining and integral part of my favorite football game ever: Rams vs. Titans for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2000.

Apr 27, 2020 13:48:05 GMT UT said:

Faulk was great , the best dual threat back I have probably ever seen and he built upon what Roger Craig did and changed the way running backs are viewed even in todays era. I had him above of some of the old timers like Dickerson and Campbell because he was a dual threat and changed the game in more ways - they all were dominant but Faulk was dominant and dangerous in more ways and showed what could be possible when you built an offense around a dual threat running back.

Dude average over 100 total yards a game for his career - that's pretty insane and he was the most dangerous weapon in the league for at least a three years span. Worthy #6.

I had Faulk ranked #5 for all the same reasons.   

I had Faulk at 8 perhaps because I'm still a little biased against those St. Louis Rams teams. I hated watching him carve up teams week in and week out but still he had tremendous talent and deserves his spot.

I had Marshall at #8

Marshall Faulk was a game changer and 6 is a good spot.

I had Marshall Faulk at #5 for the same reasons others rated him highly. Namely being the greatest dual threat coming out of the backfield of my lifetime...and probably ever. His rushing stats alone make him a borderline Top 10 choice. His prowess in the passing game makes him a lock. Check out his 1999 numbers. Ridiculous. Actually, his whole run from 98-01 was pretty epic. I remembered him being the best/most feared back in the game for a few years, and the numbers bear that out. Also props to UT for the Roger Craig mention.