All Decade Team: Running Backs (1 Viewer)

[Ministry of Pain]

There is a lot of talk about All Decade Teams, thought the RBs would be a great place to start. I am going to pick 3 and then 1 FB.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson: I don't even think you can argue this form any other POV than he gets in 1st choice. meaning if you could only pick 1 of them I would vote for LT. He came in at the beginning of this decade and he will go out just about at the end of it too. His records and stats speak for themselves. In fact trying to find two other RBs was very hard but I think I found a couple.

2. Shaun Alexander: This is hard because many don't really like ALexander but he had a run of 5 years that was only topped by LT. Shaun will thought of as a soft runner but i have little doubt he will likely slide into the HoF...maybe not but from 2001-2005 he had yard totals and TDs of 1,600/16, 1,600/18, 1,730/16, 1,866/20, 1,958/28...for 5 years this guy avg over 100 yds and a TD every week, not many can say that.

3. Priest Holmes: I thought about Edge, was looking at Portis, Westbrook's name gets tossed around some, but for 3 years this guy was the most feared running back in almost all of football. Sure he had a terrific OL in front of him as well as a coaching staff that would allow him to continue being fed the ball even when they were down 2 or 3 scores int he 2nd half, still from 2001-2003 he did something almost no one else has done this decade. Be awarded as an ALL-PRO 3 years in a row. Priest gets my vote but I don't claim there are others not at least as worthy.

4. Lorenzo Neal(FB): I vote for Neal because he had so many 1,000 yd rushers he blocked in front of like LT, Eddie Geroge, across the board he was a devastating run blocker. I thought about Mike Alstott but he did a lot of his damage as a FB hybrid in the late 90s which you can't really count. his career was winding down right after the Bucs won the SB so I tossed him out of the equation and focused on run blocking FBs and Neal became an obvious choice for me.

What you got?

 

[Chase Stuart]

4. Lorenzo Neal(FB): I vote for Neal because he had so many 1,000 yd rushers he blocked in front of like LT, Eddie Geroge, across the board he was a devastating run blocker. I thought about Mike Alstott but he did a lot of his damage as a FB hybrid in the late 90s which you can't really count. his career was winding down right after the Bucs won the SB so I tossed him out of the equation and focused on run blocking FBs and Neal became an obvious choice for me. What you got?

Tony Richardson doesn't have the hype that Neal does, but he blocked for more 1,000 yard rushers in his career and this decade (4 to 3, for both). Fred Beasley blocked for three different 1K rushers with the 49ers in the beginning of the decade, while Daimon Shelton blocked for 1,000 yard rushers on three different teams in four years. Terrelle Smith never made a PB but blocked for different 1K rushers in '01, '03, '05 and '07.Additionally, you have pass-catching FBs. Larry Centers and Richie Anderson were the most prolific pass-catching FBs of the decade, although neither did much in the second half of the decade.

 

[encaitar]

1. Ladanian Tomlinson

He's gonna be first on everyone's list, no doubt. Just a stud. One of the top 5 ever to play the position.

2. Edgerrin James

Second most all purpose yards this decade behind Tomlinson. Was basically a LT light for the early part of the decade.

3. Clinton Portis

Third pick was close. Fred Taylor, Shaun Alexander, and Brian Westbrook all deserve mention, but Portis gets the nod because, like Taylor, he was the only option for his team, yet he finished with higher TD totals than the others(except Alexander) and higher yardage totals than all of them.

FB. Tony Richardson

Every bit as good of a blocker as Neal, but 10 times the receiver.

 

[Chase Stuart]

As far as the HBs go, here's what I wrote before the season: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=2722

Let's just get it out of the way -- LT is the top running back of the decade....Except for perhaps tight end and outside linebacker, no other all-decade position has as large a disparity between #1 and #2. LT leads all running backs in RB value, AV, Pro Bowls, games, starts, seasons starting, first team all pro honors and second team all pro honors. Only Marshall Faulk prevents a clean sweep, as Faulk's two AP player of the year awards and 1 MVP trophy top Tomlinson, who has "just" one of each. After LT, though, there are lots of RBs with good cases to make:

* Faulk and Holmes were the most dominant, with Holmes having three first-team all pro nominations and Faulk having the two OPOY awards. They join Tomlinson in the top three for running back dominance over the past nine seasons.

* AV likes Edge and Barber next, but the hardware says Shaun Alexander. And who would have guessed that Ahman Green made more Pro Bowls this decade than any RB besides LT?

* Fred Taylor, Warrick Dunn, Corey Dillon, Clinton Portis and Jamal Lewis have all been consistently good for long stretches of the decade. Each has at least a 4.2 YPC average and 7500 rushing yards since the start of 2000.

I don't feel particularly comfortable naming Faulk to the first team, because he was a stud for just two seasons -- '00 and '01. Holmes' peak lasted a little longer; he had three and a half big years. Barber was better for even longer, but his peak was less impressive and he had fumbling issues in several of those seasons. James was terrific in 2000, and had some good but not great post-ACL years in Indianapolis. He's been piling up the AV because he's hung around as a starter, but I don't know if that's enough to make this team. With a monster season this year, All Day Peterson might have an argument by the real end of the decade. Shaun Alexander never seemed to garner respect for his great numbers, probably because he was playing with Jones and Hutchinson (more on them, later) against some bad NFC West defenses. But his numbers are tough to ignore.

I'm going to play the dominance card here, and stick with what the numbers tell me. Thirty years from now, I want people to remember how awesome Priest Holmes was for three and a half seasons, and not how Edgerrin James wasn't too bad for nine seasons. People tend to remember Holmes as a "system back", but I'm not sure he played in more favorable situations than Faulk, Alexander, Portis (Denver) or James (Indy).

First team All-Decade RBs: LaDainian Tomlinson and Priest Holmes

Faulk didn't make the All-Decade team of the '90s, and it seems odd that an arguable top five RB of all time won't make any all decade team. Let's throw him on to the second team, on the basis of his two OPOY awards. That leaves James, Barber and Alexander, who will continue this battle when Canton only takes one or two of them. I'm partial to Barber because I felt he produced with the least around him -- he didn't have Manning/Glenn/Saturday, and he didn't have Hasselbeck/Jones/Hutchinson. He was very good for a very long time, and he has the best yards per carry average of any running back this decade.

Second team All-Decade RBs: Marshall Faulk and Tiki Barber

Almost nothing has changed as far as the RB position goes for the All-decade team goes since the top RBs of the decade are washed up now. Guys like CJ4.24, MJD and Peterson are too young.So I'd go:

1 - LT

2 - Holmes

3 - Faulk

4 - Barber

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Chase, it seems like we agree on LT and Priest. I like your secondary All Decade but Faulk I believe came into the league in 1994/1995...a lot of his career was in the 90s, some of it with the Colts.

A couple other RBs I like but understand they are not all decade were guys like Curtis Martin, much like Faulk a lot of his numbers were in the 90s, also Thomas Jones has really come on the last 5 years between Chiacgo and also New York.

Jones has about 11,000 total yds in the 2000s, 9,000+ on the ground, believe it or not he isn't far off what Portis has totaled to this point on the ground. 5 in a row 1,000+ rushing seasons ont he ground, 6 years of 1,300+ total yds in a row. 63 TDs this decade including 27 the past 2 years, never had a decent QB really, except maybe Favre last year.

No love for Shaun?

 

[Chase Stuart]

Faulk won MVP awards in two seasons in the decade (2000 - AP, PFWA, NEA; 2001 - PFWA; BBA), was an Associated Press first-team All-Pro twice in the decade (third most behind LT/Holmes), an OPOY award, and was a three-time Pro Bowler (third most behind LT/Green). So he's got a pretty good resume for the '00s. Doesn't have the longevity, but was dominant in the decade.

I'd put Alexander and James right behind Faulk/Barber on my third team.

 

[encaitar]

Faulk won MVP awards in two seasons in the decade (2000 - AP, PFWA, NEA; 2001 - PFWA; BBA), was an Associated Press first-team All-Pro twice in the decade (third most behind LT/Holmes), an OPOY award, and was a three-time Pro Bowler (third most behind LT/Green). So he's got a pretty good resume for the '00s. Doesn't have the longevity, but was dominant in the decade.I'd put Alexander and James right behind Faulk/Barber on my third team.

The problem with Faulk and Holmes is that they only had a few good years in the decade. In Holmes case, he only had 3 dominant years in his career. Faulk was just more of a 90s back IMO. Neither of them even sniff the top 10 in terms of yardage or TD totals for the decade. I guess you can look at it a few different ways. It would be the same argument as whether you would include Terrell Davis as an all-90s back. Most would not because of his lack of good years, but some would based upon how dominant those great years were.

 

[jurb26]

1. Ladanian Tomlinson He's gonna be first on everyone's list, no doubt. Just a stud. One of the top 5 ever to play the position.2. Edgerrin James Second most all purpose yards this decade behind Tomlinson. Was basically a LT light for the early part of the decade. 3. Clinton Portis Third pick was close. Fred Taylor, Shaun Alexander, and Brian Westbrook all deserve mention, but Portis gets the nod because, like Taylor, he was the only option for his team, yet he finished with higher TD totals than the others(except Alexander) and higher yardage totals than all of them.FB. Tony Richardson Every bit as good of a blocker as Neal, but 10 times the receiver.

I like this list.