BobbyLayne
Footballguy
This article was written back on November 8. Since then, they’ve both scored TDs every week.
Lions’ Montgomery and Gibbs want to be the best backfield of all time; here’s how they stack up in the Super Bowl era
Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network (Substack)
Allen Park — Earlier this season, in a postgame locker room conversation with Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery, he relayed a lofty goal for himself and teammate Jahmyr Gibbs: When everything is said and done, he wants them to be viewed as the greatest running back duo of all time.
I opined later that week that the pair were arguably already the best, present day, but questioned whether they’d be together long enough to enter the larger conversation. A day later, the Lions extended Montgomery, creating a runway for him and Gibbs to play together in Detroit another three seasons beyond this one.
Through their first 20 games as teammates, Montgomery and Gibbs became the first backfield mates to each produce 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in that timeframe. To be more specific with those numbers, they’ve churned out 3,104 rushing yards (5.1 yards per carry), 3,863 yards from scrimmage and a staggering 39 touchdowns.
BobbyLayne update: Gibbs 1831 rushing, 20 TD, 2412 YFS, 22 r/r TD; Montgomery 1647 rushing, 15 TD, 2005 TFS
If we go a step further, projecting out the remainder of the 2024 campaign at their current pace, that would be 4,391 rushing yards, 5,517 yards from scrimmage and 56 scores across two seasons.
Whoa.
That’s unlike anything the league has seen since the merger. But greatness isn't defined by two seasons. It comes with longevity. And that's something that's become more and more difficult to achieve at the running back position in recent years.
But Montgomery has put a goal into the universe, and suddenly, it feels realistic. With that in mind, I put in hours and hours of research in an attempt to rank the 10 best backfield tandems of the Super Bowl era. The aim is to give you a sense of where Detroit's duo fits into the current picture and how much more they need to accomplish to be the best.
10. Fred Jackson/C.J. Spiller (Buffalo Bills)
Peak Stretch: 2011-13, 4,999 rushing yards, 5.0 yards per carry, 6,958 yards from scrimmage, 36 touchdowns
Maybe a touch controversial, since Spiller flamed out hard after the 2013 season, primarily due to injuries. But during those three seasons, the duo was impressively productive and efficient, with Jackson providing the power and Spiller serving as the electric, big-play merchant.
Spiller received the only Pro Bowl nod, not just during the stretch, but of both backs’ careers, getting the recognition in 2012 when he averaged 6.0 yards per carry and rushed for 1,244.
Unfortunately, Buffalo didn’t have much else cooking during that time, with a bottom-half defense and lousy quarterback play, resulting in three consecutive six-win seasons and last-place finishes in the Patriots-dominated AFC East.
9. Sam Cunningham/Andy Johnson (New England Patriots)
Peak Stretch: 1975-76, 78, 4,469 rushing yards, 4.2 yards per carry, 6,339 yards from scrimmage, 33 touchdowns
New England’s rushing attack was more of a three-headed monster during this period, with the hulking 6-foot-3, 226-pound Cunningham as the constant.
Those teams still hold two of the top 10 spots in rushing yards per game during the Super Bowl era.
Johnson missed the 1977 season, but in the three years he was paired with Cunningham, the duo led New England’s grind-you-down attack, which included plenty of contributions from the backs in the passing game.
Still figuring things out in 1975, the 3-11 Patriots turned things around the next year under coach Chuck Fairbanks, going 31-13 the next three seasons.
8. Mike Alstott/Warrick Dunn (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Peak Stretch: 1997-2001, 7,805 rushing yards, 3.9 yards per carry, 11,072 yards from scrimmage, 70 touchdowns
Appropriately nicknamed “Thunder and Lightning,” the pair had one of the lengthiest runs of high-level production in the past three decades. The impressive production was matched by the tandem’s durability. Both missed just four games during the five-season stretch.
For their efforts, Alstott was named to the Pro Bowl each of the five seasons, including three first-team All-Pro selections for the now-defunct fullback slot. Dunn earned Pro Bowl honors twice.
After more than a decade of ineptitude, the Buccaneers’ franchise fortunes turned around during this era, with four playoff appearances and a division title in five seasons. Unfortunately for Dunn, Tampa would win the Super Bowl in 2002, the same year he signed with division rival Atlanta.
7. John Riggins/Joe Washington (Washington)
Peak Stretch: 1981-83, 4,492 rushing yards, 3.9 yards per carry, 5,776 yards from scrimmage, 55 touchdowns
Washington didn’t draft either back, signing Riggins as a free agent in 1976 and sending a second-round pick to Baltimore for Washington ahead of the 1981 season. The pair had plenty of experience by the time they joined forces and would probably be ranked higher on this list if Washington didn’t miss half the ‘82 season with a knee injury that limited his output to 342 yards from scrimmage and two scores.
The franchise appeared in the Super Bowl twice during these three seasons, winning their first championship in 40 years in ‘82. Riggins would become a first-team All-Pro the following season, scoring a league-high 24 rushing touchdowns.
6. Mark Ingram/Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints)
Peak Stretch: 2017-18, 3,380 rushing yards, 5.0 yards per carry, 5,501 yards from scrimmage, 50 touchdowns
A popular comp for Detroit's duo, the Saints tandem burned brightly for two seasons before Ingram departed for a heftier contract in free agency following the 2018 season.
Kamara, a third-round draft pick out of Tennessee in 2017, hit the ground running with 1,554 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns, earning Rookie of the Year.
Impressively, both backs earned Pro Bowl honors that season, and again in 2019, when Ingram was in Baltimore. The Saints won their division in 2017 and 2018, but fell short of reaching the Super Bowl both years.
Following Ingram’s departure, New Orleans backfilled his spot with Latavius Murray. The new pairing didn’t reach the same heights, but was still pretty great, combining for more than 4,700 yards and 38 touchdowns the next two years.
5. Roger Craig/Wendell Tyler (San Francisco 49ers)
Peak Stretch: 1983-85, 5,409 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 8,196 yards from scrimmage, 60 touchdowns
Not the first dual-threat running back, Craig was the greatest of his era, becoming the first player in NFL history to record 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.
Interestingly, that didn’t happen during his time with Tyler, who had retired by the time Craig accomplished the feat in 1988. Still, the duo was so impactful because of his versatility, including his first 1,000-yard receiving season in 1985.
The 49ers won the franchise’s second Super Bowl in 1984, going 45-13 during this three-year period. The only major flaw with the backfield combo was Tyler’s 26 fumbles.
4. Fred Taylor/Maurice Jones-Drew (Jacksonville Jaguars)
Peak Stretch: 2006-08, 5,437 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 7,243 from scrimmage, 50 touchdowns
Productive and durable, the combination was extremely talented individually and a force when paired.
By the time Jones-Drew entered the league as a second-round pick in 2006, Taylor had a lot of mileage, with nearly 2,000 carries and five 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. Jones-Drew immediately lightened the load, both as a ball carrier and pass catcher those first three seasons, averaging 1,300 yards from scrimmage.
That jumped to nearly 1,800 yards per season the three after Taylor left to finish his career in New England, with Jones-Drew earning Pro Bowl honors each year.
It wasn't enough to carry the Jaguars to more than one playoff appearance, where they ran into the undefeated Patriots in the Divisional Round.
3. Franco Harris/Rocky Bleier (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Peak Stretch: 1975-79, 8,900 rushing yards, 4.1 yards per carry, 10,727 yards from scrimmage, 77 touchdowns
A different era, without question, Harris and Bleier were the gold standard through the mid-70’s until the end of the decade.
Harris was the star. A first-round pick out of Penn State, he would earn Pro Bowl honors his first nine seasons, including all five of the aforementioned stretch.
Bleier was a non-factor early in his career, missing a season for military service, and a second after being wounded in combat. He would log just 12 touches the first four years he saw the field, serving primarily as a blocker for Harris. But Bleier’s workload quickly grew to 95 touches in 1974 before averaging 171 for 812 scrimmage yards during the five years we’re highlighting.
The best season for the duo was 1976, when they combined for more than 2,400 yards and 19 touchdowns. Harris led the league with 14 on the ground.
Accentuating the resume for both are five division titles and three Super Bowl championships.
Lions’ Montgomery and Gibbs want to be the best backfield of all time; here’s how they stack up in the Super Bowl era
Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network (Substack)
Allen Park — Earlier this season, in a postgame locker room conversation with Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery, he relayed a lofty goal for himself and teammate Jahmyr Gibbs: When everything is said and done, he wants them to be viewed as the greatest running back duo of all time.
I opined later that week that the pair were arguably already the best, present day, but questioned whether they’d be together long enough to enter the larger conversation. A day later, the Lions extended Montgomery, creating a runway for him and Gibbs to play together in Detroit another three seasons beyond this one.
Through their first 20 games as teammates, Montgomery and Gibbs became the first backfield mates to each produce 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in that timeframe. To be more specific with those numbers, they’ve churned out 3,104 rushing yards (5.1 yards per carry), 3,863 yards from scrimmage and a staggering 39 touchdowns.
BobbyLayne update: Gibbs 1831 rushing, 20 TD, 2412 YFS, 22 r/r TD; Montgomery 1647 rushing, 15 TD, 2005 TFS
If we go a step further, projecting out the remainder of the 2024 campaign at their current pace, that would be 4,391 rushing yards, 5,517 yards from scrimmage and 56 scores across two seasons.
Whoa.
That’s unlike anything the league has seen since the merger. But greatness isn't defined by two seasons. It comes with longevity. And that's something that's become more and more difficult to achieve at the running back position in recent years.
But Montgomery has put a goal into the universe, and suddenly, it feels realistic. With that in mind, I put in hours and hours of research in an attempt to rank the 10 best backfield tandems of the Super Bowl era. The aim is to give you a sense of where Detroit's duo fits into the current picture and how much more they need to accomplish to be the best.
10. Fred Jackson/C.J. Spiller (Buffalo Bills)
Peak Stretch: 2011-13, 4,999 rushing yards, 5.0 yards per carry, 6,958 yards from scrimmage, 36 touchdowns
Maybe a touch controversial, since Spiller flamed out hard after the 2013 season, primarily due to injuries. But during those three seasons, the duo was impressively productive and efficient, with Jackson providing the power and Spiller serving as the electric, big-play merchant.
Spiller received the only Pro Bowl nod, not just during the stretch, but of both backs’ careers, getting the recognition in 2012 when he averaged 6.0 yards per carry and rushed for 1,244.
Unfortunately, Buffalo didn’t have much else cooking during that time, with a bottom-half defense and lousy quarterback play, resulting in three consecutive six-win seasons and last-place finishes in the Patriots-dominated AFC East.
9. Sam Cunningham/Andy Johnson (New England Patriots)
Peak Stretch: 1975-76, 78, 4,469 rushing yards, 4.2 yards per carry, 6,339 yards from scrimmage, 33 touchdowns
New England’s rushing attack was more of a three-headed monster during this period, with the hulking 6-foot-3, 226-pound Cunningham as the constant.
Those teams still hold two of the top 10 spots in rushing yards per game during the Super Bowl era.
Johnson missed the 1977 season, but in the three years he was paired with Cunningham, the duo led New England’s grind-you-down attack, which included plenty of contributions from the backs in the passing game.
Still figuring things out in 1975, the 3-11 Patriots turned things around the next year under coach Chuck Fairbanks, going 31-13 the next three seasons.
8. Mike Alstott/Warrick Dunn (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Peak Stretch: 1997-2001, 7,805 rushing yards, 3.9 yards per carry, 11,072 yards from scrimmage, 70 touchdowns
Appropriately nicknamed “Thunder and Lightning,” the pair had one of the lengthiest runs of high-level production in the past three decades. The impressive production was matched by the tandem’s durability. Both missed just four games during the five-season stretch.
For their efforts, Alstott was named to the Pro Bowl each of the five seasons, including three first-team All-Pro selections for the now-defunct fullback slot. Dunn earned Pro Bowl honors twice.
After more than a decade of ineptitude, the Buccaneers’ franchise fortunes turned around during this era, with four playoff appearances and a division title in five seasons. Unfortunately for Dunn, Tampa would win the Super Bowl in 2002, the same year he signed with division rival Atlanta.
7. John Riggins/Joe Washington (Washington)
Peak Stretch: 1981-83, 4,492 rushing yards, 3.9 yards per carry, 5,776 yards from scrimmage, 55 touchdowns
Washington didn’t draft either back, signing Riggins as a free agent in 1976 and sending a second-round pick to Baltimore for Washington ahead of the 1981 season. The pair had plenty of experience by the time they joined forces and would probably be ranked higher on this list if Washington didn’t miss half the ‘82 season with a knee injury that limited his output to 342 yards from scrimmage and two scores.
The franchise appeared in the Super Bowl twice during these three seasons, winning their first championship in 40 years in ‘82. Riggins would become a first-team All-Pro the following season, scoring a league-high 24 rushing touchdowns.
6. Mark Ingram/Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints)
Peak Stretch: 2017-18, 3,380 rushing yards, 5.0 yards per carry, 5,501 yards from scrimmage, 50 touchdowns
A popular comp for Detroit's duo, the Saints tandem burned brightly for two seasons before Ingram departed for a heftier contract in free agency following the 2018 season.
Kamara, a third-round draft pick out of Tennessee in 2017, hit the ground running with 1,554 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns, earning Rookie of the Year.
Impressively, both backs earned Pro Bowl honors that season, and again in 2019, when Ingram was in Baltimore. The Saints won their division in 2017 and 2018, but fell short of reaching the Super Bowl both years.
Following Ingram’s departure, New Orleans backfilled his spot with Latavius Murray. The new pairing didn’t reach the same heights, but was still pretty great, combining for more than 4,700 yards and 38 touchdowns the next two years.
5. Roger Craig/Wendell Tyler (San Francisco 49ers)
Peak Stretch: 1983-85, 5,409 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 8,196 yards from scrimmage, 60 touchdowns
Not the first dual-threat running back, Craig was the greatest of his era, becoming the first player in NFL history to record 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.
Interestingly, that didn’t happen during his time with Tyler, who had retired by the time Craig accomplished the feat in 1988. Still, the duo was so impactful because of his versatility, including his first 1,000-yard receiving season in 1985.
The 49ers won the franchise’s second Super Bowl in 1984, going 45-13 during this three-year period. The only major flaw with the backfield combo was Tyler’s 26 fumbles.
4. Fred Taylor/Maurice Jones-Drew (Jacksonville Jaguars)
Peak Stretch: 2006-08, 5,437 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 7,243 from scrimmage, 50 touchdowns
Productive and durable, the combination was extremely talented individually and a force when paired.
By the time Jones-Drew entered the league as a second-round pick in 2006, Taylor had a lot of mileage, with nearly 2,000 carries and five 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. Jones-Drew immediately lightened the load, both as a ball carrier and pass catcher those first three seasons, averaging 1,300 yards from scrimmage.
That jumped to nearly 1,800 yards per season the three after Taylor left to finish his career in New England, with Jones-Drew earning Pro Bowl honors each year.
It wasn't enough to carry the Jaguars to more than one playoff appearance, where they ran into the undefeated Patriots in the Divisional Round.
3. Franco Harris/Rocky Bleier (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Peak Stretch: 1975-79, 8,900 rushing yards, 4.1 yards per carry, 10,727 yards from scrimmage, 77 touchdowns
A different era, without question, Harris and Bleier were the gold standard through the mid-70’s until the end of the decade.
Harris was the star. A first-round pick out of Penn State, he would earn Pro Bowl honors his first nine seasons, including all five of the aforementioned stretch.
Bleier was a non-factor early in his career, missing a season for military service, and a second after being wounded in combat. He would log just 12 touches the first four years he saw the field, serving primarily as a blocker for Harris. But Bleier’s workload quickly grew to 95 touches in 1974 before averaging 171 for 812 scrimmage yards during the five years we’re highlighting.
The best season for the duo was 1976, when they combined for more than 2,400 yards and 19 touchdowns. Harris led the league with 14 on the ground.
Accentuating the resume for both are five division titles and three Super Bowl championships.
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