Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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06 Oct 2008

Peterson, Taylor Form Dynamic Duo

This week's Monday Night Football column attempts to rank the best running back combinations since 1970.

Watch as ESPN commenters insist that I was born in the 1970's despite, of course, barely having a memory of the eighties.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 06 Oct 2008

9 comments, Last at 07 Oct 2008, 3:54pm by Danish Denver-Fan

Comments

1
by The Blow Leprechaun (not verified) :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 11:42am

What about when Michael Turner was backing up Tomlinson?

8
by joeshlabotnik :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 7:48pm

I don't really think that LDT/Turner qualifies as a RB tandem in a significant way. Although he doesn't spell it out in the article, it seems like Bill is limiting his article to tandems where each back had a significant share of the carries (above 30%). Turner never got more than 80 carries in any one season in SD - he was really more of a high-quality backup, rather than a full-fledged tandem back.

In regards to the predictably dumb ESPN comments, it might have helped if Bill had made it clear that the 2007 Prospectus article that this is based on took into account receiving stats for each running back - the ESPN article only shows the rushing stats. That might have cut down on some of the Okoye/Word boosterism.

2
by John Walt :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 12:03pm

I am not sure of the stats, but Marcus Allen and the Nigerian Nightmare Christian Okoye were beasts when it came to Tecmo Bowl. How do they stack up?

3
by tuluse :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 12:44pm

I would suggest Payton and Suey should be on this list.

Also, urbandictionary has the funniest definition of Matt Suey ever.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Matt%20Suey

5
by Marko :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 4:23pm

That definition would be funnier if they spelled his name right. It's Suhey, not Suey.

4
by Jimmy :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 1:41pm

I would love the Bears to get a version of Muster to pair with Forte.

Anyone know of any college backs who can lead block, pass block, run and catch?

6
by Ambientdonkey :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 5:08pm

No but the Rams don't seem to have much use for Brian Leonard.

9
by Danish Denver-Fan :: Tue, 10/07/2008 - 3:54pm

A year too late fro Payton Hillis... Or the poorman-version (and reach-friendly) Mike Hart.

7
by Keith (not verified) :: Mon, 10/06/2008 - 5:12pm

But those other guys the commenters listed are better because they have all the intangibles!

Yeah. Okay.