In the NFC North, a division that features the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, the running game has been a staple of offenses for decades.  Arguably no division in football has a stronger tradition than this one.  Granted these teams have been playing longer than most.  Nonetheless, when your honor roll includes names like Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung and others, it is tough to argue.

Associated Press -- Tom Dahlin

In the midst of this tradition stand two running backs (to be identified later), yet to enter the pantheon, who have been mentioned in connection with the inability and/or prospect of Brett Favre winning another Super Bowl.  As the title hopes of the Vikings are popularly tied to the success of Adrian Peterson, an implicit indictment is made of the backs who played with Favre in Green Bay.  Favre, now quarterback of the Vikings, led the Packers to a Super Bowl victory in 1996.  Beginning in 1994, the Packers were ranked in the Top 10 in offense (total yards) for 9 of the next 11 seasons.  Is the indictment valid?

In the minds of some, one of those backs is clearly superior to the other — but I wonder.  Objectively, and to the naked eye, there probably isn’t much room for debate.  But, statistically, a conversation is well worth having.  Take a look at their numbers:

Single-season career high rushing yards

Running Back A: 1760     Running Back B: 1883

Single-season career high carries

Running Back A: 363     Running Back B: 355

Single-season career high yards per carry

Running Back A: 5.6     Running Back B: 5.3

Single-season career high receptions

Running Back A: 21     Running Back B: 72

Single-season career high receiving yards

Running Back A: 268 Running Back B: 594

Single-season career high touchdowns

Running Back A: 13     Running Back B: 20

Single-season career high fumbles

Running Back A: 9  Running Back B: 7

For the many years after 1997 that the Packers failed to win a Super Bowl, much less more than a single playoff game in a season, the running game was not a weakness.  Nor is it a weakness this season in Minnesota.

Perhaps Favre and his fan club should look closer at the reasons for coming up short in those seasons.  The Packers had a solid ground game and the capacity to compel defenses to respond to play action fakes.  They had receivers capable of running solid routes, beating deep coverage and scoring in the Red Zone.  They had capable tight ends, too.

And if you think the Vikings, with Favre and Adrian Peterson, are a lead pipe lock to get to the Super Bowl, think again.  Right now, with an injured Antoine Winfield, the Vikings are ranked 8th defensively (yards allowed), but only 18th with respect to points allowed.  The Ravens just scored 31 and came up a stiff breeze short of 34.  When it comes to keeping teams off the scoreboard, the Vikings, for all the success of Leslie Frazier have NOT BEEN RANKED IN THE TOP 10 since 1998.  (And that’s including two games against the Lions every year.)

At some point before its all over, Brett Favre will have to prove he can still win games for this team.  It looks like the things that sunk the 2008 season of the New York Jets have been remedied.  Favre is looking as good now as he’s looked in since 2007 when the Packers were 13-3.

Who's Number 1?

But what of the previous decade?  What about the New Orleans Saints, New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons?  Not everyone will show up with a rookie kicker (Baltimore) or Shaun Hill in uniform and Frank Gore  in sneakers (San Francisco).

This week Brock and I thought we might take a closer look at Homecoming 2009.  We enjoy Homecoming festivities just like everyone else. House decorations, Walk around, Saturday morning parade, the fountain being filled with Orange Crush, Homecoming and Hoops, and the football game of course.  There is so much going on this week it is tough to keep up with it all, So we will try and slow it down for everyone.  In this blog we are going to go over the Grand Marshals of this years homecoming.

• Garth Brooks – Yes, the talented singer/songwriter is returning to his Alma Mater as one of the three Grand Marshals.  Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but raised in Yukon, Oklahoma.  Garth graduated from OSU in 1984 with a degree in advertising.  Fun Fact : Garth came to OSU on a track scholarship where he competed in javelin.

• Barry Sanders – Sanders attended OSU from 1986 – 1988 and in his final season he won the Heisman Trophy while leading his team to the Holiday Bowl.  Barry was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 1st round of the 1989 NFL draft.  Sanders retired only 10 seasons into his NFL career, but left a big legacy. If only he could have gone somewhere else in the NFL.

• Robin Ventura – What can I say about this guy.  3 – time all american at Oklahoma State, 58 game hitting streak, led the Cowboys to the College World Series in 1987.  Ventura has 6 gold gloves, once he hit 2 grand slams in 1 game, oh and he got in a fist fight with Nolan Ryan (aka the greatest pitcher of all- time)!  I could not find the video on the internet, but i found pictures.

As you can see, this shall be a grand week. Don’t be lame. Go check out the stuff that the frats and sororities have been working pretty hard on. Who knows? Maybe you will run into Garth or Barry. I just hope that you don’t run into Robin. He might still be pretty angry about those shots from Nolan. Regardless if you see them, you should get some cotton candy during the walk around. That stuff is delicious. If you see us at the walk around, stop us and tell us that you love us. If you’re the first one or two to say it, you will win a prize.

We hope that you all enjoyed this.

Bryan and Brock

GO POKES!

Emmitt Smith is the NFL's all time career rushing leader, but for how long?

A long time ago, in a city called Dallas where a man named J.R. got shot and the stars at night are big and bright, and people liked to greet each other with a firm handshake and a “how ’bout them Cowboys?” a man achieved his dream. That man was named Emmitt Smith, the dream was to be the NFL’s all time career leading rusher. Even Emmitt’s own teammate Michael Irvin was on record as saying words to the effect of, you do realize the difference between dreams and goals don’t you? But the Cowboys in those days were a juggernaut. Their defense caused frequent turnovers, their O-line opened up holes you could drive a truck through for their running backs and somewhere along the way to winning 3 Superbowls in 4 years the dream actually became a possibility. It was a long hard slog, that went on long after the Cowboy’s glory years, but through toughness and perserverance, Emmitt achieved his dream and became the all time career leading rusher in the NFL. Now it should be noted 2 things had to happen before Emmitt could realize his dream. 1: he actually broke the record for carries, before breaking the record for yards and 2: Barry Sanders retired…

Barry Sanders, the spectacular Detroit Lions running back who made watching the Lions fun even during the losing seasons,  ended his career after 10 seasons with a career total of 15,269 yards, just 1,457 behind Walter Payton the (then) leading all time rusher in the NFL. At that time Emmitt Smith after 9 seasons had 12,566. It would not be until 2001, 3 years after Sanders retired and 12 NFL seasons into Smith’s career to Sanders 10 that Smith would accumulate enough yards to pass Sanders on the all time list. It would not be until 2002 that he broke the deceased Payton’s record to claim the rushing crown for himself.

Whatever the circumstances of Mr. Smith’s achievement, it still is a monumental one. And the question I want to ask here is this: Can anyone, now playing, beat that record?

A quick glance at the all-time rushing record shows that there are few contenders. Considering what a destructive position NFL running back is, it is hard to consider those that have yet to break the 10,000 yard mark. Those under it are not very likely to have a long enough career to ever get there. Especially when you consider that the average NFL career length is under 4 years.

Last year LaDainian Tomlinson looked like the best bet to get there, having amassed almost 12,000 yeards in just 8 season, but this year his numbers haven fallen of a cliff as he’s only been able to play in 2 games and has rushed for just 70 yards in those 2. Even if he returns to perfect health and his old form, it is likely that the explosive Darren Sproles will cut into his carries and yardage totals, raising questions about his ability to sustain his run of seasons in excess of 1,000 yards. Edgerrin James and Fred Taylor are both hovering around the 12,ooo yard mark as well, but Fred Taylor is 33 years old and James’ numbers have dropped off drastically as well after he turned 30 in 2008.

So for now the only real hope for a new rushing champion lies in LaDainian Tomlinson returning to health and breaking the 1,000 yard mark this season. Adrian Peterson is as viable a candidate as there can be in the short term with over 3,000 yards in his first 2 seasons, but he runs so violently that I imagine him having more of an Earl Campbell or Jim Brown type career, powerful and impressive, but shortened.

So in the final analysis there are a few to watch, but I wouldn’t bother watching too closely. In all likelihood we have not yet met the next all-time rushing yards leader, or if we have, we do not yet know him very well.

Quick Bits:

A Rush to bad judgment: Apparently conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has expressed an interest in NFL ownership. Yes that Rush Limbaugh. The same one who was fired from ESPN for making racist comments about Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb. The backlash has been almost instantaneous with Bart Scott, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Donovan McNabb already speaking out against Limbaugh. Hopefully the NFL will deny Limbaugh’s ambitions. Football broke the color line a year before Jackie Robinson did it in 1947.  And has recently made advances, spearheading intiatives in order to increase the number of black head coaches in the league. It would be a shame to dishonor that tradition, and destroy the progress made by allowing an open racist into the league’s exclusive club of owners.

Tigers fall short: As a Detroit fan it was sad to see the Tigers fall short of making the playoffs this season, but 2 things salve that wound, 1: They didn’t deserve to make the playoffs after blowing a 7 game lead in September and a 3 game lead in October, and several 1 run leads in their playoff game against the Twins. The 2nd thing that salves the wound? Watching the Yankees wax the Twins in game 1 and knowing that it could have just as easily been the Tigers.

By: Lundin’ Bridge

The Madden football video game has been around for about 20 years, my entire lifespan. It has been the most popular football game to have ever been created and sells more and more copies each year. Up until 1999, John Madden had always been on the cover of this beloved game. That was until EA Sports decided that they would put the previous year’s best player on that year’s cover. Sounds like a good idea. After all, shouldn’t the best player in the NFL get some recognition? Well, it hasn’t worked so well. (Please enjoy the music below as you read.)

The Madden Curse is a supposed myth among football stating that if you appear on the cover for the next installment of the Madden video game your performance will suffer that season. Now for some, this may seem like utter bullshit. How can a video game dictate the performance of a player who was just coming off one of the greatest seasons of their career? It sounds completely far-fetched. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look then shall we? Keep in mind while reading that the year the cover came out is a year ahead of current time. (Thus, the Madden 2010 cover is really covering the 2009-2010 season)

- The first year of the Maddenless cover was occupied by Garrison Hearst, though he was only on select covers. That year (1998), Hearst was outstanding, finishing third in rushing yards. That seems innocent enough. However, in the Divisional playoffs against the Falcons, Hearst severely broke his ankle, causing him to miss two full seasons in the NFL.

Well okay, that was just a freak accident. Things happen. Or do they?

- For this cover Madden is the main figure depicted. However if you look over his left shoulder, you see Barry Sanders, the best RB in the NFL at the time. When the cover was made, Sanders was still in the NFL at the peak of his career. When the cover was released, Sanders had already abruptly retired (1999). Green Bay’s RB Dorsey Levens was put on later releases but had knee trouble throughout the season.

Now, why would Barry Sanders abruptly retire after just turning 30 and having the best years of his career? He claims he retired because he was on the hapless Lions (which is understandable) but is it more than a coincidence?

- Next, we have Eddie George, the Titans running back who, along with Steve McNair, made the Titans a powerhouse. That year (2000) George did pretty well for himself until the playoffs, when he bobbled a pass against the Ravens that got intercepted and returned for a touchdown and cost them the game. Whoops.George was only average the next year and failed to break 1,000 yards. The Titans missed the playoffs after going 7-9, and George was never the same after that.

Still doubting?

- Daunte Culpepper’s turn. For a time, the Vikings were unstoppable, having Culpepper at QB with Randy Moss and Hall of Famer Cris Carter as its receivers. That all changed in 2001. Culpepper’s knee blew out after a sub-par 4-7 start and he threw for 1,300 less yards and had 19 less touchdowns  than the previous year(14 TDs – 13 INTs). The Vikings finished the year with a 5-11 record, its worst record since 1984.

Culpepper was one of the best QBs in the NFL. Not only did he have a gun for an arm, but he could scramble for yards and buy more time in the pocket. After Madden, Culpepper was never even close to what he once was and now is a washed up version of himself, sitting on the bench.

- Marshall Faulk. Super Bowl champion. Outstanding resume for a young player. The game’s best RB. And then he went downhill. After gracing Madden, Faulk  rushed for 430 less yards and had four less touchdowns compared to 2001, even though he played the same amount of games. It was Faulk’s worst season since 1996, and because of ankle injuries  throughout his career, he would never amass his once great running skills.

Yet another one bites the dust at the prime of their career. You’ll probably recognize the next fellow. Perhaps he’ll fare better?

- (Drum roll please) Hereeeee’s Michael Vick. Before we get into the dog fighting scandal, let’s take a look at 2003, a year after Michael Vick was aweing us with his play. In ‘03, ONE DAY after Madden hit the shelves, Vick broke his fibula and missed 11 games. He only played 5 games and the Falcons went 5-11.

Vick had incredible promise after coming out of VT, but this injury, along with a little scuffle with some pit bulls, caused Vick to lose his magic. Who knows if he’ll ever be the same.

- Ray Lewis was the next to grace the cover. Now you may be saying yourself, well Ray is still one of the games best. However, in 2004, he had no interceptions for the first time in his career.

He may have gotten away easy, but he still was affected. And who could forget when he killed that girl and got away with it..

For this cover, Donovan McNabb got the call. McNabb was certain that he would not succumb to this well-known curse. Nice try Donovan. McNabb suffered a sports hernia in week 9 that caused him to miss the rest of the season. Not only did the Eagles not make the playoffs for the first time since ‘99, but they finished in last place in their division with the record of 6-10.

McNabb hasn’t really done much for the Eagles since then and can never seem to get his team to the Super Bowl. Considering how hostile Philly fans are, he may not have much longer in the Green and White.

STILL DON”T BELIEVE ME?

- Next up, Shaun Alexander, who was coming off the best season of his career and would be the most sought after running back in fantasy football. You may remember he broke the single season touchdown record? Well in 2006, instead of breaking another record, he broke his foot. He had the lowest stats of his career since his rookie season and would later be cut by the Seahawks.

Franchise player? Not after Madden.

- After fans voted off LaDainian Tomlinson in fear of the curse, Vince Young took over as a replacement for this cover. Young threw 17 INTs to go with his 9 touchdowns, which isn’t terrible. However, Vince seemed to lose his mind during the off-season and lost his job to the elder Kerry Collins.

A once promising QB is now a mystery to the Titans.

- In honor of his famed career, EA Sports picked Brett Favre to graze the cover even though he was retired at the time. But as we all know, Brett Favre doesn’t retire. Favre led the Jets to an 8-3 record, which was good, but supposedly injured his shoulder somewhere in the middle of the season. Whatever the excuse may be, Favre absolutely sucked down the stretch and the Jets missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record.

Not a good idea to put a senior citizen QB on the cover with the curse going around.

- And so we come to this year. For the first time in Madden history, two players were put on the cover: Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu. Would these two offensive and defensive powerhouses break the curse? Well, they’re already half way there to another cursed cover. Polamalu suffered a sprained MCL during the first game of the year against the Titans and will be out for 3-6 weeks if all goes well. Who knows how his play will suffer after his return.

Thus concludes the current facts of the Madden curse. Once a player hits the cover he most surely will suffer a setback. Some have fared better than others, but all have succumbed to the curse. Some people may still say that this is just a series of unfortunate coincidences and that the curse doesn’t exist. That may be so, but I wouldn’t want to be Larry Fitzgerald right now. And looking ahead, I wouldn’t want to be Adrian Peterson either. He may be the victim for 2011.

Greatest Rbs ever…#8, #7, #6…

So now we inch closer and closer to the proverbial “Greatest Running Back EVER”…

Before we continue, I wanted to revisit the reasoning I used to come up with this list. I realize there may be 100 or more different ways to do this, but it just seems to me that when you really sit down and think about it, there has to be some acceptable form of elements that truly make a great running back, and then there are factors that separate the greatest from the rest of that pack.

Consider how many running backs have played at least a year in the NFL. There is no way I could sit down and go over every single back, but then, I would not need to. Many people already have ideas of what makes a guy great, so from that list I can put together my ranking, based on four basic elements.

The first is team accomplishments. As I said before, if you are great, then your team must be great. This is a team sport, so team goals are critical to determine if a running back is good, very good, great or the greatest. I give points for three parts of this element. If a back has won a Superbowl (or NFC Championship prior to the Superbowl era) I give him 10 points PER Championship. If he got there, but lost, I give him 5 points. If he made it to the semi finals (or the AFC/NFC Championship in the Superbowl era) I give him 2 points for each game. So a back can score 0 points if he never got his team in these fields, or over 40, depending on what his team did.

The second is Individual stats. Team stuff is cool, but you still gotta separate yourself from the pack. It proves that you weren’t a by-product of the system, and establishes you as the best in your position. I award points in three categories of this element; total yards gained, touchdowns and average yards per carry. If any back is the best in any of those categories, I give him 10 points for each category. If he is in the top 5, I award 7 points. If in the top 10, I give him 5 points. If a running back is in the top 20 all time I give him 3 points, and if he is in the top 30 he gets 1 point.

This means that the max points a back can get in this element is 30, and of course the minimum being 0. You’ll find that many of the great ones are usually somewhere in the middle of this element.

The third element is Individual awards. This is kinda tricky because nowdays they come up with all kinds of ways to award players. I mean, McDonalds could have a “Happy Meal Player of the Year” and create some award that looks like a burger. So what I did was narrow the awards to the main ones. I awarded 10 points each time a player got the MVP award or Superbowl MVP award. This is the highest honor the NFL can bestow. I know there are others, but these are the best ones. I then award 7 points for Offensive MVP for each year a player wins it. I also awarded 5 points for the AFC and NFC Player of the Year, and 2 points for the Rookie of the Year. I know a couple of these awards have been changed, but in the bulk of the NFL history, these were important. I also award one point for every Pro-Bowl a player has been selected to. Whether he goes or not is up to him but he was selected.

This means that one can rack up a lot of great points. Many of the great ones will shine in this element.

And finally there is the Era Adjustment. Simply put, I deduct one point for every decade since the player has retired, starting with the 90’s. For example, if a running back retired in 1987, then I have to deduct 2 points from his total score. Why? Because the running theory (fact?) is that players today are better in nearly every way than those before them. I don’t think we’re gonna get an argument that guys playing today, 2008 are equal or lesser than guys that played back in 1948. Players today are bigger, faster, meaner and more skilled than those before them. So a player can lose as much as 7 or 8 points if he is on this list. If a player has retired in 2000 or is still playing, he loses no points. There is no penalty for anyone who has left the game from 2000 to now.

So, having shared that, let’s continue the countdown!

#8 Barry Sanders: 55 points

I have several football cards of Barry Sanders, and I am wishing that one day I can sell them and buy a yacht! This guy was THE face of the Detroit Lions and clearly one of the greatest running backs to ever suit up. It’s actually amazing that he and Thurman Thomas were actually in the same backfield in college. This quite machine was the fear of every defensive back, and even when the Lions were no good, everybody knew that Barry Sanders was going to be fed the ball…and yet, they STILL could not stop him. When he retired, the city of Detroit hung their collective heads in sorrow. Even the NFL had to pause at the premature retirement of this incredible player. What would have been if he played just another year or two…

Why not higher? This is a tough question for me because before I did this ranking, I would have sworn that Barry Sanders would have been EASILY in the top 5, maybe top 3. But a very key element stands out…team accomplishments. A great player MUST be able to give him team a chance to win championships, or at least get to them. Barry Sanders scores only 2 points in the team accomplishments, and loses one point in era adjustment. The Detroit Lions could never capitalize on this great talent, and wasn’t even going to let him go to another team. I guess misery loves company, but had they given Barry Sanders a chance to go to a WINNING team, he’s EASILY be one of the greatest ever.

Why on the list? This isn’t even a debate, Barry Sanders is one of the greatest ever. He may not have scored well in the team accomplishments element, but NOBODY scored better in the individual stats and he scores a ton of points in the team awards element. If I left out the team accomplishments element, he’d probably be the best on the list. Of all the backs without a Superbowl appearance or NFC Championship experience, he IS the best.

#7 Terrell Davis: 60 points

This one will get some arguments, and I can respect that. But to be considered the greatest, there has to be a some indication of greatness in the three elements. A player like Terrell Davis. If John Elway was reading this, I am pretty sure he would give an “amen” to the fact that Davis was one of the final pieces to the puzzle to not one, but TWO Superbowls. This sixth round draft pick of 1995 helped the Broncos to the Superbowl only a couple of years after he got into the league. In the mid 90’s this was THE best running back in the NFL and the individual awards proved it. Had he not had the injuries, we might have singing his praises even louder.

Why not higher? If there was anything that kept Terrell Davis from being higher, it was the individual stats. Two Superbowl wins gives him 20 points right off the bat, and he was highly decorated with a few MVP awards and other individual awards. In fact he scored 35 points here. If I ranked these guys based on that number, he would be tied for #4. But his shortened career seemed to be the main reason why he is not higher.

Why on the list? There are a lot of people that would be angry that Terrell Davis is above some of the others I have listed. I truly understand that, so I cannot argue, but the reason he is where he is was because when he played, he was great. If I compared him to Barry Sanders, he would be better by team accomplishments by a landslide, and slightly better in individual awards. Part of being great is also making your team great, and say what you want about Terrell Davis, he DID get the Denver Broncos to the Superbowl twice.

#6 Walter Payton: 61 points

“Sweetness” will forever be an icon of the Chicago Bears and easily one of the most beloved running backs of ALL TIME. On that team with a cast of characters, Walter Payton was the shining example of what a profession was about. He made me a fan before the Bears went to the Superbowl, and I personally think Mike Ditka did a grave injustice by not allowing Walter Payton to score a touchdown in the Superbowl. I remember hearing all the fans chanting for Walter Payton to score when the Bears were in the red zone; we ALL wanted Walter Payton to get a touchdown in his only Superbowl…but Ditka didn’t do it. Unless somebody tells me that Sweetness didn’t WANT to score a touchdown, I hold Mike Ditka responsible for not allowing one of the most beloved backs the NFL has ever seen to score a touchdown in the greatest game of his career. I will ALWAYS have respect for Walter Payton.

Why not higher? The actual spots between 5 spots here is paper thin. Walter Payton is one point behind #5, and 2 points behind #4 and #3 (there’s your hint that there is another tie). The reason why Payton isn’t higher is not for what he lacked but simply because the others did a little more. Let’s also add that he lost 2 points by era adjustment. This could have put him in the top 5. He scored 12 points with team accomplishments, but remember for awhile, the Bears were an average team with a great player. It took awhile for Walter Payton and the Bears to get to the promised land. He scores 17 out of 30 in the individual stats and gets 34 points in the individual awards element. This is a great score, it’s just that there are a few that are better…but not many.

Why on the list? Anybody that is on the top 5 in yards and touchdowns MUST be on this list. This cat was a legend and a hero to some of the players playing today. How many running backs playing now had posters of Walter Payton on their wall? If this was a list of the classiest running backs ever, this guy is in my top 3. He is also one of my favorite running backs so I might have a slight bias to him. But Walter Payton is easily one of the greatest ever, and most people won’t argue that at all.

So, we are now about to enter the top 5 running backs of all time. The next three I am going to cover next time are separated by one point. Two are tied and one is just a single point behind.

Remember folks, greatness isn’t JUST about stats, it is about what he adds to a team. A great player has to elevate his team to greatness. In fact, of the top 10, only Barry Sanders is the only running back with no championship awards. This actually speaks greatly to how good this guy was, even though his team was…well…bad.

So as we continue to count it down, we will be revealing even greater running backs of the NFL. Hope you’ll continue to join me. Until next time…..