swardboy
12/5/2007, 12:35 PM
Adrian Peterson in Jim Brown Territory
[/URL]http://www.aolcdn.com/fanhouse/michael-david-smith/Posted Dec 5th 2007 8:07AM by [URL="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/michael-david-smith/"]Michael David Smith (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/michael-david-smith/)
Filed under: Vikings (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/minnesota-vikings/), Minnesota (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/minnesota/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/sports.aol.com/fanhouse/media/2007/12/adrianpetersonlions.jpgFor a running back, averaging six yards per carry for a season is something like hitting .400. Jim Brown did it once. Barry Sanders did it once. O.J. Simpson did it once. And every single other player who gets mentioned in a discussion of the greatest running backs ever failed to do it at all.
So as Mr. Irrelevant points out, (http://misterirrelevant.com/index.php/2007/12/04/purple-jesus-pursues-an-exalted-record/) Vikings rookie running back Adrian Peterson (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/AdrianPeterson/)is doing something extraordinary right now. With four games remaining, Peterson is averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Even if opposing teams sell out to stop the run over the next four games, it's easy to picture Peterson rushing 80 times for 400 yards, which would put him over six a carry for the season.
The NFL record for average gain in a season is actually 8.45 yards, set by Michael Vick (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/MichaelVick/)last year. That's a record that might never be broken. But among running backs, the Jim Brown mark of 6.4 yards per carry in 1963 is the gold standard. Peterson has a real shot at it.
Ok, take AD's name out of it.....if we're talking about X back doing something in a season that only Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and the Juice have accomplished, isn't that a serious case for MVP?
[/URL]http://www.aolcdn.com/fanhouse/michael-david-smith/Posted Dec 5th 2007 8:07AM by [URL="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/michael-david-smith/"]Michael David Smith (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/michael-david-smith/)
Filed under: Vikings (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/minnesota-vikings/), Minnesota (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/minnesota/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/sports.aol.com/fanhouse/media/2007/12/adrianpetersonlions.jpgFor a running back, averaging six yards per carry for a season is something like hitting .400. Jim Brown did it once. Barry Sanders did it once. O.J. Simpson did it once. And every single other player who gets mentioned in a discussion of the greatest running backs ever failed to do it at all.
So as Mr. Irrelevant points out, (http://misterirrelevant.com/index.php/2007/12/04/purple-jesus-pursues-an-exalted-record/) Vikings rookie running back Adrian Peterson (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/AdrianPeterson/)is doing something extraordinary right now. With four games remaining, Peterson is averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Even if opposing teams sell out to stop the run over the next four games, it's easy to picture Peterson rushing 80 times for 400 yards, which would put him over six a carry for the season.
The NFL record for average gain in a season is actually 8.45 yards, set by Michael Vick (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/MichaelVick/)last year. That's a record that might never be broken. But among running backs, the Jim Brown mark of 6.4 yards per carry in 1963 is the gold standard. Peterson has a real shot at it.
Ok, take AD's name out of it.....if we're talking about X back doing something in a season that only Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and the Juice have accomplished, isn't that a serious case for MVP?