Adrian Peterson vs other running backs

[lolollort]

You cannot compare men to a machine. AP is just unreal.

[Austeezy]

wtf no love for Rice in this thread

[lolollort]

Rice is a beast. The Ravens are just too attached to using their "elite" QB to win them games though so Rice is under-utilized at times.

[Mudvayneowns91]

wtf no love for Rice in this thread

You're absolutely right. I'm not sure how he skipped my mind.

[FWBrodie]

I'll bet you anything you want if Andy Reid is fired McCoy has more yards from scrimmage and total TD's than AP next year. You on?

I'll take that bet.

[tripleplay2007]

There's this fallacy that you can just "plug in" HBs from lower rounds and have them do as good as guys in higher rounds that turn out to be good. While some do, it is no less/more possible with HBs than any other position in Football.

Here are the Top HBs this year by yardage and what round they were drafted in:

Adrian Peterson (1st)
Marshawn Lynch (1st)
Jamal Charles (3rd)
Alfred Morris (6th)
Arian Foster (Und.)
Doug Martin (1st)
Stevan Ridley (3rd)
Chris Johnson (1st)
CJ Spiller (1st)
Frank Gore (3rd)
Ray Rice (2nd)
Ben Javarus Green-Ellis (Und.)
Matt Forte (2nd)
Steven Jackson (1st)
Shawn Greene (3rd)
Reggie Bush (1st)
Trent Richardson (1st)
Ahmad Bradshaw (7th)
LeSean McCoy (2nd)
Maurice Jones-Drew (2nd)

Statistically 8/20 HBs this year were 1st rounders (40%). 16/20 were drafted in the first 3 rounds (80%)

Bottom line, if you want to have a great Rushing attack you better be drafting a HB in the first 3 rounds...

Bolded two backs that are in a zone blocking scheme which pretty much any back can run in. Pretty much shoes that they need to be drafted in the top 3 rounds to be worth a ****. This is coming from a Texans fan as well... We love Arian but it's obvious that in a zone blocking scheme that pretty much any back with patients will have success.

With this being said I think AP is hands down a man amongst boys at the running back position.

[Jakepeavy1344]

he's having a historic season no doubt, dude is killing it and i really like the player, but to say he's head and shoulders above some of his contemporaries is a bloated statement. a back should be measured on his career, and AP is on his way to canton, but so can some of the other top shelf backs so lets slow down just a bit. best running back this year, hell yeah. but football is funny sometimes, look what happened to CJ2K ... still productive, but far from what everyone said at the time.

and if you you really think RB is a 'low priority' and completely a product of a good offensive line (OP mentioned something like this) then i think there is something wrong with the way your brain works. couldnt the reverse be true as well, that an elite RB will make the offensive line 'look' better then what they are? i dont buy that statement at all, because you have got to have one guy who can run the ball between the tackles, and one who can hit the edge, rare to have those skills in one guy, thus many teams employ a 'stable' of backs. uber importaht position on the field IMO, from picking up the blitz to chipping and running routes. c'mon now.

How you could even compare CJ2K and him is ridiculous. No doubt CJ had a historic season, but AP has been on top every year he has been in the league. Well You could give a damn good arguement. He's been the est for several years so hes nothing like cj2k, AP continues to dominate.Your acting like this is his first year on top. And what exactly is your criteria to get into the hall, to say that more of the top running backs this year will get in. The Hall is the best of the best, and yeah AP deserves to be in it, but as of right now we cant tell who else will be because of people like CJ2K. We need to see continued dominance as AP has done. And this is coming from a bears fan. AP is a machine.

[Vinny642]

AP is by far the best, but I am good with Lynch

[tripleplay2007]

I'll bet you anything you want if Andy Reid is fired McCoy has more yards from scrimmage and total TD's than AP next year. You on?

Says the guy who thinks Tim Tebow is a starting QB.

[Verbal Christ]

How you could even compare CJ2K and him is ridiculous. No doubt CJ had a historic season, but AP has been on top every year he has been in the league. Well You could give a damn good arguement. He's been the est for several years so hes nothing like cj2k, AP continues to dominate.Your acting like this is his first year on top. And what exactly is your criteria to get into the hall, to say that more of the top running backs this year will get in. The Hall is the best of the best, and yeah AP deserves to be in it, but as of right now we cant tell who else will be because of people like CJ2K. We need to see continued dominance as AP has done. And this is coming from a bears fan. AP is a machine.

dude im not saying AP is anything less than a top tier RB, all im saying is that he isnt as far ahead as most would think. criteria for the hall would be to compare his career thus far to the pace or recent entries maybe, LT,Faulk etc... chris johnson did something that hadnt been done in quite some time, not even by peterson until this year, and he still hasnt cracked the 2k mark. he needs freaking 200 yards to get there and everyone just assumes that he'll get it, the same way they assumed he'd run all over the texans. arian foster leads the league in touchdowns, cj spiller leads in ypc doesnt he? peterson leads in yards and granted by a considerable margin maybe its just a down year for backs? im just not going to buy into the AP is in a league all by himself argument, there are some awesome backs in this league. and for the record i fully believe peterson will be in the HOF, but i wouldnt rule out another player at his position joining him from this era, who is that guy? time will tell.

[flgatorsandjags]

dude im not saying AP is anything less than a top tier RB, all im saying is that he isnt as far ahead as most would think. criteria for the hall would be to compare his career thus far to the pace or recent entries maybe, LT,Faulk etc... chris johnson did something that hadnt been done in quite some time, not even by peterson until this year, and he still hasnt cracked the 2k mark. he needs freaking 200 yards to get there and everyone just assumes that he'll get it, the same way they assumed he'd run all over the texans. arian foster leads the league in touchdowns, cj spiller leads in ypc doesnt he? peterson leads in yards and granted by a considerable margin maybe its just a down year for backs? im just not going to buy into the AP is in a league all by himself argument, there are some awesome backs in this league. and for the record i fully believe peterson will be in the HOF, but i wouldnt rule out another player at his position joining him from this era, who is that guy? time will tell.

Steven Jackson could if he goes to a team with a good oline. I dont think he retires.

[hail2skins4life]

he is in his own league

AP
Ray Rice
Foster
MJD
Lynch

[Surlyc]

chris johnson did something that hadnt been done in quite some time, not even by peterson until this year, and he still hasnt cracked the 2k mark. he needs freaking 200 yards to get there and everyone just assumes that he'll get it, the same way they assumed he'd run all over the texans.

Small point, but AD needs 102 yards to get to 2000 (against a team that gives up 112 yards to RBs on average). The 200 yards is to break the all-time rushing record.

[rawz]

he's having a historic season no doubt, dude is killing it and i really like the player, but to say he's head and shoulders above some of his contemporaries is a bloated statement. a back should be measured on his career, and AP is on his way to canton, but so can some of the other top shelf backs so lets slow down just a bit. best running back this year, hell yeah. but football is funny sometimes, look what happened to CJ2K ... still productive, but far from what everyone said at the time.

and if you you really think RB is a 'low priority' and completely a product of a good offensive line (OP mentioned something like this) then i think there is something wrong with the way your brain works. couldnt the reverse be true as well, that an elite RB will make the offensive line 'look' better then what they are? i dont buy that statement at all, because you have got to have one guy who can run the ball between the tackles, and one who can hit the edge, rare to have those skills in one guy, thus many teams employ a 'stable' of backs. uber importaht position on the field IMO, from picking up the blitz to chipping and running routes. c'mon now.

agree to disagree. im not saying you can plug in any RB. I am saying, to a much, much, much larger degree, the rb is a product of the oline, and not the oline a product of the RB.

very rarely will you see a great RB make a poor line look great. much easier for a great oline to make a poor rb look great.

thats my point.

there are exceptions though... Adrian, for example. IMO, one of the very, very few in history of the game, that can make a poor line look great.

[Austeezy]

Small point, but AD needs 102 yards to get to 2000 (against a team that gives up 112 yards to RBs on average). The 200 yards is to break the all-time rushing record.

I just wanna see him get to 2k