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Wbcincy said 12/04, 02:06 PM
Earl Campbell

Please state player and then use 2nd and 3rd arguments to state reasons.

Wbcincy said 12/04, 02:33 PM
hmmm....I'm surprised, I was expected a Terrell Davis or Gale Sayers argument, but lets take a look at this one.

Earl Campbell has 9400 yards and 74 TD's. Csonka has 8081 and 64 TD's, both having a 4.3 yard average. Their receiving statistics are almost identical with Campbell having a few more receptions, a few less yards, and 4 less TD's.

Here's where these two are going to be seperated:

Earl Campbell led the league in rushing 3 straight seasons, Larry Csonka never did.
Campbell's best season had 1934 yards and 13 TD's, Csonka's had 1117 and 6 TD's.
Campbell had 10+ TD's 5 times, Csonka once.
Finally, Csonka played in 30 games more than Campbell, almost 2 full seasons, and still had stats that did not add up to even being that close to Campbells. This shows clearly that Campbell was a much better RB than Csonka.

Wbcincy said 12/04, 03:17 PM
Yes, he shared the backfield with Morris, but that just means we dont know how well Csonka would've been able to do if he had to be the man carrying it every down. Players typically put up much better statistics when they are part of a RBBC than when they are the feature back.

For example, LaMont Jordan was a stud in a RBBC, averaging 5.2 a carry his last season with the Jets. Then he goes to the Raiders as a feature back, 3.8 per carry. You could argue the problem there is that he changed teams. So how about Amos Zereoue in the late 90's with the Steelers. RBBC-5.2/carry, featured back-3.9/carry. Same team, 1 year apart. Even Willie Parker is almost a yard per carry below where he was when he was sharing time with Bettis.
Morris wasnt there in 68, or 77-79 and Csonka only avg'd 3.7/carry those 4 years.

Stating that Earl Campbell was the Oilers offense only supports my argument. Teams knew he was their offense, they stacked the box to stop him, and still couldnt. Larry Csonka had a great team all around him. So not only did he not have to take the pounding of carrying it 30 times a game, he didnt have to be the focal point of the opposing D.