There are several teams really having an excellent draft. The Raiders, Packers, Broncos and Giants if Jaxson Dart comes through at QB after nabbing the most sought after defender in Abdul Carter in round 1. The bears are a little behind by takeing Colston Loveland in the 1st round. Shouldn’t draft a TE in the 1st. I know he is a Michigan guy but you need too much to justify a TE in that spot.
Pay attention to the Raiders with 2 early offensive linemen in this draft and super back Ashton Jeanty from Boise St. He is the best back since Ladanian Tomlinson to come into the league. This was the recipe for OJ Simpson’s career taking off when they grabbed Raleigh McKenzie & Hall of Famer Joe DeLamilelleure for that Bills offensive line. The Raiders are looking to improve a line that graded 19th by PFF and Caleb Rogers & Charles Grant’s selections received an A grade by CBS Sports.
Head Coach Pete Carroll is a proponent of a physical running game, whether we’re talking his stints at USC or his Super Bowl teams in Seattle. He had Marshawn Lynch power for 4 straight 1,200 yard seasons 2011-2014 culminating in back to back Super Bowl visits. Remember LenDale White at USC? Well Jeanty’s power comes with quick feet and breakaway speed. He ran into the record books eclipsing former Boise St RB Doug Martin’s exploits a decade before.
If you’re new to Taylor Blitz Times we explained then how Doug Martin would explode on the NFL scene coming from Boise St and this will be greater than that one. Martin came in 2nd to NFL rushing champion Adrian Peterson twice, once as a rookie with 1,454 yds, highlighted by a 251 yard 4TD rushing performance ironically coming against the Raiders. Keep in mind like LaDanian Tomlinson, Walter Payton, & Barry Sanders great talents to flourish in the NFL came from non power schools.
Last year the NFL returned to its roots having 2 different running backs eclipse 1,900 yards in the same season. In a copycat league the Raiders envision Ashton Jeanty in the role Saquan Barkley is to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Will he go for 2,000? I don’t know but Eric Dickerson’s NFL rookie rushing record of 1,808 yards could be in serious jeopardy. Just as Barry Sanders record in college came under assault from Jeanty, this will also.
One of the reasons the NFL playoffs lacked any real sizzle was the loss of Derek Carr and the anemic way the Raiders season drew to a close. Arguably the best team in the AFC lost their chance when a Trent Cole sack rendered Carr’s leg broken in the 4th quarter of the 15th game. Did you know the Raiders were averaging 27 points per game before the injury yet could only score 20 in the last 2 games combined?? Not only could the Raiders not gain a 1st down the rest of the Colts game but the ability to convert dropped from 21.4 per game down to 13.
Carr’s play was transcendent in 2016.
In 2016 Carr channeled his inner George Blanda as he led eight come from behind wins in the 4th quarter or overtime. Eight!They were 6-1 on the road with him as he tossed game winning passes in 4 of the 1st 5 to begin 5-0 away from the Coliseum. The Raiders were in line to achieve home field advantage and had the most daring performer of the season taken from them.
Carr & Murray are poised to race to Super Bowl LII.
Carr completed 63.8 % of his passes (357 of 560) for 3,937 yards 28TDs with just 6 interceptions. This was on the heels of achieving Pro Bowl status in 2015 when he had gone 350 of 573 for 3,987 yards 32 TDs yet threw 13 picks.
Here at Taylor Blitz Times we have charted his growth and this is one of the future faces of the NFL. His injury not only cast a pall over the playoffs but was the only reason we heard Aaron Rodgers heroics at the end of the year. Rodgers had a 6 game winning streak of stellar play where Carr dominated all year long. Had Carr avoided that injury odds are they would have won the finale in Denver and finished 7-1 on the road. If the Patriots would have won home-field based off tie breaker scenarios, who would have been better equipped to go into New England than Carr with all his 4th quarter road wins??
The winner of the 2nd Taylor Blitz Times Offensive Player of the Year is David’s younger brother…. Derek Carr.
Honoarable Mention: Dak Prescott & Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys
Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott are the NFC odds on favorite for Super Bowl LII.
How could you not have the 2 super rookies who infused Jerry World with a glimpse of their future?? While it’s true the heart of the Cowboys is The Great Wall II offensive line we first told you about back in 2014, Elliott and Prescott played within themselves and stretched what can be expected of rookies moving forward.
Where most rookie runners hit the rookie wall right before Thanksgiving,”Zeke” never did. He faced tough defenses in New York, Minnesota, Detroit, and Washington who were all playing for their playoff lives. They kept him from breaking Eric Dickerson’s rookie record of 1,808 yards. However his 1,631 yards allowed Elliott to become the first rookie to lead the NFL in rushing since Edgerrin James in 1999.
His vision patience and timing have combined with the front wall to give the Cowboys a flashback to the Emmitt Smith and original Great Wall of 1990’s fame. His low center of gravity allow him to plow through most tacklers and fall forward. An effective tactic to keep the chains moving. He helped the Cowboys chew up the clock and keep opposing teams off the field, which protected Dallas’ defense. His future looks bright with several years in front of him.
The truth of the matter is Elliott was able to share the pressure heaped upon he and Prescott. All Dak did was complete 67% of his passes for 3,667 yards 23TDs with only 4 interceptions. Where the running game kept down and distance manageable, he was able to fire upon defenses selling out to stop the run. However he came of age in the 34-31 playoff loss at home to the Packers. He brought the Cowboys back twice in that game when Green Bay was geared to stop the pass. Down 21-3 he calmly fired 2 shots to get them back in the game 21-10… the last pass a 40 yard scoring play to Dez Bryant.
The new Big 3 in Prescott, Dez, and Zeke.
Amid the pressure of being down to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers he brought them back from a 28-13 deficit… scoring 3 times to tie it 31-31. The came Rodgers miracle throw. However when the pressure was on Prescott to perform without the comfort of having the lead and leaning on his running game, he showed the NFL playoffs weren’t too big for him. Pundits and Cowboy haters waited for the cool veneer to wear off and waited for rookie mistakes to emerge. When they didn’t in the playoff loss to Green Bay, Cowboy haters better brace themselves for Elliott & Prescott are poised for a 5-7 year run in Dallas. They truly helped shape the season.
So there you have it… the first recipient of our Offensive MVP was Cam Newton in 2015 followed by Derek Carr in 2016. Along with the 2 headed monster in Dallas…these are the future faces of the NFL.
If you traveled back to the 1980’s in the NFL, Eric Dickerson was described as a running back from the future. Everything from his upright running style to the way he wore so much in the way of protective equipment. He had the speed of a sprinter yet at 6’3 220 lbs he could run over small defensive backs who came up to support the run. Now that we’re 30 years removed from his rookie year of 1983 there is only one player The Chancellor thinks is the 2nd coming of Dickerson. It’s Adrian Peterson.
One of the greatest open field sprinters in NFL history, Dickerson was a threat to break it the distance every time he touched the football. What made him great was his sprinter’s speed in the open field with his size. He’d break into the open field and cornerbacks tried to take angles on him and couldn’t run him down. Only Peterson can be compared to him for how far above the rest of the running backs they competed against.
In 1983, you have to remember the Rams wanted to shake up their offense. You had the great quarterback class of 1983 and the bright star from SMU. The Rams had a 1,000 yard rusher in Wendell Tyler but saw a more explosive runner in Dickerson. It was interesting because we hadn’t seen Dickerson carry the total load since he alternated series with Craig James while in college. With the Rams desperate to catch the 49ers, who had risen to power in the NFC West, they took Dickerson.
The clear understanding was he would pay immediate dividends over the quarterbacks who would take 4 to 5 years to develop. At least that was the NFL’s thinking of QB development at the time. Dickerson took the National Football League by storm rushing for 1,808 yards and 18 TDs as he powered the 9-7 Rams to a wildcard playoff entry. The Rams had missed the playoffs the previous two years and were energized by their rookie rushing champion. He was the first to do so since Earl Campbell and second to do so since Jim Brown in 1957. They were a run oriented team with spartan quarterbacking and Dickerson still got his yards. Going into 1984 most pundits weren’t predicting a sophomore slump but a possible run to the record books. Dickerson delivered in grand style.
Eric Dickerson and Walter Payton in 1984. Payton eclipsed Jim Brown to become the all time leading rusher that year. Not to be outdone Dickerson broke OJ Simpson’s single season record with 2,105 yards.
Although the 2,000 yard season has been achieved several times in the 29 years since Dickerson’s magical 1984, his was the most appreciated because teams saw it coming but couldn’t stop it from happening. Jamal Lewis and Adrian Peterson were both coming off knee reconstructions when they accomplished theirs. He was a sight to behold and led the league in rushing in 3 of his first 4 seasons. Each of which with over 1,800 yards which is amazing. No runner in league history can touch that. The only reason he didn’t do it four straight times was his holdout in a contract dispute before the 1985 season.
Without training camp that year he had a slow start and finished with only 1,234 yards. Marcus Allen led the league in rushing that year with 1,759 yards. Yet he hit his stride as the playoffs loomed. In the divisional round he torched the Dallas Cowboys with a National Football League playoff record 248 yard performance. That 20-0 win sent the Rams to Soldier Field where they lost to the Bears 24-0 in the NFC Championship Game.
However if you’re keeping score, after three years he held league records for most yards rushing as a rookie, most yards in a season, and most ever in a playoff game. Aside from a Super Bowl, the biggest fight he had was with the front office. Yet nothing prepared us for his being traded to the Indianapolis Colts at the beginning of the 1987 season.
For all he had accomplished in Los Angeles it was his 1987 and 1988 seasons that cemented Dickerson as a greatest ever runner. The argument when a player is accomplishing these feats is what fuels it?? Is it the offensive line or the running back?? You just heard that Charles White, in Dickerson’s absence, won the 1987 rushing title with 1,347 yards rushing. Dickerson was second with 1,288. The ’88 year saw him reclaim the rushing title with 1,659 yards and 14 TDs where back in LA, White only gained 328. More importantly he had legitimized the Colts as a franchise in Indianapolis.
Before his arrival in ’86, the Colts were 12-36 in their previous three years in Indianapolis. In fact HBO’s Inside The NFL was there to chronicle if they were going to join the ’76 Bucs as the second winless team after an 0-13 start. They acquire Dickerson and he powers them to the 1987 playoffs with a 9-6 record. His ability to control the ball allowed what was a laughingstock of a defense in ’86 to be the league’s 2nd toughest to score upon at only 15.9 points per game. Ladies and gentlemen that is tilting the field.
The only record he didn’t have at this point of his NFL career was the late Walter Payton’s 275 yards in an individual game. You can blame the Denver Broncos for that. During what was probably the most electrifying game of his career, the Broncos couldn’t keep pace on the scoreboard and eventually he was pulled in a 55-23 blowout. Thanks John Elway. Personally I pulled for Denver to keep scoring so he’d stay on the field for a chance at the record. No such luck….take a look
One of the unique aspects of that game against Denver: Had the Colts beat the Cleveland Browns in the ’87 AFC Divisional Playoff, this would have been the AFC Championship Game the year before. Dickerson would go on to rush for 13,289 yards 90 touchdowns while catching 281 passes for 2,137 yards and another 6 scores. As the game seems to be phasing out the dominant rusher, he starred as the league took to the air.
He was the equivalent of the great quarterback class of 1983 and captured the imagination of NFL fans everywhere. Although I compare him to Adrian Peterson, no other runner ever truly looked like him. If I could splice some film side by side, the person that looked most like him when they ran was Deion Sanders. He ran with an effortless gazelle like stride and when he broke into the open field it was curtains. You weren’t catching him. Well unless you’re Darrell Green.
Dickerson and his former Ram teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, Jackie Slater.
What would he have accomplished had he completed his career in Los Angeles?? Would he have gone past Walter Payton for the all time NFL rushing champion had he stayed?? Would the Colts franchise have moved again without his arrival?? What would he have rushed for had he not spent time off the field fighting for a higher salary?? He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Ironically when the Colts and Rams were involved in another trade of a Hall of Fame running back in Marshall Faulk.
Eric Dickerson was a one of a kind talent. At his best he was an unstoppable force. Sure his career left us with many questions but at his best none put fear in modern defenses like he did.
When we think of certain NFL records there are some that are held with mythic quality. We see them as moments we’re not sure we will see broken. After today’s 212 yard performance against the St Louis Rams, Peterson is within 294 yards of the all time record. In 1984, Eric Dickerson gained 2,105 yards in his second season and his record has only had 1 other rusher seriously approach it. That was in 2003 when Jamal Lewis gained 2,066 with the Baltimore Ravens. In that year he set the NFL single game rushing record at 295 yards rushing which came against the Cleveland Browns. It stood until 2007, when Adrian Peterson burst for 296 against the San Diego Chargers, and now he needs to average 147 over the last two weeks for the all time single season distinction.
It’s quite amazing when you think about it. On December 24, 2011, Peterson tore both his MCL and ACL and his career was in jeopardy. The first thought was will he come back as the same back?? A legitimate question since the position of running back has had it’s history with players careers cut short or backs not bouncing back with the same physical abilities once a knee injury hits. However think about it for a second… he’s on the precipice of becoming the second running back in history to run for 2,000 yards in a season after reconstructive knee surgery. Remember Jamal Lewis in 2003 for the Baltimore Ravens when he ran for 2,066??
Let’s take this back to “The Kansas Comet” Gale Sayers. In 1968, his 3rd year he shredded his knee after Kermit Alexander of the 49ers undercut him. They used cat intestines to replace his ligaments and he was never the same player when he came back from injury. Sure he fought his way to a 1,000 yard season in 1969 but he was never the same player. His longest run was 28 yards that season. Gone was the sweet moves and burst that made Sayers a wonder to behold. Sports medecine in the 1960’s was in it’s infancy.
Fast forward to 1987 when Thurman Thomas injured his knee at Oklahoma St. He had his knee reconstructed but his draft status suffered because of it. He was drafted in the 2nd round and had to play his entire career with a knee brace on it per Buffalo doctors. He was able to maintain the speed and crisp moves he had as he powered the Bills to 4 Super Bowls. He finished with 8, 1,000 yard seasons and was one of history’s finest all around backs and a Hall of Fame member. He was once MVP of the league and ran for 12,074 yards in his career and had over 16,000 total. Yet he had that bulky brace to help him maintain his physical abilities. Sports medecine was making some progress.
We move to 2001 and the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens had a bull of a back named Jamal Lewis. He was a big physical runner who ran with thunder. Yet he didn’t break really big runs. He did have several where he chugged it 30-40 yards for a touchdown after breaking a linebacker’s tackle. He had run for 1,364 yards as a rookie in 2000. He missed the entire season of 2001 after his knee was reconstructed. In 2002 he came back and started building momentum as he gained strength and confidence in the knee.
When he hit full stride in 2003, he didn’t even look like the man from a few years before…he was better! Stronger, faster, and his burst looked like what folks envision when they think of Bo Jackson. In fact the most frightening display of power and speed happened in the 2nd game of the season. The Browns looked helpless as he ran for 295 yards to break Corey Dillon’s NFL single game rushing record. He had 5 runs of 50 or more and they just couldn’t tackle him. He powered for that aforementioned 2,066 yards and Eric Dickerson was sweating bullets in that last Monday night game. No knee brace just an offensive terrorist leaving defenses in ruin.
Which brings us back to Adrian Peterson. By the way, none of this has come to the surprise of Taylor Blitz readers because we alluded to this happening already.
It’s common to compare Peterson to Jamal Lewis, for it was his NFL record he broke when he ran for 296 in a game v. the Chargers in 2008. However with his injury, Peterson didn’t need a full year off like Lewis and is hitting full stride less than 8 months after the injury. So will he make it?? For the season he is averaging 129 yards per game. Yet a closer look shows you in his last four he is averaging 171 yards per game. In one of those he gouged the Packers for 214 in Lambeau Field. What do you think he’ll do with a wild card playoff on the line in a finale at home against them?? He’s had two 200 yard games in the last three weeks and now he only needs 294 to pass Dickerson??
Adrian Peterson without a knee brace after reconstructive surgery is tearing the NFL apart.
What you are witnessing is a transcendent talent leaving his contemporaries behind. Adrian Peterson is that rare back that comes along once every 20 years or so. He’s a future Hall of Famer and his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery is to be marveled at. Although a nod has to go to sports medical advancement on knee surgery improvements over the last 40 years. Peterson almost looks bionic with his knee, he looks like he has more burst than he did before, now that the season has gone on. What will he do next year?? The Chancellor knows one thing…. somewhere else in Southern California, Eric Dickerson is sweating profusely.
One of the greatest open field sprinters in NFL history, Dickerson was a threat to break it the distance every time he touched the football. What made him great was his sprinter’s speed in the open field with his size. He’d break into the open field and cornerbacks tried to take angles on him and couldn’t run him down. Only Peterson can be compared to him for how far above the rest of the running backs they competed against.
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