Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaVirus
It's definitely a longevity vs efficiency/peak argument, but look at this graph. Peterson is a no-brainer, McCoy led the decade in yards from scrimmage, and Lynch takes the decade's lead in postseason rushing stats so they all make sense.
https://www.pro-football-reference.c...reTool#results
Out of 48 qualified rushers, Frank Gore was #4 in rushing yards. Very nice, very cool. Except he was #1 in carries, good for #37 in YPC. Ouch.
Frank Gore scored a TD every 45th touch on average. Jamaal Charles scored a TD every 25th touch.
Jamaal Charles>>>>>>>Frank Gore |
Better player vs. better career is a hard argument to have, though.
Was Charles better at his apex? Absolutely. But did Charles do more for his teams in his 90 games and 1100 carries than Frank Gore did for his over 150 games and 2400 carries?
Pretty tough to make that argument, isn't it?
Yeah, Charles was a better player, but I don't think that's how you name guys to teams like this. You do that based on total productivity over the defined time period.
Half the battle is showing up and ultimately, Gore showed up. In a game of attrition like football, that's a wildly underrated part of it (and why I don't think Charles is a HoFer or that Davis deserved any meaningful consideration either). Over the course of the decade, Gore simply did more than Charles did.