Todd Gurley vs. LaDainian Tomlinson

[AlexGreen#20]

12 minutes ago, El ramster said:

You’re arguing against yourself.. 

Lt had amazing talent on the later part of his career. He was under 4 YPC quite a bit in his career.. I still don’t get your point. Gurley had 195 Yards yet you’re busting out a not impressed.. How do you say broke in Spanish? Yo no Hablo. 

I didn't post the gif to rip on Gurley. You seem to have this false impression that I think Gurley is a scrub or a bad ball player. I think he's the best RB in the league.

I just think the RB position is one that isn't super impactful for the most part, and additionally that there isn't a big difference between the best in the league and some of the worst in the league. 

Gurley had one stud play in this game that I recall, the catch down the sideline for 32 yards. It was an amazing play and most guys aren't going to make that happen. If you want to make an argument that most backs aren't going to be able to run the drag route that ended up being a TD, I wouldn't even fight you too hard, but I think almost all teams have a RB that could have made that play. 

Other than those two plays, it's not like Gurley was doing anything special. He had 114 yards running, but he did it on 25 carries. He had the one long 23 yarder that was almost all blocking.

+++

But with all that acknowledged, one and a half stud plays and no obvious negative plays is a damn good day for a RB. They're just not that impactful to overall team success. 

[jrry32]

1 hour ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

I didn't post the gif to rip on Gurley. You seem to have this false impression that I think Gurley is a scrub or a bad ball player. I think he's the best RB in the league.

I just think the RB position is one that isn't super impactful for the most part, and additionally that there isn't a big difference between the best in the league and some of the worst in the league. 

Gurley had one stud play in this game that I recall, the catch down the sideline for 32 yards. It was an amazing play and most guys aren't going to make that happen. If you want to make an argument that most backs aren't going to be able to run the drag route that ended up being a TD, I wouldn't even fight you too hard, but I think almost all teams have a RB that could have made that play. 

Other than those two plays, it's not like Gurley was doing anything special. He had 114 yards running, but he did it on 25 carries. He had the one long 23 yarder that was almost all blocking.

+++

But with all that acknowledged, one and a half stud plays and no obvious negative plays is a damn good day for a RB. They're just not that impactful to overall team success. 

How many stud plays did Rodgers make? Looked like he was throwing to a lot of open WRs.

[DigInBoys]

As great a Gurley is, this is a premature comparison.

I'm more interested in comparing Gurley and Barkley at this point.

[ET80]

On 10/27/2018 at 1:37 AM, Ragnarok said:

Gurley is great, but LT has the best jump cut I have ever seen with only Barry Sanders having one as good.  That one GOAT move combined with everything else he did puts LT ahead for me.  

LT also had the most effective stiff arm I've ever seen - didn't throw people off, didn't power through people with it, but redirected defenders with a well timed punch to the chest, got a ton of yards after contact with it.

LT had some great tools that he'd use on just about every touch he had - jump cut to an open lane, quick spin out of initial contact and a stiff arm in the open field - and it was fun to watch.

Not really vouching for either guy, just saying.

[jrry32]

7 hours ago, ET80 said:

LT also had the most effective stiff arm I've ever seen - didn't throw people off, didn't power through people with it, but redirected defenders with a well timed punch to the chest, got a ton of yards after contact with it.

LT had some great tools that he'd use on just about every touch he had - jump cut to an open lane, quick spin out of initial contact and a stiff arm in the open field - and it was fun to watch.

Not really vouching for either guy, just saying.

The comparison for Gurley actually just hit me. It was due to AlexGreen's post. Gurley reminds me so much of Arian Foster (except Gurley is more athletic imo). Foster never quite got the credit he deserved during his prime because he didn't have a lot of flashy plays where he made a ton of people miss or broke a ton of tackles. Instead, he was an outstanding all around HB. As a runner, he was a technician who consistently ate up chunks of yards because of the way he read and set up his blocks. And he was always one of the best passing game HBs in the NFL. That's Gurley's style. He's not a guy who relies heavily on the extremely flashy plays. Instead, he just consistently churns out yardage due to his great instincts and technical prowess. And, of course, we can look back with hindsight and see that the Texans' running game was terrible the year before Arian Foster became the lead back (the year where he started the last two games) and terrible after his last year of being the lead back (the year he started the first handful of games where it was obvious he was done). Knowing that, it's hard to chalk all his success up to the OLs he played behind.

[ET80]

12 minutes ago, jrry32 said:

The comparison for Gurley actually just hit me. It was due to AlexGreen's post. Gurley reminds me so much of Arian Foster (except Gurley is more athletic imo). Foster never quite got the credit he deserved during his prime because he didn't have a lot of flashy plays where he made a ton of people miss or broke a ton of tackles. Instead, he was an outstanding all around HB. As a runner, he was a technician who consistently ate up chunks of yards because of the way he read and set up his blocks. And he was always one of the best passing game HBs in the NFL. That's Gurley's style. He's not a guy who relies heavily on the extremely flashy plays. Instead, he just consistently churns out yardage due to his great instincts and technical prowess. And, of course, we can look back with hindsight and see that the Texans' running game was terrible the year before Arian Foster became the lead back (the year where he started the last two games) and terrible after his last year of being the lead back (the year he started the first handful of games where it was obvious he was done). Knowing that, it's hard to chalk all his success up to the OLs he played behind.

I always tossed the Foster comparison to Kareem Hunt, but can totally see this. I'd also add in Matt Forte into this comparison as well - blue collar bellcows who had a nose for the end zone, didn't do anything flashy, but had a feel for the open lane and took yards by the handful whenever they had the ball.

[Non-Issue]

Until I see Todd Gurley carry a team like LDT did, this isn't close.