Earl Campbell can barely walk

I know. Wilder just didn't seem to be in the class.

Lord, 400 carries really ends a career for a running back.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/rush_att_single_season.htm

 

He had almost 500 touches one year. That's in the class of being overworked.

 

True, but he definitely ran more like a halfback, which was part of what made him difficult for defenses to deal with. The same held true for Jerome Bettis, though not at quite the same level of production. Both were big runners with power, but they were shifty enough to avoid many of the big hits that wore down Campbell so quickly. Neither was as good as Campbell in his prime, but Harris already has his place in Canton and Bettis will probably join him there.

 

Harris and Bettis were both incongruously light afoot.

Good thought.

 

I think I agree with 93Devil here. Franco might've looked like he could play fullback, but that's not the way he played at all. I see a lot of style similarities between Franco and Dickerson: both were unusually tall with unusually long strides compared to other running backs of their era, and both had amazing speed (especially Dickerson) when they got some momentum in the open field--and it was that ability to hit that extra gear that set them apart and made them special. And, of course, both had reputations for being kinda soft and running out of bounds to avoid contact. When I was a kid they got my scorn for that, but the more I learn about NFLers' post-football lives the more I see the wisdom in it.

I also remember that Dickerson especially was worthless if his O-line didn't rip open that initial hole for him--you never saw him make something from nothing by sheer force of will like Payton and Campbell did--but he was absolute magic after he hit that hole. No back was ever "gone" sooner than Dickerson during the mid-80s. But it was sheer talent driving him, he didn't run with anywhere near the heart that Campbell and Payton did.

 

I have to find a youtube clip of Franco breaking away from a defense. I think he had two 70+ yard runs in his career.

You don't run for 12,000 yards in five-yard clips.

That is the great thing about the NFL Network, you have so much film on people that you can actually see these guys play in their primes. And you can also appreciate just how talented they were.

Campbell could break away as well.

Man, there was some serious talent running the ball in the late 70s.

 

I disagree. Earl Campbell was a bad SOB. He would've gottne his props anywhere he played. Being from Texas and playing most of his professional career in Texas added to the lore of Earl Campbell but in his prime, he didn't have to take a back seat to anyone.

 

Dickerson had two of the more massive (for the '80s) and two of the best offensive lines in both L.A. and Indianapolis. Those old Rams lines were awesome.

 

Dieter Brock begs to differ.