Rate Adrian Peterson's season

Truth be told, the only guy ever to rush for 2,000 yards in a season who had a decent QB was Terrell Davis in 1998.

Basically, if you have a good QB, chances are your stud runner isn't going to get enough carries to reach 2,000 yards. I figure that's why Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith never did it.

 

Yeah, he wasn't bad, but the Bears just ate his asshole in the title game.

Granted, it was the greatest defense ever assembled, but I wasn't prepared for that kind of devastation.

 

Walter Payton played with good quarterbacks?

 

You know what's the pisser? Last week in Houston, leading 16-6 the Vikings started to manage AP's carries. His last one came with about seven minutes left, Gerhart finished that drive with a TD and ended up with 31 yards in the last few minutes.

I don't know how exactly to rate them, Marino in '84 is the most dominant I have ever seen, but I have a feeling a side-by-side comparison of Dickerson and Peterson would be pretty favorable to AP. He averaged 158 yards in his last 10 games.

 

Although your overall point might have some validity, I don't know from where you conclude that Walter Payton belongs in the "good quarterback" club. Other than perhaps three or four decent seasons from McMahon, the majority of Payton's career was spent with a revolving horror show as his QB.

I mean isn't this what the Bears franchise is historically famous for--hideously awful QBs?

 

Dickerson could not make chicken salad out of chicken shit the way Peterson does. Dickerson was amazing at taking a seam and turning into 50 yards, but he never made people miss the way Peterson does.

When you rank the greatest single seasons by a running back, you throw out names like Campbell, Brown, Payton, Jackson (for half a season), Sanders and now Peterson.

Dickerson was great, but he needed blockers. These guys could have ran for 1,800 yards behind the expansion Bucs.

 

I'm sure there are a few spots they will look back on and think how easily he could have gotten the record.

Dickerson was amazing in '84, and fairly consistent. He was only held under 100 yards four times, including 98 in the final game of the season against the 49ers. That was a damn good San Francisco defense. They held him to his lowest total of the year, 38 yards, earlier in the season. The Steelers were the only other opponent to keep him under 50 (He had 49 against them).

Peterson had under 100 yards six times this season, including five of the first six games. His lowest total was 60 against the Colts in Week 2.

 

Two threads below this people are claiming that Calvin Johnson had a better season.

 

Those first games were when they had the training wheels on post-ACL. Usually barely above 15 carries.

 

Anyone who votes that way is an embarrassment to journalism, voting and Norse mythology.

 

Just a reminder, when Chris Johnson ran for 2000 he also caught 50 passes for another 500 yards, setting the records for yards from scrimmage.

 

You're leaving a couple obvious names out there.

O.J. Simpson once rushed for over 2000 yards in only a 14 game season. Jim Brown once rushed for nearly 1900 in only a 12 game season.

When you break it down on a per-game basis, Brown and Simpson's might still be the two best ever.