Edge James vs. Sean Alexander vs. Julius Jones

[Hostile]

From Mickey Spagnola...

By the way, if we factored Jones' six-game pace over a 16-game season, he would be on pace for a 1,787-yard season . . . .





James has shot at 3rd rushing title -- if he plays

Posted: Thursday December 30, 2004 8:14PM; Updated: Thursday December 30, 2004 8:14PM

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Edgerrin James led the NFL in rushing in 1999 and 2000.
Andy Lyons/Getty Images

if(cnnEnableCL){if(!(location.hostname.indexOf('cnn.com')>-1)) {cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','/.element/ssi/sect/1.0/misc/contextual/story.html','');}else{ cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','http://cl.cnn.com/ctxtlink/jsp/si-story.jsp','category=sinfl&url=http:/\/robots.cnnsi.com/2004/football/nfl/12/30/bc.fbn.colts.james.ap/index.html&desccharcnt=80&site=cnn_sinfl_dyn_ctxt&origin=si');}}INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Nearly three years after he suffered a season-ending knee injury, Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James has a chance to win his third NFL rushing title Sunday.

With 1,550 yards this season, James is just 66 yards behind Seattle's Shaun Alexander. If Alexander holds on to his lead Sunday against Atlanta, he would be the first Seahawk to win the NFL rushing title.

The same day, Indianapolis (12-3) will close out the regular season at Denver (9-6), giving James a shot at topping Alexander.

But how much James -- or the other Colts starters -- will play remains uncertain since the Colts are locked as the third seed in the AFC playoffs.

"We'd love for Edge to have a chance at getting the rushing title. For everything that he's done for this offense all season long, that would be a great way to end the regular season and go into the playoffs," coach Tony Dungy said.

Winning or losing Sunday's game won't affect Indianapolis' playoff chances -- but injuring one of the Colts' key players might.

"He's one of the major reasons why our offense has been as productive as it's been this season," Dungy said. "Everything we do as an offense is predicated on Edge being a consistent running threat."

Curtis Martin (1,544) of the Jets and New England's Corey Dillon (1,519) also remain in the chase for the NFL rushing crown.

 

[phildominator]

You know, I remember when this used to be a big deal...Christian Okoye vs Barry Sanders...Emmitt Smith versus Barry Sanders...

The rushing crown was a big deal until the coming of Marshall Faulk and it revolutionized the way all of us thought of a franchise back. Combined yardage (receiving and rushing) I think is a much more telling statistic that doesn't get as much pub as it should.

Out of all the dominant backs in the league right now, I think only Jamal Lewis doesn't rack up signficant receiving yardage. Although Jamal Lewis won the rushing title (by a large margin) last year, I'd easily take the likes of a Priest Holmes (excluding injuries as a variable) and LaDanian Tomlinson.

Keeping tabs on the leading rusher is a statistic of old and can't really be attributed to the way the position is played today. It discounts the importance that Tiki Barber and Charlie Garner have with their teams. Instead of the leading rusher, I'd like to know who is the leading combined yardage running back. On a parallel level, it's like looking only at Vick's passing numbers and rating his overall production level as lower than a Vinny Testaverde or a David Carr.

Which makes you think, Troy Hambrick wasn't just a useless runner, he was useless overall.

 

[joseephuss]

You know, I remember when this used to be a big deal...Christian Okoye vs Barry Sanders...Emmitt Smith versus Barry Sanders...

The rushing crown was a big deal until the coming of Marshall Faulk and it revolutionized the way all of us thought of a franchise back. Combined yardage (receiving and rushing) I think is a much more telling statistic that doesn't get as much pub as it should.

Out of all the dominant backs in the league right now, I think only Jamal Lewis doesn't rack up signficant receiving yardage. Although Jamal Lewis won the rushing title (by a large margin) last year, I'd easily take the likes of a Priest Holmes (excluding injuries as a variable) and LaDanian Tomlinson.

Keeping tabs on the leading rusher is a statistic of old and can't really be attributed to the way the position is played today. It discounts the importance that Tiki Barber and Charlie Garner have with their teams. Instead of the leading rusher, I'd like to know who is the leading combined yardage running back. On a parallel level, it's like looking only at Vick's passing numbers and rating his overall production level as lower than a Vinny Testaverde or a David Carr.

Which makes you think, Troy Hambrick wasn't just a useless runner, he was useless overall.

Great points. I thought your last sentence was just a pointless bashing of Hambrick. That is why I liked it.

 

[phildominator]

Well, Curtis Martin won it with 1,697 rushing yards, one more yard than Shaun Alexander.

Tiki Barber was the total yards winner this year with 2,096 -- 1,518 rushing and 578 receiving. Curtis Martin had 1,942 total yards (245 receiving). Shaun Alexander had 1,866 total yards (170 receiving).

That means Tiki Barber had 131 yards per game. NFL.com lists him as 16 games played, but 14 games started. I'm not sure if he was limited by injury for those two games. Just for curiousity's sake, averaging it over 14 games, Tiki had 150 yards per game. Not bad for a guy who has been criticized as being "unable to handle a full load for a full-time RB."