A fan's choices - The Fans Speak Out

Football Digest, April, 2002 by Alvin Emanuel

This is in response to your "Breaking Down the Backs" sidebar in your article "Their Cups Runneth Over" [February 2002]. This may be a golden era for running backs, but I want to present my "those were the days" running backs.

The Pre-Millennium Backs Breakdown

Category                                          Players

Best inside runners             Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown
Best outside runners          Mercury Morris, Gale Sayers
Best blockers                    Earl Campbell, Jim Kiick
Best receivers             Herschel Walker, Walt Garrison
Most versatile                 Calvin Hill, George Rogers
Most underrated              Freeman McNeil, Duane Thomas
Most overrated                 Chuck Foreman, Ickey Woods
On the rise            Barry Sanders, Lawrence McCutcheon
Unluckiest runners         John Cappelletti, O.J. Simpson
Best substitutes              Don Nottingham, Roger Craig
Best combos                     Rodney Hampton/Joe Morris
                               Franco Harris/Rocky Bleier
All-Pac-10                                   Marcus Allen
All-Big East                                   Joe Morris
All-Big 10                                 Archie Griffin

Alvin Emanuel the Bronx