5 Runningbacks Looking for Big Numbers in 2010

The NFL is approaching very quickly, and every running back in the league, is yet again looking to run for as much yards and touchdowns as humanly possible, break all the records, and become the next Barry Sanders. Let's look at a few big dogs to look for come the 2010 season:

Chris Johnson

 This is the easiest pick of them all, Chris Johnson was just phenomenal last year, coming right to the precipice of breaking the NFL record for most rushing yards in a season (CJ ran for 2006 yards in 2009). In 2009, CJ had a fantastic 5.6 yard per carry average, over 500 yards receiving, he was nearly unstoppable. His athletic ability mixed in with unheard of speed, and elusiveness made him the best running back in the league last year and certainly sets him up to retain that title in 2010. CJ hopes a repeat performance of his over two thousand yard season can put him up for a Most Valuable Player award (he didn't receive one vote for MVP last year). What's disappointing is even with this dominating performance, the Titans were still 8 - 8 last year. 

 Maurice Jones-Drew

 

Maurice Jones-Drew was an elite fantasy back last year, ending up 4th overall in yards and 2nd in touchdowns, all while being on a pretty anemic Jaguars offensive unit. Don't expect his numbers to plummet this season though as Jones-Drew will no doubt produce similar numbers this season.

 Adrian Peterson

Peterson's numbers may have dropped from 2008 to 2009, but his touchdowns nearly doubled. The lowest production he's ever had in his 3 short years in the NFL was his rookie season in which he ran for over 1300 yards (while only starting nine games). Peterson is the player that in his rookie season, broke the all time NFL record for most rushing yards in a game (Peterson ran for 296). He is always dangerous, always turning small plays into highlight reel moments, and will be near the top of most every draft board.

Cedric Benson

 

Cedric Benson played his best season of his career last year, looking great in his second year with the Bengals rushing for over 1200 yards. If that wasn't enough, Benson is in a contract year, and history has shown that players put up some of their best statistics during this period to ensure that they get big financial rewards. The additions of Terrell Owens, Antonio Bryant and Jermaine Gresham lend a lot of help the the Bengals passing attack, balancing out the offense and freeing up defenders from hounding Benson.

Ray Rice

 Ray Rice ran for over 1300 yards last year, but their are a few reasons why he could see even more production this year. With the additions of Donte Stallworth and Anquan Boldin to help the Ravens offense evolve, it will balance out their previous run heavy game plan, allowing Ray Rice to get better coverages. And with only a few years under his belt, he is still a young player and as he gains experiences, his awareness will improve.

The ComeBack Kid; Why Old Man Favre Could Be Good News For The Vikings

Once again, as the entire football world has heard by now, good old Brett Favre has come out of retirement (how many times now?), and finally made it to the team he desired to play before he was traded to the Jets.

Some of the football community is tired of his charades over his "to retire or not to retire"drama sessions, and some enjoy that the legend is still around playing the game, though the general consensus seems to be certain he will finish the self destruction he started last year.

Vikings fans could have a good reason to be happy about famous number four signing with their purple people eaters, because like it or not he could be the very push that helps them get through the playoffs.

The Minnesota Vikings are a solid football team but just a slight step down from Super Bowl contender. In 2008,they went 10-6 and lost in the playoffs to the Eagles, after having trouble converting 3rd downs in the second half, and having a QB capable of throwing only roughly half the yards Mcnabb threw for.

Last year the Vikings ranked 1st in rushing yards a game allowed with 76.9 yds, and 6th in total yards allowed a game also with 292.4 yds. These stats were very much indicative of a very well disciplined defensive unit.

On the other side of the ball, they had league's best running back in Adrian Peterson (1760 yds), and the 5th best run game (146.1)

The problem resided in their passing game, ranked a measly 25th overall, with their Quarter Back Gus Frerotte ranking 22nd in the league accompanied by his sub par 73.7 QB rating (5th from the worst) that year.

Even with this horrendous passing game to keep the offense creative, the Vikes still managed to rush an avg of 4.5 yds a play, 146.1 yds a game, even when the defensive knew pretty much what to expect.

Now bring in old man Favre, the fallen war hero with a passion for football and himself. He was traded to the Jets last year, led them to playoff possibilities and promptly self destructed. His QB rating was a mediocre 81 he was 11th in yards, 22nd in avg yds per pass, and had the league high in interceptions, and hearing this sounds like no good way to promote Favre into the Vikings savior, and maybe he's not. But Gus Frerotte threw the ball significantly less then Favre did with the Jets, and Favre had the 5th highest completion percentage compared to Frerotte's 24th ranked.

The biggest part of the puzzle regardless of the stats is that Favre does not have to carry the team, the amazing ground game has carried itself when the passing game had no help to give. Favre has the ability to make good throws and be a great QB, we've seen that. And we've also seen him throw to the other team just as often these days.

If Favre can come in, make himself seem like he has a lot of potential to improve the passing game, and seems a viable threat (that Frerotte and Jackson are not), then defenses will have to start actually accounting for the idea that maybe just maybe the vikings will show some promise through the air, instead of on the ground where they normally stay (and stay well).

Remember how well All Day Adrian Peterson runs the ball even when the defenses know he's coming, then imagine what he could do if the defenses had to account for the passing game as well, backing off from the line for fear that the guy getting the ball hiked to him in the purple uniform actually is a threat, then ladies and gentlemen the vikings just might be unstoppable...Providing that Favre can still identify his receivers from the defenders.