Turning Back the Clocks: Why Todd Gurley Reminds Us of Yesterday

If there was one clear vision from the first weekend of the College Football season, it was this…

It is hard to remember when was the last time the entire country marveled over a running back with this kind of skill, athleticism, speed, sheer power, and determination. The only guy I could compare him to would be this guy…

And one can look at more than just the game tape to reveal the striking similarities between Toddy Gurley and Adrian Peterson.

Player	Career Rushing Yards	YPA	TDS
Todd Gurley	2572	6.1*	30
Adrian Peterson	4041	5.4	41

*First two seasons

Their styles are so similar, their production is so proficient, and their running ferocity is so familiar. On the eve of the 2007 NFL Draft, experts far and wide compared Adrian Peterson to the likes of Erik Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Bo Jackson, O.J. Simpson, and Jim Brown. All of who were running backs who Peterson has proven to be in the same pedigree as those Hall of Famers, but all of whom were on teams designed around them. Logically many believed that Adrian Peterson would also be a player a franchise could build around so the Minnesota Vikings took Peterson with the 7^th overall pick. But a harsh truth was revealed in the 2007 NFL draft…you don’t build a running back.

Needless to say, the Minnesota Vikings have not won a Super Bowl, neither with or without Adrian Peterson. But that is no knock on Peterson, because neither did Erik Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Bo Jackson, O.J. Simpson, nor Jim Brown. Prior to the 2007 NFL Draft, only 21 running backs have been selected number 1 overall (since 1936) and the last running back taken number 1 overall was Ki-Jana Carter in 1995 (yeah ask Bengal fans how well that has worked out).

Just to be repetitive, you do not select a running back to build your team around. Thankfully NFL executives have finally figured out that its not the “between the hedges” runner you need but the guy who gives him the ball. The quarterback has always been a focal on any football team, but even more so in the past 20 years. Consider this since 1995, 12 quarterbacks have been taken with the first overall selection in the draft. However from 1965-1995, eight running backs have been selected in the first round, and only eight quarterbacks were taken with the first pick in that same time span. The game has changed, its more of a passing game, that is why you build your teams around a quarterback.

Which is the reason why guys like Tim Couch, Michael Vick, David Carr, Carson Palmer, Alex Smith, JeMarcus Russell, Mathew Stafford, Sam Bradford Cam Newton, and Andrew Luck all over Super Bowl rings. Actually only the Manning brothers who were chosen at the top spot during the last twenty years have Super Bowl rings. So if you’re a Manning, you have hit the jack-pot. But if you were an NFL executive that did not have luxury of acquiring one of Archie’s offspring, well then you have suffered the same fate as those past GM who thought you could build around “the running game”.

Now sure the futures of Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford, and Andrew Luck look incredibly bright, and in the next ten years could prove my hypothesis incredibly wrong. However we could once again be on the verge of another cosmic shift in the game in which teams find themselves reverting back to the “ground and pound” mentality (Let’s be clear, I am not claiming that Rex Ryan is an offensive visionary). But Todd Gurley’s performance, in a glass jar mind you, has fans of potential horrific NFL teams this year clamoring over his services next year and they are not the only ones.

It is becoming clear that it is very difficult to win any type of major football championship (College or NFL) relying too heavily on the passing game. While this past generation of quarterbacks have proved to be the best ever, the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers are finding increasingly difficult to sit in a shotgun or spread formation, wiz the pigskin around 40-50 times  a game and have it result in Super Bowl rings.

In the Patriots dynastic run, Brady averaged just 30 attempts per game in the three years the Patriots won the Super Bowl (01’: 27.5, 03’: 32.9, 04’:29.6), After the acquisition of Randy Moss and Wes Welker in 2007, Brady has averaged 36-38 attempts per game. But in the last couple of seasons there has been a renewed focus on the running game, and tighter formations, but while Brady’s attempts per game last year still hovered around 39, the Patriots were running more plays and the percentage of run plays increased dramatically from the record setting season in 2007.

The Packers have already committed to having Aaron Rodgers share the load with 2^nd year sensation Eddie Lacy, who exploded onto the season last year at running back and gave the Packers their first real sense of balance. Drew Brees has acquired new weapons but has a stable of running backs to utilize and fantasy owners are rushing to select Monte Ball, who looks to be a fantasy stud working next to Peyton Manning, but Coach John Fox learned a hard lesson in the Super Bowl a year ago, that the Broncos were missing something, even with possibly the greatest quarterback of all-time.

The Seahawks won because a focus on the running game, but well timed and managed passes by Russell Wilson. The San Francisco 49ers who have appeared to be the 2^nd best team in the NFL for the past three to four seasons, have been able to dominate the line of scrimmage on offense, and their running game plays them into contention every year. At the college level, Alabama seems to win every year and while Nick Saban has yet to recruit the next ‘Peyton Manning’ (or Eli for that matter), his teams win every year by having the most talented and feared running game in the country.

Now this is not to say that Todd Gurley should be draft number 1 overall, and that he is a player that you can build around. What the draft has proven time and time again is that you simply cannot build your team around one guy whether that be the running back or quarterback for that matter. And while it seems to be tempting and comforting to lock up a franchise quarterback, there is not guarantee for that ultimate prize. Dan Marino was the most productive quarterback ever, and we all know how many Super Bowl rings he has. John Elway didn’t win one until the likes of Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak’s zone blocking scheme unleashed Terrell Davis.

You cannot sustain winning by running the ball all the time, and what the sport has proven, at the highest levels, in this pass-crazed time period, is that you can’t throw it all the time and win too. Todd Gurley’s performance on Saturday reminded all of us of a different time period of football history. If were one were to have closed his/her eyes, you could have seen Adrian Peterson, or Bo Jackson and/or other greats make those same great jaw-dropping runs. But I also believe that Gurley’s performance reminded us that the running game still can be desired for, it still has a place, and it still can provide what all great quarterbacks, and franchises have always needed; and that is balance.