Could Adrian Peterson be the best RB of all time?

[DaveW]

Discuss

[TheLeviathan]

Would have to defer to someone who has seen all the greats, but he's better than Barry and Smith who are the two I have seen in my life time. His combination of explosion and power is ridiculous.

[Please]

He's the best pure runner I've ever seen.

 

But I can't call him the best cause he's not a threat to get involved in the passing game.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Yes, he could be, though this discussion is a bit premature... wait until his career is over.

[DaveW]

Yes, he could be, though this discussion is a bit premature... wait until his career is over.

 

Is it? He is about to break the rushing record....

[luke829]

With the way that he's been saddled with carrying the team on his back for the entire season, I would have to vote yes (even though one season does not a hall of fame career make).

[diehardtwinsfan]

Is it? He is about to break the rushing record....

 

Yeah, I kind of wonder what it woudl be like if he got injured in week 14 or 15 as opposed to week 16. Let's not write teh rushing record in the bag just yet. He needs 150/game to do it. The way he's played the last 8 weeks, I'd say it's very likely, but not impossible.

[Riverbrian]

Yes... Because the players are all better today... Jim Brown didn't have to play against corners that all ran 4.4 or less... Or linebackers under 4.6 and all of them over 250 pounds. Jim Brown would find things a lot tougher today if he was transported into the future as a 25 year old.

 

No question that AP is the best of all time.

 

Now comparatively by era... That's an interesting debate... Walter Payton was as good as I've seen... I really hated watching him in a Bears uniform and yet kinda liked watching him at the same time because he was so good. I will say this... AP is having the best season ever.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Would have to defer to someone who has seen all the greats, but he's better than Barry and Smith who are the two I have seen in my life time. His combination of explosion and power is ridiculous.

 

Barry and Payton are the gold standard in my lifetime. I don't know if AP is better but he's definitely right there with Sanders, who I personally believe was better than Payton. The sad thing about Sanders was that he played for awful teams his entire career and then retired far too early.

[Thor]

He may be when his career is over but not yet. Walter Payton was a great runner but also a great pass catcher and picked up blitzers better than any other "star" runner that has ever played. Emmit Smith was close. Neither of them had nearly the # of negative runs that AP or Barry had. I would actually put Marcus Allen in third. After that comes Barry and then discuss betweeen AP and the rest. In my opinion AP has work to do to ever get in the top 2 as "all time running back"

 

If the discussion is strictly about a runner then he is probally in the discussion with Barry, Walter, Eric Dickerson and OJ.

[Joe]

Is it? He is about to break the rushing record....

 

 

Is Calvin Johnson the best wide receiver of all time? I think that puts this thread into context.

 

****, Peterson can't hold a torch to a lot of RB's currently because of his early fumblitis and his inability to block/ineffectiveness in the passing game.

 

It's debatable if he will even be the best running back in tomorrow's game, let alone of all time.

 

The thread should be, is Adrian Peterson the best pure runner in NFL history?

[TheLeviathan]

Is Calvin Johnson the best wide receiver of all time? I think that puts this thread into context.

 

****, Peterson can't hold a torch to a lot of RB's currently because of his early fumblitis and his inability to block/ineffectiveness in the passing game.

 

It's debatable if he will even be the best running back in tomorrow's game, let alone of all time.

 

The thread should be, is Adrian Peterson the best pure runner in NFL history?

 

Drunk or temporary insanity?

[TheLeviathan]

Barry and Payton are the gold standard in my lifetime. I don't know if AP is better but he's definitely right there with Sanders, who I personally believe was better than Payton. The sad thing about Sanders was that he played for awful teams his entire career and then retired far too early.

 

Yeah, I don't like using career numbers to evaluate. In part because I never thought Emmitt Smith was all that impressive of a back. He was a good back, but he ran behind the most ridiculous line I've ever seen. What I evaluate Sanders on is his ability to dominate a game even when everyone knew he was the most dangerous man on the field. I never remember Barry being as good as AP has been this season and he certainly never had the power AP has.

[Joe]

Drunk or temporary insanity?

 

.........

[TheLeviathan]

Seriously Joe, he's outrushing anyone else by 30% this year. "Can't hold a torch to current RBs"? That's just dumb.

[Joe]

****, Peterson can't hold a torch to a lot of RB's currently because of his early fumblitis and his inability to block/ineffectiveness in the passing game.

 

He can't block worth a ****, he used to fumble a ton, and he is almost non existent in the passing game. This is what I meant by not holding a torch to other halfbacks in the league. He is undoubtedly the best runner in the league.

 

I'm youngish, but in my years, I'd take Ladainian Tomlinson, Marcus Allen, and Marshall Faulk over Peterson. And none of those over Sanders.

[TheLeviathan]

He can't block worth a ****, he used to fumble a ton, and he is almost non existent in the passing game. This is what I meant by not holding a torch to other halfbacks in the league. He is undoubtedly the best runner in the league.

 

I'm youngish, but in my years, I'd take Ladainian Tomlinson, Marcus Allen, and Marshall Faulk over Peterson. And none of those over Sanders.

 

He used to fumble? And Arian Foster used to be a backup. You don't think you're being a bit silly? He's not perfect, but he is right there with the best "running backs" I've ever seen.

[DaveW]

Joe, First off, Peterson has basically gotten rid of his early fumble problems (6 total fumbles past 3 seasons), and has improved quite a bit in the passing game as well. For whatever reason they decide not to include him in more screens etc which makes no sense to me.

 

Also as a pass blocker he has improved quite a bit as well, he isn't horrible like you say. And you referring to his fumble problems and passing game problems leads me to believe you haven't watched a Vikings game in any of the past 3 years.

 

As far as he not even being better then Foster....well that is just on a whole nother level of absurdness we haven't seen since the Itstimetotakeit melt down.

 

Peterson 6.3 yards per carry.

Foster 4.0

 

NTM Foster actually has a better o line and a team with a pretty deadly passing game, Peterson is doing this all against NINE! men in the box.

[Joe]

Also as a pass blocker he has improved quite a bit as well, he isn't horrible like you say. And you referring to his fumble problems and passing game problems leads me to believe you haven't watched a Vikings game in any of the past 3 years.

 

As far as he not even being better then Foster....well that is just on a whole nother level of absurdness we haven't seen since the Itstimetotakeit melt down.

 

 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.......

 

Peterson is a bad pass blocker. He is a terrible receiver as well. Correct, he has fixed his fumbling problems.

 

I'm just saying, you trying to say he is already, the best running back in NFL history, is ridiculous - to which I brought up the point of would you call Calvin Johnson the best receiver in NFL history already???

 

Peterson is ridiculously good, but his lack of talent in the aforementioned areas, I personally can't say he will be as good as LT or Faulk - the two gold standards in modern day running backs. Ray Rice I think is the most complete package in the NFL right now, and really look forward to seeing what C.J. Spiller and Trent Richardson can do in the upcoming years. Spiller runs like Peterson. Just a beast.

[snepp]

He "used to fumble a lot", awesome ****ing argument.

 

 

JHFC, really?

 

 

You should go take a peak at how his fumbles compare to others in history. *hint, Payton fumbled a ****ing **** ton*

[TheLeviathan]

I genuinely think your comments on this subject Joe are some of the most idiotic things I've read on a forum in a long time. You're really reaching. You are putting an enormous amount of your evaluation on passing related items and when you couple that with throwing fumbles in there as a criticism it appears you just are bent on being negative about him. Hard to take you seriously.

[Joe]

I genuinely think your comments on this subject Joe are some of the most idiotic things I've read on a forum in a long time. You're really reaching. You are putting an enormous amount of your evaluation on passing related items and when you couple that with throwing fumbles in there as a criticism it appears you just are bent on being negative about him. Hard to take you seriously.

 

I genuinely think you're a staunchy d-bag...... So yeah, I'm okay with it.

 

I'm sorry I don't think Adrian Peterson at age 27 is the best running back in NFL history. He is an absolutely amazing runner. What he is doing this year is absolutely ridiculous, especially considering his knee injury the previous year. But considering what backs like Ladanian Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk have done recently in both the running and passing games, I don't think he is quite as good as them. Adrian rarely sees the field on 3rd and longs because of his inefficiencies as a pass catcher and pass blocker - if you watched the game today, you should have seen both of these.

[TheLeviathan]

But considering what backs like Ladanian Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk have done recently in both the running and passing games, I don't think he is quite as good as them. Adrian rarely sees the field on 3rd and longs because of his inefficiencies as a pass catcher and pass blocker - if you watched the game today, you should have seen both of these.

 

So far your criteria to criticize Adrian Peterson would also have eliminated Jim Brown (Peterson has more receptions so far in his career comparatively), Barry Sanders (Physically incapable of throwing a block), and Walter Payton (fumbles) from the conversation. Personally, I'd re-evaluate my criteria in that light.

[DaveW]

Tomilson wasn't very good at all btw. He had maybe 4 good years.....But don't let get in the way of your retarded drunken rant(s)

[Joe]

So far your criteria to criticize Adrian Peterson would also have eliminated Jim Brown (Peterson has more receptions so far in his career comparatively), Barry Sanders (Physically incapable of throwing a block), and Walter Payton (fumbles) from the conversation. Personally, I'd re-evaluate my criteria in that light.

 

Personally I'd look at it this way:

 

Jim Brown played 9 seasons. The Cleveland Browns completed 1531 passes. Jim Brown caught 262 of those. That's roughly 20%. In the 50's/60's............ Goto pro football reference and check out what Jim Brown did in comparison to other running backs of his era. It's a bad comparison to even try to make from the beginning.

 

I know Peyton fumbled a lot in his career. Did I even bring him up? I brought up LT, Faulk, Sanders, and Allen. Walter and Bo were awesome in Tecmo Bowl though.

 

Sanders is a decent argument as far as the complete incapability of throwing a block, but Barry was more of a duel threat than AP ever has been. Barry being much more elusive, and Peterson being much more powerful, AP is going down a similar career path statistically.

[Joe]

Tomilson wasn't very good at all btw. He had maybe 4 good years.....But don't let get in the way of your retarded drunken rant(s)

 

Why would you say this?

[Joe]

[twins4121]

I love you Joe, nothin' like a good old forum twat-waffle for everybody to gang bang every now and then... you my friend... are a moron

[TheLeviathan]

I love you Joe, nothin' like a good old forum twat-waffle for everybody to gang bang every now and then... you my friend... are a moron

 

There is no way this stays on the forum....but holy crap! That gave me a good chuckle!

 

Gotta love an argument that says Walter Payton doesn't belong in the greatest RBs of all time. Credibility baby. This "best running back ever has to catch passes" bit is only missing a Larry Centers reference to put it into truly elite levels of idiocy. Way to overemphasize one element of the game.

[DaveW]

lololol