I knew miami was a fluke for parker ...

[Livinginthe past]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

tomlinsons 1st year stats:

Rushing
Year Team G GS Att Yds Avg Lg TD 20+ 1st
2001 16 16 339 1236 3.6 54 10 7 67

Receiving G GS Rec Yds Avg Lg TD 20+ 40+ 1st
2001 16 16 59 367 6.2 27 0 1 0 12

pretty similar to parkers 1st year starting. i think its too soon to start pigeonholing parker just as it is maroney.

Im sure you remember me saying numerous times that I think Willie has alot of upside which is exactly what LT had in 2001.

We are presumably comparing what the various RB's are bringing to their teams right now - neither Maroney or Parker are anywhere close to Tomlinsons ability to produce.

NM

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by Livinginthe past

Im sure you remember me saying numerous times that I think Willie has alot of upside which is exactly what LT had in 2001.

We are presumably comparing what the various RB's are bringing to their teams right now - neither Maroney or Parker are anywhere close to Tomlinsons ability to produce.

NM

not many backs will be. if you looked at tomlinson and faulk coming out of college, their games and statlines suggested they were the next coming of barry sanders. however, the sdsu and tcu was in the WAC at that time and their were alot of doubters that said they could never produce like that in the nfl cause all their great games came against "weaker opponents" in what is considered a very weak college division. well they were wrong.

unfortunately for willie there was no college career to judge him by. the fact he made it this far shows hes got the talent, heart, and drive. maybe not to be as great as tomlinson, e. smith, m. faulk, or b. sanders, but to atleast be an every down back and get the goal line carries and be the steelers featured back for years to come.

can he flatten ray lewis and brian urlacher in a 1 on 1 situation? no. really the only person who could do that was jerome bettis who has a 40 lb edge. but he can definitely juke them out of their cleats.

people think his size hampers his running and power or makes him injury prone. this is not the case. the only drawback of his size is in pass protection. i defer to the masters opinion on the matter:

Former teammate Jerome Bettis knows that Parker is capable of those kinds of days and more.

With Bettis gone, the Steelers have been searching for someone to take over the spot of the short yardage back, the guy who can pound the yards out when needed. Bettis knows that it will take some work, but he thinks that Parker can do it if needed, like he did when he scored from the one-yard line on Sunday.

"He is tough," said Bettis in a regular column that he is doing for Steelers Digest this year. "In the game against the Dolphins I saw him try to run a guy over, which is something I never used to see Willie try to do. For him to get in that situation, instead of going down, he tried to run the guy down. That is a lot of progress. If he keeps that attitude up he can definitely make a good short yardage back.


"He runs physical, he runs tough. It's just a matter of him going out there and looking at it. Going out in short yardage is a little different from regular in the field in terms of how you run and what you look for. There are more guys in that area and it's tougher in that area. I believe he can do it if he runs physical and is able to pound it up in there."

but i agree willies carries should be somewhat limited. especially in the case of last weekend when the steelers dominated the clock, had 38 runs yet were still perfectly ballanced with 39 passes. had there not been 2 late turnovers they concievably wouldve ran the ball over 50 times (since alot of passes were in catch up mode in the games final moments). no back needs that type of punishment. just ask c. williams.