Bears vs. Colts: Super Bowl XLI running thread

Yeah, I don't agree with that.

 

I'm not denying that the Colts have a pretty damned good OL too, ewsp at C and LT, but the assertion I made that was challenged with nothingness was that the Colts' skill positions are clearly the best in the NFL.

And then yahoos tossed up teams with Leinart and Eli Manning Jr. at QB as some sort of argument against me.

 

You heard me.

 

heard?

 

James never has averaged 4.8 a carry in a year during his career.

 

Who the fuck brought up the Giants? Or were you trying to be clever by comparing Rivers with Eli?

Of course, you saying Addai is a top-10 back and Clark is a top-3 tight end tells me all I need to know about the depth of your knowledge.

 

RBs
1. LdT
2. Larry Johnson
3. Barber
4. Jackson
5. Gore
6. Alexander
7. Parker
8. Rudi Johnson
9. Westbrook
10. Travis Henry

And if you try to counter with Addai's split role with Rhodes, I'll simply point out Jones-Drew, Betts and Thomas Jones.

TEs
1. Gates
2. Gonzalez
3. Shockey
4. Crumpler
5. Winslow
6. Heap

And I can keep going. Ten others had more receiving yards, including his own fucking teammate, Ben Utecht. Get a fucking clue.

 

This argument cannot be resolved without an agreement on terms. More of the Chargers' skill players are better than their Indy counterparts, I agree. However, all skill positions are not equal. Quarterback should account for a huge plurality of any team's total rating at "skill position."
Case in point. The Patriots' runners and especially receivers can't match up with the Colts or Chargers' guys, or the Giants or Cardinals guys for that matter. As long as they have Tom Brady, however, this doesn't matter much. They can still win with Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell at wideout.
Since EVERYBODY hates the peacemaker in a sports argument, I'll throw in my two cents. Manning's so superior to Rivers (not that the latter isn't perfectly capable of leading a team to many points) I would give the edge to Indy's "skills" set.
LdT had a tremendous game, and all S.D. could put up on the Pats was 21 points. In the very next game, the Colts came up with 38.
As I've said about Tomlinson himself, scoring is the ultimate skill.

 

New Orleans had a great skill set.

 

Why? Because you say so? Who are you?

 

So you're going to look at one big game aganist the Patriots as a case for Clark. How very well thought out.

As far as comparing Manning Sr. to Leinart or Rivers, that's not what we were doing. We are comparing overall skill positions, where LDT and James far outstrip Addai, and Bolden/ Fitzgerald are certainly comparable to Harrison/Wayne.

The Saints, with their Brees, McAllister, Horn, Colsten and Bush lineup can also make a case.

And I'm not saying the Indy doesn't have the No.1 offense in the league. BUt if you compare player to player at the skill positions, there are teams that can match them easily. Manning elevates the rest of his team by his play, as does Tomlinson.

 

We're not arguing. I'm ranking skill position players as a unit, and you're doing so on a player by player basis. It's like in the US-USSR track meets in the '60s, when the US would list them as separate men's and women's dual meets, so we'd win the men's and get killed in the women's, and the Russkies would combine the scores for an overall win. They're both true, I just think my approach gives a more accurate perspective. If your bball team has five very good high school players, and mine has four not so good high school players plus Wilt Chamberlain, I like my chances.
Apropos of nothing, can you imagine the uproar if the US tried to pull that stunt today? Nancy Pelosi would be barbequing the head of USA Track in less than 24 hours.