No question, Faulk was the greatest

By Steve Reynolds  |   Tuesday, March 27, 2007  |  Comments( 11 )

 St. Louis Rams
The comparisons were inevitable. Now that Marshall Faulk has taken his final bow and we have a complete picture of his career, we can ask that question: Was he the best dual-threat running back of all-time? In a discussion of this type, we would be remiss in not mentioning another running back who immediately comes to mind when thinking of the...
What's the buzz about?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!

CommentsComments: 11
 No.1
David		 12:11 PM
03/27/2007
This whole article and no mention of Walter "Sweetness" Payton?

Dismissed.
 No.2
Gerry T.		 01:45 PM
03/27/2007
Sorry David but don't let your fond memories of sweetness colour your judgement. Payton was one of the best running backs and a decent receiver but he wasn't near as good as Thomas and no where near Marshall when it came to catching. Watched them all and loved them all.
 No.3
mike		 09:05 PM
03/27/2007
I will start out by saying I am a Bills fan and grew up watching Thurman Thomas. Now that might make this opinion very biased, but I'll give it all the same.

I think the two are closer than you make it sound. True Faulk had better stats, a few things should be noted about that though. The first is that Marshall played most of his career in domes. I do not know if you've ever been to Buffalo in late October when there's already 4 inches of snow and the wind is shooting down Rich/Ralph Wilson Stadium at 35 miles per hour. Players run to keep warm. (-: The fact that Thomas had as much statistical success as he did over the years in those conditions (same goes w/ Kelly and Reed) is amazing. Look at Dan Marino's passing statistics while playing in harsh conditions in Buffalo and you'll see what I'm getting at.
Second, most people do not remember a great back that the Bills also had by the name of Kenneth Davis. He was Thomas' backup. Thurman's two most successful years rushing ('91 and '92) he rushed for 1,400+ yards. In both those years Davis rushed for 600. In fact Thomas had more than 90 carries taken away from him by Davis for 4 straight years. Faulk never had a guy like that on his roster to take away from his stats.
Thirdly, the two backs really played in different eras. Thomas led the league in yards from scrimmage for four straight years ('89 to '92) and came in second in '93. That was going against Barry Sanders, Roger Craig, and many other great backs of the day. If Faulk would have played in the late 80's to 90's his stats might not be where they were.

Anyways, none of this is to take away from how great Faulk was. Simply Amazing, led my fantasy team to my first championship (-: He might have been better than Thomas. But the decision is not as easy as you make it seem.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.