We had a thread a while ago on Jets QBs, and as I don't remember one for running backs, and now is lazy-circle time at the East Rutherford Ranch, I thought I would take a shot at trying to sort out the best halfbacks and fullbacks the Jets have ever had, and let anyone who wants to weigh in. 1. Curtis Martin 2. Matt Snell 3. Freeman McNeil 4. John Riggins 5. Emerson Boozer 6. Johnny Johnson 7. Bruce Harper 8. Jerrald Sowell 9. Bill Mathis 10. Richie Anderson
Adrian Murrell should be on that list and ahead of Johnny Johnson, Bruce Harper, Jerald Sowell, Richie Anderson and Bill Mathis. I also think McNeil should be #2
1. Curtis Martin 2. Freeman Mc Neil 3. Matt Snell 4. John Riggins 5. Emerson Boozer 6. Bruce Harper 7. Adrian Murrell 8. Brad Baxter 9. Clarke Gaines 10. Johnny Hector
That's pretty fair. It is interesting that over the Jet's history there have only been 2 long-tenured backs. Those being Martin and McNeil. I wouldn't put McNeil in the class of dominant back because I think he only had 3 years where he ws above 1,000 yards. There were quite a few mediocre years, and likely attributed to injury and lack of utilization. Snell and Boozer were work horses. Could have almost been used as the mold for Czonka and Kick. There were quite a few short duration flash runners. A long timer is hard to find. Murell was good, but his career didn't go very long, again, due to injury. Riggins, great, but became bigger than the team and wanted out. Obviously he continued onto greatness with the Redskins.
don't forget two of my alltime favorites: scott dierking and, of course ,mike augustinyak!!!!....before chrebet, there were these two guys who did it on heart alone!
That's a fair call. I thought Johnson was a gamebreaking presence in a way Hector wasn't, but Hector lasted a lot longer.
in truth, the only blue chip runners the jets ever had were: 1 freeman 2 matt 3 emerson 4 curtis i dont count riggins(traitor)
You don't count Martin in your list. It doesn't get more Blue chip than Martin, both on and off the field. Whoops, you have him at #4. Well then, I disagree. Martin is hands down #1 and it is not even close.
Someone may want to start a "Worst Jet RB ever" thread. I don't think anyone will argue with your #1 call, drunk or sober. The only problem is, a bad RB doesn't have the career to judge that a good RB does. Thomas was about the only guy I know who was given a whole season to prove his incompetence.
I have no idea how anyone could forget about Adrian!! he was the first RB in about 10 years to have back to back 1,000 yard season :grin:
i loved freeman. guaranteed, if the dolphins don't water down the field in '82, freeman would of run all over the fish that day. he was a much more exciting runner than curtis and, in his day ,other teams were petrified of freeman, while other teams merely respected curtis. the thing that puts curtis on top,i guess, would be his durabilty and consistancy conversely, freeman was hurt all the time all things being equal: if i had 1 game to play and had my choice--give free the ball and enjoy the excitement!
I'd put Freeman #1 over Martin. More productive-- Martin More durable-- Martin by a mile But Freeman was a better back. Martin ran behind a LOT better line and averaged a half yard per carry less than McNeil. If only Freeman McRibs could stay healthy
To me, Curtis and Freeman are almost the same back. Both were/are shifty, cutback runners without breakaway speed so both would constantly get you 3-12 yards but rarely break a big one. The difference was that McNeil got hurt a lot more, especially in his younger years when he could have piled up a lot of yards behind a good O-line. He also had two more seasons shortened by labor disputes, 1982 and 1987.
