Sharing the workload

(See also: Super Bowl-winning running back tandems)

 

If you're a team player in the corporate world, you recognize the pigskin parallels.

 

Some employees are like anonymous linemen, methodically getting their jobs done without much appreciation. Others are like swaggering wide receivers, constantly seeking praise and calling attention to their accomplishments.

 

Your boss serves as a company quarterback – knowing what everyone else does, barking out assignments, trying to motivate. And, of course, we all like to admire the tight ends. Please pick that up again.

 

Then there are the two people who alternately occupy the same office. These part-timers share a position and divide up the work. They are the equivalent of running backs in today's NFL.

 

As the league evolves towards more specialization, the number of ballcarriers who get a full workload has dwindled. Better pass catchers come in on third downs, and bigger backs get the handoffs in short-yardage situations. Even the best and most versatile players are being spelled with greater frequency.

 

On the first Sunday of the 2006 season, six different teams featured a pair of running backs who each gained at least 50 yards on the ground. In every case but one, the starter put up more yards, but the backups were all highly productive. Here are their Week 1 rushing totals:

 

Team	Starting RB	Yards	Backup RB	Yards	Total
Falcons	Warrick Dunn	132	Jerious Norwood	66	198
Giants	Tiki Barber	110	Brandon Jacobs	54	164
Broncos	Tatum Bell	103	Mike Bell	58	161
Patriots	Corey Dillon	73	Laurence Maroney	86	159
Saints	Deuce McAllister	90	Reggie Bush	61	151
Eagles	Brian Westbrook	71	Correll Buckhalter	50	121

 

Six tandems reaching the 50-yard mark matches 2005's season high, which was accomplished in Week 7. On opening weekend last year, the only teammates who each rushed for 50 yards were the Chiefs' Larry Johnson (110) and Priest Holmes (85).

 

In Kansas City, we have already seen the passing of the torch from Holmes, who may be forced to retire because of a neck injury, to Johnson. It is a scenario that plays out frequently. Since NFL running backs take such a pounding, successors are always being groomed.

 

Three of the Week 1 starters from the above list – Tiki Barber, Corey Dillon and Warrick Dunn – are over 30 years old (each is 31, in fact). Not so coincidently, four of the backups – first-round picks Reggie Bush and Laurence Maroney, third-rounder Jerious Norwood and free agent Mike Bell – are rookies, while Brandon Jacobs is in just his second season.

 

The increased sharing of backfield duties marks a departure from the practice of the last 15 years or so. Particularly in the 90s, it was common for a team to have one workhorse back who got the vast majority of the carries.

 

This philosophy was best exemplified by the Lions, who had future Hall of Famer Barry Sanders at running back. Only once during his brilliant 10-year career did Detroit's second-leading rusher have even one-tenth of the yards that Sanders did. That lone exception came in 1993, when a knee injury caused him to miss the final five regular-season games.

 

When we look at the 40 Super Bowl winners, we see some definite trends regarding how backs have been used. In the first 20 years, the champion always had a second running back whose regular-season production was at least 30 percent of the leading rusher's. Even the 1985 Bears – the last team in that span – got 471 rushing yards from fullback Matt Suhey to complement Walter Payton's 1,551.

 

Things changed in 1986. No Super Bowl victor had ever ridden a tailback like the Giants rode Joe Morris (right), who topped all other rushers on the team by more than 1,200 yards. And since then, six champs have been even more reliant on a single ballcarrier.

 

The following chart shows the Super Bowl winners whose second running back had less than a quarter of the rushing yards of the top ground gainer. You'll notice that eight of the nine have happened in the past 15 seasons. (For a complete breakdown of the top two rushers from each Super Bowl champion, click here.)

 

SB Champ	Top RB	Yards	Second RB	Yards	% of RB1
'98 Broncos	Terrell Davis	2,008	Derek Loville	161	8.0
'92 Cowboys	Emmitt Smith	1,713	Curvin Richards	176	10.3
'95 Cowboys	Emmitt Smith	1,773	Sherman Williams	205	11.6
'97 Broncos	Terrell Davis	1,750	Vaughn Hebron	222	12.7
'01 Patriots	Antowain Smith	1,157	Kevin Faulk	169	14.6
'04 Patriots	Corey Dillon	1,635	Kevin Faulk	255	15.9
'86 Giants	Joe Morris	1,516	Maurice Carthon	260	17.2
'93 Cowboys	Emmitt Smith	1,486	Derrick Lassic	269	18.1
'99 Rams	Marshall Faulk	1,381	Robert Holcombe	294	21.3

 

The pigskin pendulum now seems to be swinging the other way. Three of the last four Super Bowl winners have used more of a platoon approach at running back. And in 2005, there were 43 instances of two running backs on the same team rushing for at least 50 yards in the same game.

 

If the opening weekend of 2006 is any indication, that total will continue to rise. The backfield is in motion, and we are seeing a pronounced shift towards a divided workload.

 

Even the NFL has implemented job sharing.

By Kerry Byrne