I'll add a few more to the list. Hall of Famer Hugh McElhenny He turned 30 on 12/31/58. 1959: 67 rushing yards in 10 games 1960: 347 rushing yards in 9 games 1961: 570 rushing yards in 13 games Terry Allen 2000: 32 years old, 4 games, 179 rushing yards 2001: 33 years old, 11 games, 658 rushing yards Hall of Famer Joe Perry 1960: 33 years old, 10 games, 95 rushing yards 1961: 34 years old, 13 games, 675 rushing yards Ricky Williams 2006: 29 years old, did not play 2007: 30 years old, 1 game, 15 rushing yards 2008: 31 years old, 16 games, 659 rushing yards 2009: 32 years old, 16 games, 1121 rushing yards Hall of Famer John Henry Johnson was an interesting player. He turned 30 late in the 1959 season. He played in 10 of Detroit's 12 games that year but only gained 270 yards on the ground and gained 3.3 yards per carry. That was his 6th season and in only two did he exceed 301 rushing yards. Detroit may have felt he was declining because he did move on to Pittsburgh for the 1960 season. Look at what he did the next five seasons, all of which he played at beyond the age of 30- 1960: 621 yards, 5.3 avg 1961: 787 yards, 3.7 avg 1962: 1141 yards, 4.5 avg 1963: 773 yards, 4.2 avg 1964: 1048 yards, 4.5 avg Johnson, Riggins, and Lane ran for more yards in their 30s than in their 20s. There may be some others. I don't expect Tomlinson to do what Johnson or Riggins did, but I think he can do what Terry Allen, Csonka, Smith and McElhenny did. Tomlinson could be effective in a backup role.
Not happy with losing Jones but whatever lost with Jones will be offse by what LT brings to the table. Jones and Greene provided no threat out of the backfield last year, LT will change that.
I am very, very happy with the LT signing. As I said in the LT thread, he is not coming here to be "the man". He knows his part time role. He accepts it. Having less of a burden on him will be beneficial to him, especially getting to work behind our line. The biggest thing is that he's versatile.. he will be an excellent weapon for a young qb like Sanchez out of the backfield. The problem with Jones was that he was probably going to be unwilling to relinquish his role as "the man" on the offense. If he was just demoted and told tough crap, it could have ended up dividing the locker room with some players unhappy a veteran like Jones could be demoted after a big season. This way, everyone knows their role, and we get a more versatile player in there. In Tanny I trust.
you do know this is the same guy who caught a 100 passes one year...so prior to last years down year with San Diego where the RBs werent utilized properly/favorably, LT averaged 63 receptions a year in his career
I am a Shonn Greene guy so whether it was Jones or Tomlinson i could care less, but I am happy we have a vet
Very Happy. Sorry, but Jones I feel is way over rated. And I think he is a poor locker room guy, or maybe like how they felt about Mawae, that Jones is a locker room lawayer, and putting selfish thoughts in people's heads. Jones is not a guy who you can easily say to, we'd like diminish your role. Jones thinks he is like the greatest running back of all time. With Tomlinson, he comes in, he knows he's a 2, and there's no problems. Plus, Tomlinson scores TDs and follows blockers better than Jones, who is a terrible player to watch. I really hope New England or Minnesota or whoever comes in and signs Leon and we take their second rounder. That would give us ridiculous flexibility at the draft. But if Leon's here, I won't cry about that, and then you have 3 running backs that almost anyone would be happy with.
Most of those guys are 4-5 years older than LT at this point. I find the move as a lateral for TJ. Kind of meh on it. If the Jets have to rely on him as their workhorse they are most likely in trouble at the RB position anyhow.
The problem I have with all of the comps except for Riggins is that they really weren't good in their "bounce back" year, they just got a lot of carries into a subpar performance. Riggins is unique. There's nothing about LT and Riggins that is similar at all. And the strike year in 1982 was an abomination that you really can't read anything from. The other thing of course is that LT has a bunch more carries at this point in his career than the other people on the list. As an example he has 600 carries, or two full seasons worth, more than Thomas Jones right now. He's really not coming back like a rose this year. If he still had anything in the tank the Jets couldn't have beaten the Chargers in the Divisional round last season.
LT can catch and we lacked that last year and the year before. TJ wasn't much of a catching RB. LW hardly saw the field to have significant affect. LT should be good behind out OL. He will also help Sanchez as a safety blanket.
My Dad called me to tell me LT signed and we were both happy with the move. LT will provide great leadership. He is a true pro and will help this team. The man does not have to carry the entire team on his back. He just need to fill his role. I am so pumped this could be huge. Or it could be another huge Jets blunder......Damn it is so hard being a Jets fan!
Thought #1: it wasn't very long ago that Thomas Jones played an entire season for us running behind a sieve for an OL and ran for like 10 yards and 1 TD all season. Then came our great OL. Then came TJ's 'good' seasons. So yes, it really is all about the OL. Thought #2: getting a #2 for Leon is golden and avoids a huge distraction. Remember- Leon would have been an UFA this season and demanding HUGE jack if not for the whole NFL mess. If he DOES come back to the jets for the 2010 season, what do you think will happen in 2011? Answser, Leon will be cut.
I was completely against getting rid of TJ at the time. If you told me then we were going to replace him with LT and save 3 mil it is a no brainer. LT is a major upgrade from TJ and is coming in knowing his role, I don't care that he has lost a step, so has TJ. Bottomline is LT is a much better RB than Jones even at this point in their respective careers plus he fits our needs better with his ability to catch passes out of the backfield. It also gives us the flexibilty if Leon does accept an offer to consider taking the 2nd for him. LT with limited carries at a reasonable salary is a great signing, one of the best moves of the entire offseason so far.
I slightly like the move to get LT, but I just think people are making too big of a deal about it. Sure he's probably a slight upgrade to Jones in that he has better vision and is a pretty good receiver for a RB, but I don't think he's really going to add much to this team unless Greene or Washington get hurt. He's definitely not going to have a massive impact like cro is.
You forgot about Ricky Williams. I wouldn't call his performances subpar since the lost seasons due to weirdness. You asked, "How many runningbacks have had a fall-down season at 30 or later and then recovered to be any kind of back again?" I clearly showed you a number of guys who had a bad year or more after turning 30 only to then bounce back to be some kind of back. You then responded by essentially saying Ehh, you really didn't show me anything. As I stated in the big Tomlinson thread there are only five players who had more rushing attempts than Tomlinson before the age of 31. Three of them still had at least one more very productive season and one of them had retired before his age 31 season. To reiterate something I've written in various places, I am not expecting Tomlinson to have 250 carries for 1125 yards and 15 touchdowns. 160 for 687 is more reasonable.
Pretty much that's how I feel about it. Thing is, I think Jones is done but that Tomlinson might have one more good season. Therefore, I'm hopeful that Tomlinson over Jones actually could be an upgrade even though 2009 wouldn't seem to indicate it. I can envision neither player being any good anymore, though. Yesterday, in the big Tomlinson thread I almost posted what has happened to RBs with a certain number of carries between the ages of 26 and 31. It was not a pretty list. They all fell off big time. Based on history, if you are a betting man, it's more likely that Tomlinson will be more productive than Jones in 2010.
At this point unless we trade Leon for a 2nd I'm not happy with the moves. Greene just doesn't seem durable enough to be a #1. Leon's a change of pace back and probably wouldn't be able to run between the tackles. LT's role is a backup. So without bringing in another young back I don't like the lineup.
I think we still need to draft a RB whether we sign Leon or not. Maybe lower in the draft if we get Leon back. I think this may be a draft where we make a lot of unexciting but needed picks (O and D line)
