SI.com - NFL - Chargers' Tomlinson points the way - Wednesday June 30, 2004 8:06PM

Clinton Portis' wardrobe has included a pink fuzzy hat, a Bob the Builder outfit and what former Broncos teammate Steve Beuerlein called pajamas. He's strutted around the sideline wearing a gaudy gold title belt, proclaiming himself the best running back in the NFL. But is Portis -- traded this offseason to the Redskins for CB Champ Bailey -- the league's best all-around back?

Well, he's among the best -- but based on last season's stats he is merely No. 8. Remember, the caveat is best all-around.

Here are the top 15 rushing totals from 2003:

2003 Statistics Top 15 Rushing Totals
No.	Player	Team	G	Att	Yds	TD	Rec	Yds	TD	Touch
1.	J. Lewis	Bal.	16	387	2,066	14	26	205	0	413
2.	A. Green	G.B.	16	355	1,883	15	50	367	5	405
3.	L. Tomlinson	S.D.	16	313	1,645	13	100	725	4	413
4.	D. McAllister	N.O.	16	351	1,641	8	69	516	0	420
5.	C. Portis	Den.	13	290	1,591	14	38	314	0	328
6.	F. Taylor	Jac.	16	345	1,572	6	48	370	1	393
7.	S. Davis	Car.	14	318	1,444	8	14	159	0	332
8.	S. Alexander	Sea.	16	326	1,435	14	42	295	2	368
9.	P. Holmes	K.C.	16	320	1,420	27	74	690	0	394
10.	R. Williams	Mia.	16	392	1,372	9	50	351	1	442
11.	T. Henry	Buf.	15	331	1,356	10	28	158	1	359
12.	C. Martin	NYJ	16	323	1,308	2	42	262	0	365
13.	E. James	Ind.	13	310	1,259	11	51	292	0	361
14.	T. Barber	NYG	16	278	1,216	2	69	461	1	347
15.	D. Davis	Hou.	14	238	1,031	8	47	351	0	285
	E. George	Ten.	16	312	1,031	5	22	163	0	334

No.	Player	Total Yds	Total TD	Total FD	Rush FD	Rec. FD	Avg.Yds. Touch	FD Per Touch	TD Per Touch	Fum
1.	J. Lewis	2,271	14	93	83	10	5.49	4.44	29.5	8
2.	A. Green	2,250	20	115	96	19	5.55	3.52	20.2	7
3.	L. Tomlinson	2,370	17	107	81	26	5.73	3.85	24.2	2
4.	D. McAllister	2,157	8	91	69	22	5.13	4.61	52.5	6
5.	C. Portis	1,905	14	86	76	10	5.80	3.81	23.4	3
6.	F. Taylor	1,942	7	93	77	16	4.94	4.22	56.1	6
7.	S. Davis	1,603	8	77	69	8	4.82	4.31	41.5	3
8.	S. Alexander	1,730	16	95	79	16	4.70	3.87	23.0	4
9.	P. Holmes	2,110	27	124	88	36	5.35	3.17	14.5	1
10.	R. Williams	1,723	10	79	68	11	3.89	5.59	44.2	7
11.	T. Henry	1,514	11	85	76	9	4.21	4.22	32.6	7
12.	C. Martin	1,570	2	62	53	9	4.30	5.88	182.5	2
13.	E. James	1,551	11	91	83	8	4.29	3.96	32.8	5
14.	T. Barber	1,677	3	92	66	26	4.83	3.77	115.6	9
15.	D. Davis	1,382	8	62	47	15	4.84	4.59	35.6	4
	E. George	1,194	5	59	52	7	3.57	5.66	66.8	1

Despite missing three games last season, Portis still managed to finish fifth in rushing. But there is more to being the best than just piling up rushing yards. In an attempt to weed out the pretenders and shine a light on the contenders for the title as the NFL's best all-around running back, SI.com took the top 15 rushing totals from 2003 and gave those running backs a point total for various elements of their game.

With 16 running backs in the mix (Domanick Davis and Eddie George tied for 15th with 1,031 yards), each player was awarded points on how his stats stacked up against the other elite backs. Sixteen points were awarded for first in a category, 15 for second and so on.

When the points were tallied, the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson emerged as the NFL's best all-around running back based on 17 categories, including games played, because staying healthy adds to the value of a premier running back.

Here are the results:

Inside the Numbers
	Games	Pts.		Rush Att.	Pts.		Rush Yards	Pts.
S. Alexander	16	11	R. Williams	392	16	J. Lewis	2,066	16
T. Barber	16	11	J. Lewis	387	15	A. Green	1,883	15
E. George	16	11	A. Green	355	14	L. Tomlinson	1,645	14
A. Green	16	11	D. McAllister	351	13	D. McAllister	1,641	13
P. Holmes	16	11	F. Taylor	345	12	C. Portis	1,591	12
J. Lewis	16	11	T. Henry	331	11	F. Taylor	1,572	11
C. Martin	16	11	S. Alexander	326	10	S. Davis	1,444	10
D. McAllister	16	11	C. Martin	323	9	S. Alexander	1,435	9
F. Taylor	16	11	P. Holmes	320	8	P. Holmes	1,420	8
L. Tomlinson	16	11	S. Davis	318	7	R. Williams	1,372	7
R. Williams	16	11	L. Tomlinson	313	6	T. Henry	1,356	6
T. Henry	15	5	E. George	312	5	C. Martin	1,308	5
D. Davis	14	3.5	E. James	310	4	E. James	1,259	4
S. Davis	14	3.5	C. Portis	290	3	T. Barber	1,216	3
E. James	13	1.5	T. Barber	278	2	D. Davis	1,031	1.5
C. Portis	13	1.5	D. Davis	238	1	E. George	1,031	1.5

	Rush TDs	Pts.		Rec.	Pts.		Rec. Yards	Pts.
P. Holmes	27	16	L. Tomlinson	100	16	L. Tomlinson	725	16
A. Green	15	15	P. Holmes	74	15	P. Holmes	690	15
S. Alexander	14	13.5	T. Barber	69	13.5	D. McAllister	516	14
J. Lewis	14	13.5	D. McAllister	69	13.5	T. Barber	461	13
C. Portis	14	13.5	E. James	51	12	F. Taylor	370	12
L. Tomlinson	13	11	A. Green	50	10.5	A. Green	367	11
E. James	11	10	R. Williams	50	10.5	D. Davis	351	10
T. Henry	10	9	F. Taylor	48	9	R. Williams	351	9.5
R. Williams	9	8	D. Davis	47	8	C. Portis	314	9.5
D. Davis	8	5.5	S. Alexander	42	6.5	S. Alexander	295	7
S. Davis	8	5.5	C. Martin	42	6.5	E. James	292	6
D. McAllister	8	5.5	C. Portis	38	5	C. Martin	262	5
F. Taylor	6	4	T. Henry	28	4	J. Lewis	205	4
E. George	5	3	J. Lewis	26	3	E. George	163	3
T. Barber	2	1.5	E. George	22	2	S. Davis	159	2
C. Martin	2	1.5	S. Davis	14	1	T. Henry	158	1

	Rec. TDs	Pts.		Touches	Pts.		Total Yards	Pts.
A. Green	5	16	R. Williams	442	16	L. Tomlinson	2,370	16
L. Tomlinson	4	15	D. McAllister	420	15	J. Lewis	2,271	15
S. Alexander	2	14	J. Lewis	413	13.5	A. Green	2,250	14
T. Barber	1	11.5	L. Tomlinson	413	13.5	D. McAllister	2,157	13
T. Henry	1	11.5	A. Green	405	12	P. Holmes	2,110	12
F. Taylor	1	11.5	P. Holmes	394	11	F. Taylor	1,942	11
R. Williams	1	11.5	F. Taylor	393	10	C. Portis	1,905	10
D. Davis	0	5	S. Alexander	368	9	S. Alexander	1,730	9
S. Davis	0	5	C. Martin	365	8	R. Williams	1,723	8
E. George	0	5	E. James	361	7	T. Barber	1,677	7
P. Holmes	0	5	T. Henry	359	6	S. Davis	1,603	6
E. James	0	5	T. Barber	347	5	C. Martin	1,570	5
J. Lewis	0	5	E. George	334	4	E. James	1,551	4
C. Martin	0	5	S. Davis	332	3	T. Henry	1,514	3
D. McAllister	0	5	C. Portis	328	2	D. Davis	1,382	2
C. Portis	0	5	D. Davis	285	1	E. George	1,194	1

	Total TDs	Pts.		Total FD	Pts.		Rush FD	Pts.
P. Holmes	27	16	P. Holmes	124	16	A. Green	96	16
A. Green	20	15	A. Green	115	15	P. Holmes	88	15
L. Tomlinson	17	14	L. Tomlinson	107	14	E. James	83	13.5
S. Alexander	16	13	S. Alexander	95	13	J. Lewis	83	13.5
J. Lewis	14	11.5	J. Lewis	93	11.5	L. Tomlinson	81	12
C. Portis	14	11.5	F. Taylor	93	11.5	S. Alexander	79	11
T. Henry	11	9.5	T. Barber	92	10	F. Taylor	77	10
E. James	11	9.5	E. James	91	8.5	T. Henry	76	8
R. Williams	10	8	D. McAllister	91	8.5	C. Portis	76	8
D. Davis	8	6	C. Portis	86	7	C. Martin	76	8
S. Davis	8	6	T. Henry	85	6	S. Davis	69	5.5
D. McAllister	8	6	R. Williams	79	5	D. McAllister	69	5.5
F. Taylor	7	4	S. Davis	77	4	R. Williams	68	4
E. George	5	3	D. Davis	62	2.5	T. Barber	66	3
T. Barber	3	2	C. Martin	62	2.5	E. George	52	2
C. Martin	2	1	E. George	59	1	D. Davis	47	1

	Rec. FD	Pts.		Avg.Yds. Touch	Pts.		Touch per FD	Pts.
P. Holmes	36	16	C. Portis	5.80	16	P. Holmes	3.17	16
T. Barber	26	14.5	L. Tomlinson	5.73	15	A. Green	3.52	15
L. Tomlinson	26	14.5	A. Green	5.55	14	T. Barber	3.77	14
D. McAllister	22	13	J. Lewis	5.49	13	C. Portis	3.81	13
A. Green	19	12	P. Holmes	5.35	12	L. Tomlinson	3.85	12
S. Alexander	16	10.5	D. McAllister	5.13	11	S. Alexander	3.87	11
F. Taylor	16	10.5	F. Taylor	4.94	10	E. James	3.96	10
D. Davis	15	9	D. Davis	4.84	9	T. Henry	4.22	8.5
R. Williams	11	8	T. Barber	4.83	8	F. Taylor	4.22	8.5
J. Lewis	10	6.5	S. Davis	4.82	7	S. Davis	4.31	7
C. Portis	10	6.5	S. Alexander	4.70	6	J. Lewis	4.44	6
T. Henry	9	4.5	C. Martin	4.30	5	D. Davis	4.59	5
C. Martin	9	4.5	E. James	4.29	4	D. McAllister	4.61	4
S. Davis	8	2.5	T. Henry	4.21	3	C. Martin	5.88	3
E. James	8	2.5	R. Williams	3.89	2	E. George	5.66	2
E. George	7	1	E. George	3.57	1	R. Williams	5.59	1

	Touch Per TD	Pts.		Fum	Pts.	Rank	Player	Pts.
P. Holmes	14.5	16	E. George	1	15.5	1.	L. Tomlinson	225.5
A. Green	21.0	15	P. Holmes	1	15.5	2.	A. Green	224.5
S. Alexander	23.0	14	C. Martin	2	13.5	3.	P. Holmes	223.5
C. Portis	23.4	13	L. Tomlinson	2	13.5	4.	S. Alexander	178
L. Tomlinson	24.2	12	S. Davis	3	11.5	5.	J. Lewis	171.5
J. Lewis	29.5	11	C. Portis	3	11.5	6.	D. McAllister	162.5
T. Henry	32.6	10	S. Alexander	4	9.5	7.	F. Taylor	156.5
E. James	32.8	9	D. Davis	4	9.5	8.	C. Portis	148
D. Davis	35.6	8	E. James	5	8	9.	R. Williams	135.5
S. Davis	41.5	7	D. McAllister	6	6.5	10.	T. Barber	122
R. Williams	44.2	6	F. Taylor	6	6.5	11.	E. James	118.5
D. McAllister	52.5	5	A. Green	7	4	12.	T. Henry	110
F. Taylor	56.1	4	T. Henry	7	4	13.	C. Martin	94.5
E. George	66.8	3	R. Williams	7	4	14.	S. Davis	93.5
T. Barber	115.6	2	J. Lewis	8	2	15.	D. Davis	87.5
C. Martin	182.5	1	T. Barber	9	1	16.	E. George	64

The numbers don't lie

Chargers' Tomlinson points the way when breaking down RBs


	SI Media Kits \| About Us \| Subscribe \| Customer Service Copyright © 2005 CNN/Sports Illustrated. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.