|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Depth charges Quality backups at RB crucial to success
Ten teams played this week with backup running backs as starters. Those teams finished the week 4-6. Not every team has the luxury of having three 1,000-yard backs to keep its offensive machine moving like the Broncos do. There are two schools of thought on how to have the depth required to win when the starting back goes down. The first method is to make the position a priority. Draft a quality player and get him into the mix long before the inevitable happens. Curtis Martin might be the best back in the NFL right now yet the Jets continue to bring Lamont Jordan along as an able replacement. Jordan had 10 carries for 40 yards this week against the Chiefs as his coaches and teammates gained confidence in his abilities. Don't underestimate the psychological importance of that for the Jets. Meanwhile, the Saints have started to put Deuce McAllister into the mix in New Orleans, remembering that Ricky Williams missed six games last year. The Dolphins got Travis Minor seven carries Sunday in their win against Indianapolis. And in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have Amos Zereoue ready to handle an extended stay should Jerome Bettis miss some time this season. On Sunday three teams showed they have the depth to win without their starters. In Seattle, Shaun Alexander has given the Seahawks great options with a team-record 266 yards rushing against the Raiders. In St. Louis, Marshall Faulk turned in the weekend's second-best rushing effort while his backup, Trung Canidate, remarkably mopped up with the sixth best at 145 yards. And the Eagles know that Correll Buckhalter can keep the team rolling if Duce Staley goes down again. Other teams, like those below, have gone to the street to acquire their backup rushers. Replacing millionaire players with minimum wage men who were passed over by every team in the draft is a high-risk, short-term solution usually mandated by the salary cap.
In the end, every team is going to need a quality backup at running back given the injury rate over the long NFL season. Thirty-three percent of teams called upon their second back this past weekend and at the halfway mark 50 percent of clubs have already needed their No. 2 guy. By January about 75 percent of the teams will go through this drill and the truth is they won't all be ready. Pat Kirwan, who spent 12 years as a pro football coach, scout and personnel administrator, is an NFL analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
