Most dominant pure runners of all time
With all the talk about C. Dillon I figured it was time to break out the "The Sacred Roll of Runners".
(not be confused with the greatest all-purpose runners of all-time:
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=36168)
I took the 5 best years of each running back, ranking them against each other in 3 categories which I considered of equal value: Yards per game, yards per carry, and TDs per game (“per game” is not for each game the player played, but for each game his team played during those 5 prime seasons, thereby factoring in durability).
Key:
Tie-breaker is YPG
Name (years) YPG(rank)/ YPC (rank)/ TDsPG (rank): Aggregate rank
1.J. Brown (1958-60, 63,65) 117.5 (1)/ 5.60 (1)/ 1.08 (2): 4
2.E. ****erson (1983-4, 96-8) 114.2 (2)/ 4.71 (13)/ .83 (9): 24
3.J. Taylor (1960-4) 89.3 (12)/ 4.94 (8)/ .97 (4): 24
4.B. Sanders (1989, 94-7) 105.7 (5)/ 5.40 (3)/ .68 (17): 25
5.O. Simpson (1972-6) 110.0 (3)/ 5.09 (6)/ .64 (20): 29
6.W. Payton (1976-7, 79, 84-5) 106.4 (4)/ 4.69 (14)/ .80 (11): 29
7.E. Smith (1991-5) 100.2 (6)/ 4.54 (21)/ 1.06 (3): 30
8.S. Alexander*(2001-5) 93.8 (9)/ 4.54 (21)/ 1.09 (1): 31
9.E. Campbell (1978-81,83) 97.0 (7)/ 4.49 (24)/ .84 (8): 39
10.T. Davis: (1995-8, 01) 88.9 (13)/ 4.71 (13)/ .70 (16): 42
11. P. Holmes* (1998, 01-04) 81.1 (23)/ 4.67 (15)/ .96 (5): 43
12.M. Faulk* (1994, 98-01) 84.0 (20)/ 4.79 (11)/ .68 (17): 48
13.L. Tomlinson* (2001-5) 92.3 (10)/ 4.32 (33)/ .90 (6): 49
14.L. Kelly (1966-69, 71) 75.2 (31)/ 4.69 (14)/ .87 (7): 52
15.A. Green* (2000-04) 85.6 (16)/ 4.67 (15)/ .60 (22): 53
16.T. Barber* (2001-05) 85.6 (16)/ 4.80 (10)/ .49 (29): 55
17.E. James* (1999-00, 03-05) 94.7 (8)/ 4.30 (34)/ .74 (14): 56
18.F. Harris (1972, 74-76, 79) 80.3 (24)/ 4.63 (17)/ .71 (15): 56
19.F. Taylor* (1998, 00, 02-04) 84.2 (19)/ 4.65 (16)/ .53 (26): 61
20.T. Dorsett (1977-8, 81,83,85) 84.7 (17)/ 4.61 (18)/ .49 (29): 64
21.C. Dillon* (1997, 99-00, 02, 04) 83.9 (21)/ 4.56 (20)/ .51 (27): 68
22.G. Sayers (1965-9) 69.5 (40)/ 5.10 (5)/ .56 (24): 69
23.C. Martin* (1995, 99-01, 04) 92.1 (11)/ 4.20 (38)/ .63 (21): 70
24.J. Perry (1950, 52-4, 58) 64.3 (48)/ 5.44 (2)/ .58 (23): 73
25.J. Bettis (1993, 96-7, 00-01) 86.7 (14)/ 4.42 (28)/ .46 (32): 74
26.T. Thomas (1989-93) 84.4 (18)/ 4.43 (27)/ .49 (29): 74
27.O. Anderson (1979-81, 83-4) 84.7 (17)/ 4.39 (29)/ .46 (32): 78
28.W. Andrews (1979-83) 79.1 (27)/ 4.57 (19)/ .40 (34): 80
29.G. Rogers (1981-3, 85-6) 77.4 (29)/ 4.38 (30)/ .63 (21): 80
30.L. Csonka (1970-4) 70.5 (37)/ 4.71 (13)/ .47 (31): 81
31.R. Smith (1995, 97-00) 70.3 (38)/ 4.95 (7)/ .33 (36): 81
32.C. Warner (1983, 85-88) 79.4 (26)/ 4.18 (39)/ .68 (17): 82
33.S. Davis (1999-03) 80.2 (25)/ 4.27 (36)/ .60 (22): 83
34.M.Allen (1982-85, 95) 75.7 (30)/ 4.29 (35)/ .67 (18): 83
35.J. Riggins (1972, 75, 79, 83-84) 74.8 (32)/ 4.04 (42)/ .82 (10): 84
36.B. Sims (1980-4) 69.9 (39)/ 4.51 (22)/ .58 (23): 84
37.J. Brooks (1985-6, 88-90) 64.9 (46)/ 5.22 (4)/ .40 (34): 84
38.E.George (1996-00) 85.9 (15)/ 3.90 (45)/ .53 (26): 86
39.W. Tyler (1979,81,83-5) 64.6 (47)/ 4.83 (9)/ .48 (30): 86
40.G. Riggs (1984-7, 89) 82.1 (22)/ 4.17 (40)/ .50 (28): 90