Do you remember Priest Holmes? How about Shaun Alexander? Larry Johnson? Can you even remember Ahman Green back when he was relevant?
These guys set the trend that LaDainian Tomlinson is currently following.
In 2002, Priest Holmes scored 21 rushing touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry while running for his career-high 1,615 yards with the Kansas City Chiefs. The next year, Holmes scored an astonishing 27 rushing touchdowns.
He has only played in 19 games since then.
Ahman Green rushed for even more yards in 2003 with 1,883 while scoring 15 touchdowns with Green Bay. He never played a full season after that.
Larry Johnson and Shaun Alexander took over the spotlight in 2005 and reached the end zone 20 and 27 times, respectively. The Seahawks lost their best guard Steve Hutchinson and Alexander started his decline. Johnson had some issues off of the football field, suffered some injuries and hasn’t really been the same since.
Then L.T emerged and started his reign over opposing defenses. The very next year in 2006, L.T rushed for his career-high 1,815 yards and scored a league record 28 rushing touchdowns. He even recorded 508 receiving yards. It was simply remarkable.
But now L.T is starting to disappear just like the others. It is just taking a little more time than what we are used to seeing.
Since that amazing year of 2006, Tomlinson’s total rushing yards has decreased each year by at least 300. His rushing touchdowns dropped to 15 in 2007 and 11 in 2008. His yards per carry have also significantly decreased. In 2006, L.T averaged 5.2 yards per carry. In 2007, that stat was reduced to 4.7. It was then dropped to 3.8 the next year.
After a season where he rushed for his career-low 1,110 yards, L.T was supposed to break out again this season. He was fully healthy at the end of training camp and he was supposed to be more explosive than ever.
Now, L.T is going to miss his second consecutive game on Sunday when the Chargers face the Dolphins due to a sprained ankle. That means he will have missed three of San Diego’s last four games, dating back to the playoff loss to the Steelers in January.
It looks like his backup Darren Sproles is better for the team. Philip Rivers looks like he is the leader. And it looks like there isn’t going to be any room for L.T whenever he is ready to comes back. This very well could be the end of the road for L.T and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. It has happened before. So forget about the Madden curse. Start paying attention to the curse of the seemingly unstoppable running back.
But who knows? Maybe Adrian Peterson has what it takes to break this trend. It certainly looks like he does.
----------
Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship! - Michael Klopman
No comments:
Post a Comment