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The Random Thought Thread
- Thread starter The Greek
- Start date
they still don't compare as backs. It's not even close
backup rbs often have higher YPC - that's hardly surprising
yep, without a doubt they have a higher ypc on most occasions.
Sandtown
Pro Bowler
I thought Ray Rice was special. He bought alot of excitement to The Ravens offense and when he was gone that excitement left.Some running backs like Justin Forsett, Terrence West, Alex Collins and etc may have been productive but they never was explosive or fun to watch like Ray Rice was.
Truthfully I think Lamar Jackson bought the excitement back to The Ravens offense that's been missing since Ray Rice departure. If you like JK Dobbins better than Ray Rice especially knowing how productive Ray Rice was for The Ravens then there really shouldnt be any reason to question why The Ravens drafted him in the second round. Ray Rice was not a bust and was once regarded as one of the better running backs in the league at one point.
Sandtown
Pro Bowler
I feel like Ray Rice would have no doubt be Hall of Famer if his career wasnt cut short but no doubt. Jamaal Charles was a special running back.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Jamaal Charles was hurt all the damn time. 09, 10, 11, and 12 ray rice was top 3 in the league and available for EVERY game, 2k scrimmage yards twice and double digit TDs twice, worst YPC in that stretch was 4. Charles in that stretch had 2 special seasons, one basically derailed by injury, and they both had their breakout 09 season in which ray rice absolutely demolished Charles’ BEST season(2012) by over 200 yards from scrimmage. Ray rice was special for 4 straight seasons, Charles was hot and cold with special seasons in between some decent and average seasons. Charles was never the consistent team-carrying force that rice was. The biggest thing about Charles was that he was able to keep playing when ray rice was exiled from the league, Charles went on to do the same and sprinkle in some good seasons with some average seasons and a lot of games missed to injury.
comparing their stretch of prominence, ray was pretty clearly the superior player, 09-12 it shouldn’t be up for debate. You can’t call Charles special and then call ray rice just good. Charles certainly was special and if he never had to deal with injuries I probably wouldn’t be arguing this at all, but we as ravens fans have seen that availability is a huge factor and ray rice from 09-12 was not only the superior player in every imaginable way but he also was the most available back in the league at that time
Vinnie Cerrato to Dan Snyder "Do you want to draft Jamaal Charles". Dan "No Vinny, we have Clinton Portis as our running back". (Portis played 1 1/2 more years)
This went down the 2nd round of the 2008 NFL draft. They went on to draft Devin Thomas from Michigan State who went onto bust.
Yes, Charles was special, but Ray Rice was also and considered one of the better running backs over that four year period. He was incredible. He was much more than a "good consistent RB with a good motor". You are truly not being fair in your assessment.
Charles better years actually came in 10 and 12... and in that case rice was not the better running back.
Sami84
Ravens Ring of Honor
I'll always consider Ray Rice a good football player. at the RB position Jamal Lewis was a special football player at the RB positon
Sami84
Ravens Ring of Honor
in 2009 he was super impressive.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
He was not the better back in those 2 seasons, but overall over the 4 year stretch ray was The better back. Because ray did it 4 years straight carrying that offense to be competitive enough to make deep playoff runs, Charles had an injury shortened season of only 2 games in that stretch while ray didn’t miss a single game including multiple playoff games each year, and also didn’t produce nearly as much as ray in the passing game.
then there’s the clutch factor, ray rice may have actually been the best crunch time playmaker in the league at rb that entire stretch, he made so many huge plays at the most crucial moments, and made so many crucial conversions that he frankly had no business making.
really I think Charles IS special, but in that 4 year stretch I don’t think you can give the nod to anyone over ray rice except for AD.
Chris johnson? Jones drew? Aaron foster?
He was 100% a top 5 back in the lg when playing for us.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
To this day I will discount any kubiak or shanahan rb unless I see them succeed in another system, so I don’t even consider foster in the “best” conversation(not to say he wasn’t good). Chris Johnson was in the conversation, MJD as well, frank gore is a guy being left out also. that wasn’t to say he was firmly #2 behind AD, just that you can’t say anyone in that 4 year stretch was unequivocally better than ray rice without being ready to argue into a stalemate lol, there is nothing out there to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that MJD, CJ, or Jamaal Charles was better, it really would come down to preference. Right now on this 2020 ravens team id have
preferred Chris Johnson, on the early flacco Ravens, ray rice all day.
ray had the consistency but i dont think ive seen a better RB in the league since i started watching than jamaal charles - that 2010 season through 2014 he was absurdly good
obviously availability matters but jamaal charles i think is still the best RB ive seen since i started watching...
ray was great - consistently a top 5 back in the league but jamaal charles i thought was the best guy around when he was around
what a great period of time for RBs though - legitimately thought of as superstars
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Peterson has got to be without a doubt the greatest back of this generation. Peterson has an actual argument for greatest of all time, Charles doesn’t.
also I’m heavily weighing receiving ability, where these guys beat ray in rushing totals, ray all but 1 year(2012) was top 3 in yards from scrimmage and in rays 1 year where he wasn’t, we finally had a passing game going so he wasn’t relied on as much. Those guys had huge disparities in rushing-receiving ratio compared to ray rice, but there was little disparity in scrimmage yards from ray to the others.