Vote for all-time Giants RBs

by Ed Valentine on Jul 6, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in All-Time Team Comment 13 comments

The vote to determine whether or not we should grant Tiki Barber an automatic spot on our Big Blue View All-Time Giants Team is split almost 50-50. With that in mind, I can't just give him a spot. So, Tiki will have to rely on Big Blue View Nation to vote him in.

Here are your nominees for the two running back slots.

Tiki Barber -- We all know the numbers. He's the Giants all-time leading rusher (10,449 yards), second-leading receiver of all-time (586 catches), is only the third player in NFL history to have 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving, had six 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He is the best running back in Giants history, and should go to the Hall of Fame. What I will be interested to see is, considering that his mouth has turned him into such a hated figure can Big Blue View Nation stomach voting for him?
Frank Gifford -- Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977, Gifford had 3,609 yards rushing and 5,434 yards receiving in his career. He was named to eight Pro Bowls and was All-Pro four times.
Joe Morris -- "Little Joe" was a big part of the Giants' 1986 championship team, gaining 1,516 yards (101.1 per game). He gained more than 1,000 yards three times and finished his 8-year career with 5,585 yards. Named to two Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team.
Rodney Hampton -- The powerful Hampton was the Giants' all-time leading rusher (6,897 yards) until he was eclipsed by Barber. Had five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons from 1991-95. On the down side, he averaged only 3.8 yards per carry for his career, and never reached 4 yards per carry after 1992, his third season in the league.
Tuffy Leemans -- Played for the Giants from 1936-43, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978. Here is his bio, from Wikipedia:
Leemans finished his pro career in 1943 with 3,132 yards rushing, 28 receptions for 422 yards, and 2,318 yards passing to his credit. He scored 17 touchdowns rushing, 3 on receptions, and passed for 25 more. His career ledger also includes punt return and pass interception statistics. ... During his outstanding eight-year career, he was named first-or second team all-league every year from 1936 to 1942, by either or both the NFL and a major wire service.

You can make arguments that several others belong on this list, including Joe Morrison, Alex Webster, Dave Meggett and possibly others. Realistically, though, the guys on the list are the ones I feel strongly we should be voting on.

As always, vote in the poll. You have until Thursday night.

Poll

Who should the running backs be on our All-Time Giants Team?

Frank Gifford

35 votes

Tiki Barber

94 votes

Rodney Hampton

23 votes

Joe Morris

23 votes

Tuffy Leemans

8 votes

183 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

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Comments

As ill as it makes me feel.........

I had to vote for Tiki. I, like many, loved this guy before his parting comments. He was the toast of the town. He says he was just doing his job and being honest, but you can already see the marked difference between he and Stray. You don’t have to make personal comments attacking someone or belittling them to get your point accross. The thing that bugs me more is that there was no one else to vote for as Tiki, before Coughlin, was a smallish 3rd down type of back with a serious case of fumblitis. Giff and Tuffy were more consistant through their careers, but Benedict, oops, I mean Barber was the entire focus of the offense. We are definitely a better team with a more committee type of scheme and I would like to see what Jacobs can do to put Mini-Mouth in the rear view mirror

Bleeding Blue since 1962

by sunlion333 on Jul 6, 2008 1:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

keep in mind

Everyone likes to map Tiki’s success to Coughlin’s arrival, but that same off-season, Tiki started that insane impact training and put on 20 lbs. Coughlin demanded a change in the way he held the ball. Ironically the reason Tiki started the training was to build upper body strength to stop fumbling. I would wager it’s was the way he held the ball that impacted the fumbilitis, but he was a completely different animal after the weight program. If you ever had Tiki on a fantasy team, he used to be probable every week, and afterward I don’t think was even on the injury report for the next 4 years.

by queler on Jul 6, 2008 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great point, Q

No one worked harder to get better than Tiki. Even before the impact training he was running “the hill” to train. After starting the impact training, he was much stronger, I thought most particularly in the legs. He was much harder to bring down and could actually move the pile on occasion. He also became a much more intelligent runner as he got older. Much more patient. That’s not to say that carrying the ball the way Coughlin told him to didn’t help. There’s no doubt he was the best runner the Giants ever had.
Still, I voted for Giff, who I believe was a better all around back and too great a part of Giants history to keep off the all time team. Perhaps more importantly, I couldn’t vote for Tiki. I’m too Old School to tolerate the kind of poison he brought to the locker room toward the end of his career, most especially during his last year.

by george cronin on Jul 7, 2008 7:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

it’s almost impossible to go against Tiki here. did i absolutely love Rodney Hampton? yes. did I used to totally kick ass with Joe Morris is Tecmo Super Bowl for Nintendo? yup. did i spent most of last season wanted to punch Tiki in the face everytime I watched Sunday Night Football? sure. but, Tiki is unquestionably the best RB in Giants’ history – and it’s not even close.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Jul 6, 2008 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I voted no

for automatically putting Tiki on the team, just because I was curious to see how the vote would go, and I personally like voting on people (I even would have been interested in seeing the LB vote if LT was involved….would he have been unanimous?), but it looks like Tiki’s pulling away with this thing, which is good, IMO. He was the best RB in Giants history, and I’m glad we’re not letting his off-field persona get in the way of our evaluation of his on-field success. At this point, I wouldn’t be opposed to putting him on the team and re-voting for RBs…

by cjmulrain on Jul 6, 2008 2:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It will

be interesting to see if Gifford joins Tiki, or if Hampton or Morris overtakes him. There is no perfect way to do this, since you can’t really vote for multiple players at one time.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 7, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I voted for Tuffy Leemans

Two Words: Leather Helmet

Giants fan from the womb to the tomb

by Jim Schmiedeberg on Jul 7, 2008 8:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Plus

If you are going into battle with a RB, do you want a guy named “Tuffy” or a guy named “Tiki”?

I thought so…...

Leather Helmet

Giants fan from the womb to the tomb

by Jim Schmiedeberg on Jul 7, 2008 8:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You'll get no argument from me for selecting Tuffy.

Hey, he’s an HOFer. Mel Hein’s the only Leather Helmet guy on the BBV team. Of course, he played beyond that era as well, and would have a damn good chance of making the All Time NFL team, period.

by george cronin on Jul 7, 2008 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tuffy....

Too bad we haven’t watched him. Sounds like he might be a candidate for the all time team but there is a predjudice towards people from the more distant past.

I’m really torn. I plan to vote Tiki first but I am trying to decide between Gifford and Morris for the second back. Rodney Hampton had a lot of yards but not a great yards per carry and I don’t remember his having had the kind of explosive game breakers that Tiki or Morris had.

As for Frank, he passed effectively, played wide out, and was a decent if not great runner. If I remember correctly he also had a knack for being his best when it meant the most.

Morris had fantastic games against the toughest foes we faced like the Redskins. He just about beat them single handedly in one of the most important games in our first Super Bowl season and was a phenomonal second half runner in some of our greatest victories in the playoffs. It’s hard to vote against that kind of performance.

by giant fan since 57 on Jul 7, 2008 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

tiki's wife

can be the giants all time succubus. i had to vote for him but shes probably the most to blame for tiki and his incredibly stupid delusions in thinking he post football career will eclipse is playing years.

the best he can hope for is he shuts up, quits broadcasting and is remembered as the great back that he was. not a selfish monomaniacal talking head that used to play some ball back in the day.

by kendynamo on Jul 7, 2008 1:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs