I love watching Starks run. Sometimes it can be a bit scary watching him run because.

1. He runs high.
2. A positive is he always pushes for the extra yards, but a negative is there is more risk of fumbling the ball, especially with his run style (but he hasn't fumbled yet).

Anyways, it was this specific play in the Super Bowl that got me going and I started to talk about Grant and Jackson afterwards.



Nevermind Crabtree totally redeeming himself and making James Harrison look like a little bitch (lol). Its the second chance that James Starks creates for himself to get the first down. That is a big deal right there and Starks shows great vision and elusiveness to make this play happen.

After this play I started talking about what would have happened if it were Grant or Jackson carrying the ball.

Grant would have continued to try to run behind Crabtree. By doing this he would have gained nothing. Once Grant gets the ball and hits "a wall", he puts his head down and tries to bull rush his way through.

Jackson would have stopped, do a little tip-toe dance and try to reverse the field possibly losing 2-5 yards. Another possibility would be similar to Grant's attempt, but ending a lot sooner once he hit the wall.

With all that being said, I'd like to change my vote in the "Who is our starter" thread and say that per Starks progression, he can easily steal the number of reps given to Grant next year. I sense drama.

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I like Grant, I like the fact that if we have him and Starks, we have depth. Because if we get rid of Grant and Starks gets hurt, we have a repeat of this years RB situation.

Then who would we have to step up at the end of the year?

Why do we need one feature back. Lets go with a committee, whoever is getting more production that week, give him more carries. Both will have longer careers.

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Whoops! That is what I meant.

Main point = they both are good at securing the rock!

Does anybody else find it funny that many of us are bad talking Grant again? I remember when many of you wanted Jackson to start over Grant. How did that work out?

Everyone was praising him at midseason when we didn't have a running game. Now we don't like him / think he isnt a real RB?

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This.

Grant is a top 10 RB in the NFL. He consistently gets a 4.4 average behind a mediocre OL. Mediocre is generous, as it was pretty bad in his career too.

Starks doesn't have a big enough resume to judge yet.

It's not just for fantasy football, but if I wanted a RB to consistently take pressure off the passing game, it would be Grant. He rarely loses yardage as he hits the line of scrimmage at full speed. He has broken a lot of big runs as well. People conveniently forget how good he was.

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May have just been me, but I thought I saw Starks more involved in pass protection in the Superbowl (possibly trying to trick the Steelers into thinking we always run with him in the game, and always pass with Jackson back there). He looked like he held up ok from what I saw, bodes well for next year when he's likely to take over this role from Jackson.

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I haven't been stoked about our running game since '07, but Starks has me believing again. If that somehow lights a fire under Grant's ass, or opens up opportunities for him...great! But I still think Starks is the better back.

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I and Zombie agree.. hoorah. ;)

Last year it was Jackson with a big game and an success in select spots that had Grant walking to the bench. This year it is Starks and a couple of games that has Grant sitting again.

I like what I see of Starks so far... but I think it a bit jumpy to insert him has a starter with the limited exposure he has had to date.

All I know.. it will be a good problem to have come camp.. letting these two, plus a rookie or Jackson determining whom get what share of the load.

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Ryan Grant will be 28 when the 2011 season starts, keep him as the starter.
James Starks will be 25 when the 2011 season starts, use him sparingly, help him learn and prepare him to take over in 2012.

If we have Grant under contract in 2012, trade him if he's unhappy with being a backup to James Starks.



Of course this is assuming Starks is starting RB material.

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Somebody else compared him to Eddie George. They all have that same style.

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