Who is the best running back in all the land?

LaDainian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson are unquestionably the best two running backs in the NFL right now. This week it is my mission to come to a conclusion, once and for all. After 8 weeks of play, who is better, LT or LJ?

Running Statistics

Through seven games Tomlinson has rushed the ball 150 times for 656 yards and nine touchdowns; an average of 4.4 yards per carry. Johnson has carried the ball 172 times for 644 yards and eight touchdowns; an average of 3.7 yards per carry. Both running backs have coughed up the football twice this year.

EDGE: LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson has run for more yards than Johnson on 22 less carries. He has scored one more touchdown than Johnson and has been on a tear the last three weeks.

Receiving Statistics

Tomlinson has caught 35 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns so far this year. Johnson has 27 receptions for 329 yards and two touchdowns.

EDGE: Larry Johnson. Johnson has looked slightly better this year catching passes out of the backfield, with 26 more receiving yards in eight less receptions – the slight edge goes to Johnson.

Passing Statistics

This may seem like a strange category to include for running backs but I think that this dimension of a running back’s game adds a lot of versatility to an offense and makes the back a larger threat in the backfield.

This season only Tomlinson has attempted to throw a pass. In fact, he’s thrown two passes, completing one of them for a touchdown resulting in a 95.8 quarterback rating for the season.

EDGE: The versatile LT.

Fantasy Statistics

It depends on which league you look at, but in most leagues Tomlinson is leading Johnson by about 10 points. However, by CBS Sportsline’s player rankings, Johnson is ahead of Tomlinson slightly.

EDGE: Push. Legitimately they could flip-flop being the number one and two running backs on a week-by-week basis.

Team Value

Determining which one of the backs is more valuable to their team is difficult. To simplify it I am simply going to look at which player has a greater impact on their team’s performance when they are on the field.

Tomlinson is undoubtedly the cornerstone of the San Diego Chargers’ offense. However, even without Tomlinson, I believe that Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates and company could put up some big offensive numbers with a third-tier running back in the backfield. Look at the first four weeks of the season when Tomlinson put up only one 100-yard rushing game and scored only three touchdowns; San Diego still played well, posting a 3-1 record to start the season.

Johnson is also the cornerstone of the Chief’s offense, but is also most of the other stones. When Johnson has a good game, the Chiefs win, or at least stay close in football games. If Johnson doesn’t show up, the Chiefs are done.

EDGE: Larry Johnson.

Since we are tied at this point 2-2-1, we will have to go with a few more subjective categories to decide who is the best running back in all of the land.

Explosiveness

Both these backs clearly have the ability to take the ball to the house every time they get their hands on it. The question here is which one you would rather have running the ball from the 50-yard line with two seconds left on the game clock, needing a touchdown to win the game.

Johnson is a stud; he’s a 6-foot-1, 230 pound running machine. Last season he had an incredible 15 carries for 20 yards or more. However he has never ran for a longer gain than 49 yards in his career.

LT, on the other hand, has been compared to Walter Payton and Barry Sanders in terms of agility. He already has a carry for 58 yards this season and his career-long is a 76-yard run back in 2002.

EDGE: LaDainian Tomlinson. When it comes down to it both backs would be an excellent choice, but LT is just a bit more explosive than Johnson.

Most Decorated

LaDainian Tomlinson has accomplished a lot in just six years of NFL experience. Among other things, he scored a touchdown in 18 straight games, has his jersey in the Hall of Fame (per Canton’s request, after LT ran for a TD in 14 consecutive games), has been selected to three Pro Bowls, has been named Fed-Ex player of the week five times, and has been named The Sporting News MVP and co-offensive player of the year.

Larry Johnson has only played one full season in the NFL, so despite the Chiefs records he set last year, I can’t give him the edge here.

EDGE: LaDainian Tomlinson.

Overall EDGE: LaDainian Tomlinson, 4-2-1. Both of these backs are superstars and any team would be lucky to have either. If I had to choose one though, it would be LT. He has so much experience, so much explosiveness, and those oh-so-sweet powder-blue jerseys.