Archive for September 7th, 2009
The Forgotten Era of Green Bay Packers Running Backs (1979 – 1994)
by max headroom on Sep.07, 2009, under Commentary
or
Do the Packers Need a 1,000 Yard RB To Win?
From 1979 to 1994, the Green Bay Packers failed to produce a rusher that accomplished 1,000 rushing yards in the regular season. During that time frame, the Packers had five winning seasons (1982, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994) with four playoff appearances (1982, 1992, 1993, 1994) and never won placed first in their division (in 1982, the divisions were broken up to overall conference record due to the players strike, the Packers (5-3-1) finished ahead of the Vikings (5-4), because of this, technically they did not win the Central; in 1989, both the Vikings and Packers were 10-6, but the Vikings won out on a tie-breaker).
We are going to take a look at all the players that rushed for 200 yards or more in a season, but first, let’s take a look at the bookend 1,000 yard backs from 1978 and 1995.
Terdell Middleton:
Terdell Middleton rushes for 1,000 yds
In 1978, Terdell Middleton, a third round pick of the St Louis Cardinals out of Memphis, rushed for 1,116 yards for the Green and Gold. The Packers finished second in the NFC Central with an 8-7-1 record for head coach Bart Starr. Middleton averaged 3.9 yards per carry to match his 11 rushing TDs.
Edgar Bennett:
In 1995, Edgar Bennett, a third round pick of the Green Bay Packers out of Florida State, rushed for 1,067 yards and help lead the Packers to a 11-5 record and their first division title since 1972. He averaged 3.4 yards per carry with 3 rushing TDs.
