i think Tomlinson is the best RB ever

[mitter]

He didn't have quite as much longevity as I'd like. He fell off pretty bad from the 2008 season (at age 29) onwards

If he had put together 2-3 more 1500 yard seasons, he'd have a very strong case


But then again, running backs fall off at relatively young ages:

LT had his last very good year at 28

Walter Payton had his last very good year at 32

Eric Dikkerson had his last very good year at age 29

OJ Simpson had his last very good year at age 29

Emmitt Smith had his last very good year at age 31

Barry Sanders was very good his last year at 30 (we don't know how the rest of his career would have played out)

Jim Brown was superb until his last season (which he played at age 29)




It's not by much, but LT did fall off slightly earlier than the other top contenders

 

[Bomberman]

One of the problems really was Norv's style of offense denied us from seeing what LT could have further accomplished. There's quite a lot of material with how LT felt the run blocking system changed for the worse.

There's a lot of speculation that former Chargers GM AJ Smith really didn't like LT either because he wasn't one of "his guys." Dude had a crappy ego and because of it let Norv derail the team.

It's no coincidence that Philip Rivers is better now than he ever was when Mike McCoy and Tom Telesco were put in charge.