Jonathan Taylor versus Edgerrin James who do you think was better

[Stephen]

15 minutes ago, CoachLite said:

Marshall was great ... for St. Louis.

Marshall was good for colts to. He had 1300 yards on the ground and 900 through the air his last year with the colts

[Moosejawcolt]

On 10/18/2021 at 7:51 AM, Dingus McGirt said:

Too early, maybe.  But, so far…pretty close.

Totally different players. 

[Dingus McGirt]

1 hour ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Totally different players. 

True, but the question wasn't specific about player type.

[Smoke317]

3 hours ago, Stephen said:

Honestly with two game versus jags and 1 versus Texans wouldn't be surprised if Taylor gets over 500 yards rushing from those three. Would love to run all over Patriots as payback for what they did to us with Blount. Tampa may be the toughest to run against. Raiders and bills can be run on

And don’t forget his production really took off late in the season last year.  Don’t be shocked to see him break off more long runs later in the season.  His running style has 2K yards written all over it.  I honestly thought he had (maybe still does ) a chance at 2K this year.  I expected more touches but Frank is doing the right thing not giving him 25-30 carries every week.  He’ll be fresh later and we’re in gotta win them all mode.  So he’ll get his carries.  If he goes off on the Bucs, he’ll definitely be up for some hardware (OPY, Rushing Title, All Pro, Pro Bowl).  The last 2 are locks if he stays healthy. 

[FuedinHatfield]

Man thats tough. Edge had Manning. Suicide to stack the box. No one was scared of Rivers at that point in his career and no one is really scared of Wentz. The line was pretty solid as well. Taylor has done amazing. Unfair to compare them.

[jvan1973]

12 hours ago, CoachLite said:

Marshall was great ... for St. Louis.

And here

[TimetobringDfence!]

On 11/5/2021 at 9:54 PM, Stephen said:

Marshall was good for colts to. He had 1300 yards on the ground and 900 through the air his last year with the colts

I think Taylor's cut is a bit more deceptive and the explosive speed give him the edge on Edge...

[King Colt]

Look at Manning's first two years and declare he is bound for the H o F. Too early to judge any player.

[BlackTiger]

HOf bound, 10000% lock. 

[James]

Still Edge.

 

But IF can keep this level for 10+ years then Taylor can surpass him.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, James said:

Still Edge.

 

But IF can keep this level for 10+ years then Taylor can surpass him.

Edge I agree but I don't think it will take 10+ years. Edge roughly gave us 5 great years = 99, 2000, 2003-2005. If Taylor plays like he is now for 5 years he will be the better RB (Taylor needs to be great at least through 2025), JMO. Dickerson set the tone though for all of our RB's and was great from 1987-1989. 

[colts89]

If JT stays healthy, he for sure has the talent to have a better career then Edge. Both are absolute talents either way.

 

I will add the point that Edge wasn't ever the best player on his team (maybe not even second). May not be a fair point since the other two were Manning and Harrison, but I'm nitpicking here regardless. JT for sure is the best player on the Colts imo.

[Catloaf]

29 minutes ago, colts89 said:

If JT stays healthy, he for sure has the talent to have a better career then Edge. Both are absolute talents either way.

 

I will add the point that Edge wasn't ever the best player on his team (maybe not even second). May not be a fair point since the other two were Manning and Harrison, but I'm nitpicking here regardless. JT for sure is the best player on the Colts imo.

At the very least top 3, you could make an argument for a healthy Leonard/Nelson/Buckner up there with him.

[2006Coltsbestever]

31 minutes ago, colts89 said:

If JT stays healthy, he for sure has the talent to have a better career then Edge. Both are absolute talents either way.

 

I will add the point that Edge wasn't ever the best player on his team (maybe not even second). May not be a fair point since the other two were Manning and Harrison, but I'm nitpicking here regardless. JT for sure is the best player on the Colts imo.

Excellent point, Edge was a great RB but he was never the best player offensive player on our team. That was Peyton and Marvin was 2nd, Reggie was even arguably 3rd. JT is our best player on offense and that isn't even debatable. Dickerson was our best player on offense from 1987-1989 is why I give him so much credit. Faulk was great here but in 1995 it was Harbaugh that made that run, Faulk was out during that 95 run.

[csmopar]

Far too early to have this conversation. Let’s wait a few years

[Moosejawcolt]

I don't really like these  "who are better threads". To me the best backs that played in a Colts uniform that I have seen  are Faulk, James and Taylor. They are all totally different players and it is a blessing to have those seen those 3 play in a Colts uniform. If I had my choice, it would be Taylor and that is only because I like power backs with speed.

[Stephen]

4 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

I don't really like these  "who are better threads". To me the best backs that played in a Colts uniform that I have seen  are Faulk, James and Taylor. They are all totally different players and it is a blessing to have those seen those 3 play in a Colts uniform. If I had my choice, it would be Taylor and that is only because I like power backs with speed.

Looks like he is more of a TD machine than James rushing anyway if he keeps this up may have close to 25 yes by end of season

[TheNextGM]

I remember when Ballard traded 44 and 160 to move up to 41 and draft JT.

 

Thought we didn’t need a RB.

The teams we moved ahead of? Chicago and Jacksonville. We’ll never know if Jax would have taken him, but geez would it suck if he were a Jag.

 

[2006Coltsbestever]

Out of all the draft picks Ballard has made, Taylor may be his best?? Nelson, Leonard, Pittman being the other 3 standouts. Trading for Buckner and Wentz is starting to look like genius moves as well. I thought signing Rivers last season was a good move at worse too.

 

Ballard had to trade up to get up Taylor and he took that gamble, looks like he won big on that one . I also think we got lucky that McDaniels turned down the coaching position and then Ballard redeemed himself by hiring Frank. Is Frank great?, I would say no but Frank is good IMO and the team loves him. 

[AwesomeAustin]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Out of all the draft picks Ballard has made, Taylor may be his best?? Nelson, Leonard, Pittman being the other 3 standouts. Trading for Buckner and Wentz is starting to look like genius moves as well. I thought signing Rivers last season was a good move at worse too.

 

Ballard had to trade up to get up Taylor and he took that gamble, looks like he won big on that one . I also think we got lucky that McDaniels turned down the coaching position and then Ballard redeemed himself by hiring Frank. Is Frank great?, I would say no but Frank is good IMO and the team loves him. 

Braeden Smith is a darn good pick as well but JT is looking like his best pick by far. In my book trading draft picks for a player is the same as drafting them value wise. Ballard was very smart trading what he did for Wentz and Buckner. Hopefully he can get 2-3 more players to push us over the top.  As long as the team is relatively healthy, we are a speed DE, CB and #2 WR away from being top 10 on both sides of the ball. 
 

 I do think Frank was a better choice then McDaniels.  I did not want that guy and was shocked bc everyone totally forgot he blew up the Broncos roster for Tim Tebow. 

[Stephen]

2 hours ago, TheNextGM said:

I remember when Ballard traded 44 and 160 to move up to 41 and draft JT.

 

Thought we didn’t need a RB.

The teams we moved ahead of? Chicago and Jacksonville. We’ll never know if Jax would have taken him, but geez would it suck if he were a Jag.

 

I was fine with drafting Taylor as I thought it be a good 1 2 punch. Unfortunately Mack got hurt and it turned out different. If Taylor had gone to the jags it would have been Maurice Jones drew all over again

[krunk]

Whatever we thought about Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor is clearly the better player.

Im also going to take my Michael Turner label off JT now as well.   Just based on his college

production alone I can't see why he wasnt being touted in the same way as Barkley when he

came out.  I guess it's because he played at Wisconsin and weve seen so many system backs

come out of there. But then again there was also a different type of stigma on Penn State backs that existed when Barkley came out. We may need to be more careful about using terms like generational running back,

once in a lifetime player so on and so forth. JT has more juice and it factor than Barkley, along with the toughness and durability. 

 

[Smoke317]

11 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Excellent point, Edge was a great RB but he was never the best player offensive player on our team. That was Peyton and Marvin was 2nd, Reggie was even arguably 3rd. JT is our best player on offense and that isn't even debatable. Dickerson was our best player on offense from 1987-1989 is why I give him so much credit. Faulk was great here but in 1995 it was Harbaugh that made that run, Faulk was out during that 95 run.

I disagree. Edge was our best player on offense his first 2 years in the league.  Peyton wasn’t the “Goat” Peyton he would later become his 2nd & 3rd years into the league.  Go back and check some of those stats.  I think Edge had a game where he had like 20 carries at half in a game or something ridiculous like that.

[2006Coltsbestever]

58 minutes ago, Smoke317 said:

I disagree. Edge was our best player on offense his first 2 years in the league.  Peyton wasn’t the “Goat” Peyton he would later become his 2nd & 3rd years into the league.  Go back and check some of those stats.  I think Edge had a game where he had like 20 carries at half in a game or something ridiculous like that.

Look I love Edge, he is one of my favorite Colts of all-time and as of now I rank him better than Taylor due to Taylor has only been in the league for 2 years. Having said that lets not kid ourselves here, Edge was never the best player on our team. 1999 was Edge's rookie season, he led the league in rushing but Peyton threw for over 4000 yards and Marvin had 115 catches for 1600 yards. Without Peyton there and the threat of Marvin I doubt Edge leads the league in rushing, JMO. Edge led the league in rushing again in 2000 but Peyton's stats were even better and Marvin's roughly the same. When it came to the Big3, I always looked at it as Peyton 1, Marv 2, Edge 3. When we had Eric Dickerson he had guys like freakin Jack Trudeau and Chris Chandler and Gary Hogaboom at QB  and Dickerson still dominated.

[chad72]

13 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Edge I agree but I don't think it will take 10+ years. Edge roughly gave us 5 great years = 99, 2000, 2003-2005. If Taylor plays like he is now for 5 years he will be the better RB (Taylor needs to be great at least through 2025), JMO. Dickerson set the tone though for all of our RB's and was great from 1987-1989. 

 

Yes, 5 years of such play would definitely elevate JT.

[MPStack]

1 hour ago, krunk said:

Whatever we thought about Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor is clearly the better player.

Im also going to take my Michael Turner label off JT now as well.   Just based on his college

production alone I can't see why he wasnt being touted in the same way as Barkley when he

came out.  I guess it's because he played at Wisconsin and weve seen so many system backs

come out of there. But then again there was also a different type of stigma on Penn State backs that existed when Barkley came out. We may need to be more careful about using terms like generational running back,

once in a lifetime player so on and so forth. JT has more juice and it factor than Barkley, along with the toughness and durability. 

 

Never draft a RB top 5. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 hour ago, krunk said:

Whatever we thought about Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor is clearly the better player.

Im also going to take my Michael Turner label off JT now as well.   Just based on his college

production alone I can't see why he wasnt being touted in the same way as Barkley when he

came out.  I guess it's because he played at Wisconsin and weve seen so many system backs

come out of there. But then again there was also a different type of stigma on Penn State backs that existed when Barkley came out. We may need to be more careful about using terms like generational running back,

once in a lifetime player so on and so forth. JT has more juice and it factor than Barkley, along with the toughness and durability. 

 

I have to admit I thought Barkley was a can't miss. When it comes to the draft I am lucky to be 50/50 right  . On my draft board that year for the Colts I wanted Barkley but had Nelson listed as my 2nd, Chubb was 3rd on my list. I am glad we drafted Nelson so that worked out anyway. Leonard wasn't even on my radar but I wanted Landry and Landry is a very good player, he has 10 sacks so far with the Titans this year. I really thought Barkley would be doing what Taylor is doing now but he seems to be injury prone. You just can't predict stuff like that.

[Nickster]

On 10/18/2021 at 12:08 PM, Nickster said:

Yeah I was looking at EDGE's game log from his rookie year, and he had a mixed bag rushing like anyone, but there really hasn't been a JT performance RUNNING (Balt game with the receiving and maybe other's last year) against a good team that makes me change my mind. 

 

It's hard to think like you did 20 years ago or even remember how you thought.   We shall see with Taylor.  I just don't see him improving much at the point of attack yet.  He looks the same to me, and I haven't been impressed with him as an elite rusher of the football since his first game.  And so far this year it seems the same. 

 

Everyone seems to think that JT is a grinder, but I don't see it at all.  He's more like Sproles than Earl Campbell.

He was beyond awesome Sunday.  I still think he looks like Sproles.  I think that was misunderstood.  I'm not talking about production.  I'm talking about burst and cuts.  Just visually. 

 

I can't believe how much we dominated in the run game yesterday.  It has been a while since that has been done.  JT was incredible. 

 

I love running football.  Grew up on Walter Peyton and Earl Campbell. I just didn't think you could smashmouth in today's NFL.  That is exactly what happened Sunday.  Started off throwing a couple of times, running HInes wide, then sending JT downhill where he excels.

 

 

[Smoke317]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Look I love Edge, he is one of my favorite Colts of all-time and as of now I rank him better than Taylor due to Taylor has only been in the league for 2 years. Having said that lets not kid ourselves here, Edge was never the best player on our team. 1999 was Edge's rookie season, he led the league in rushing but Peyton threw for over 4000 yards and Marvin had 115 catches for 1600 yards. Without Peyton there and the threat of Marvin I doubt Edge leads the league in rushing, JMO. Edge led the league in rushing again in 2000 but Peyton's stats were even better and Marvin's roughly the same. When it came to the Big3, I always looked at it as Peyton 1, Marv 2, Edge 3. When we had Eric Dickerson he had guys like freakin Jack Trudeau and Chris Chandler and Gary Hogaboom at QB  and Dickerson still dominated.

You’re devaluing Edge.  Peyton threw for 4k with 26-15 TD-Int.  62% completion.  Those aren’t dominant QB stats. Good but not great.  Nothing like what Peyton would grow into.  Edge was great out the gate.  Put him on any just competent offense and he was gonna tear the league up.  Go back and watch his rookie year highlights.  Our ability to pound the rock with Edge is what opened up the playaction to Marv.  
 

Honestly, Marv was the second best offensive player on the team that year (over Peyton too).  They both gave Peyton the go to guys that he could lean on & trust with confidence that they’d make plays for him & the coaching staff knew it too.  There can be an argument that 88 was only being held back by Peyton’s youth those first few years but 32 quite literally hit the ground running and was a top 3 running back.  Nothing was gonna stop that train but coaching misuse.  
 

And I’m not trying to diminish Peyton. Because it didn’t take him long to take control of the entire operation like a great field general is supposed to.  That’s when we really took off.  Once Peyton became the man and ascended to the head of the big 3.  And yes it eventually became & would end up 1 Peyton, 2 Marvin, 3 Edge but in 1999 it was 1 Edge, 2 Marv, & then 3 Peyton.

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, Smoke317 said:

You’re devaluing Edge.  Peyton threw for 4k with 26-15 TD-Int.  62% completion.  Those aren’t dominant QB stats. Good but not great.  Nothing like what Peyton would grow into.  Edge was great out the gate.  Put him on any just competent offense and he was gonna tear the league up.  Go back and watch his rookie year highlights.  Our ability to pound the rock with Edge is what opened up the playaction to Marv.  
 

Honestly, Marv was the second best offensive player on the team that year (over Peyton too).  They both gave Peyton the go to guys that he could lean on & trust with confidence that they’d make plays for him & the coaching staff knew it too.  There can be an argument that 88 was only being held back by Peyton’s youth those first few years but 32 quite literally hit the ground running and was a top 3 running back.  Nothing was gonna stop that train but coaching misuse.  
 

And I’m not trying to diminish Peyton. Because it didn’t take him long to take control of the entire operation like a great field general is supposed to.  That’s when we really took off.  Once Peyton became the man and ascended to the head of the big 3.  And yes it eventually became & would end up 1 Peyton, 2 Marvin, 3 Edge but in 1999 it was 1 Edge, 2 Marv, & then 3 Peyton.

Edge was a great RB and a deserve'd Hall of Famer, I am just not sure with an average QB that he would have led the league in rushing though. Peyton wasn't great in 1999 or 2000 but was good. We won the SB the year after we let Edge go, Irsay had to decide to either sign Edge or Wayne, he chose Wayne so that says a lot. Dickerson had bad QB play and still won the rushing the title in 1988 and in 1987 he dominated as we won the AFC East.

 

I am sure you will agree with me here - Because of longevity, Edge is the best RB we have ever had, I would put Dickerson 2nd, Faulk 3rd, but Taylor is coming.

[TimetobringDfence!]

On 11/7/2021 at 4:53 PM, TimetobringDfence! said:

I think Taylor's cut is a bit more deceptive and the explosive speed give him the edge on Edge...

 

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, TimetobringDfence! said:

 

You are making me want Wings for lunch 

[Smoke317]

32 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Edge was a great RB and a deserve'd Hall of Famer, I am just not sure with an average QB that he would have led the league in rushing though. Peyton wasn't great in 1999 or 2000 but was good. We won the SB the year after we let Edge go, Irsay had to decide to either sign Edge or Wayne, he chose Wayne so that says a lot. Dickerson had bad QB play and still won the rushing the title in 1988 and in 1987 he dominated as we won the AFC East.

 

I am sure you will agree with me here - Because of longevity, Edge is the best RB we have ever had, I would put Dickerson 2nd, Faulk 3rd, but Taylor is coming.

Your points about Dickerson are valid.  Dickerson over Faulk would probably cause a debate with some.  But I think you’re right. Dickerson was a different beast.  I think JT has that Dickerson explosive ability though.  He could legitimately pass Faulk in the next year or so too.  Honesty might be above Faulk after this season.  Faulk & Edge were probably more complete backs but JT is a legitimate home run hitter who can pound it too.  He’s got 2K yards rushing written all over his game like Dickerson had.  With some longevity JT can no doubt become the best.  His legend is growing week by week. 

[Moosejawcolt]

16 hours ago, Stephen said:

Looks like he is more of a TD machine than James rushing anyway if he keeps this up may have close to 25 yes by end of season

Taylor showed some great elusiveness yesterday. I would actually say he is a combination or Faulk and James. Has speed, power,elusive and is developing great hands

[Stephen]

7 hours ago, Nickster said:

He was beyond awesome Sunday.  I still think he looks like Sproles.  I think that was misunderstood.  I'm not talking about production.  I'm talking about burst and cuts.  Just visually. 

 

I can't believe how much we dominated in the run game yesterday.  It has been a while since that has been done.  JT was incredible. 

 

I love running football.  Grew up on Walter Peyton and Earl Campbell. I just didn't think you could smashmouth in today's NFL.  That is exactly what happened Sunday.  Started off throwing a couple of times, running HInes wide, then sending JT downhill where he excels.

 

 

I disagree with sproles comparison. Clyde Edwards helaire is more like sproles. Jonathan Taylor is  like an Adrian Peterson that can catch

[Stephen]

7 hours ago, Nickster said:

He was beyond awesome Sunday.  I still think he looks like Sproles.  I think that was misunderstood.  I'm not talking about production.  I'm talking about burst and cuts.  Just visually. 

 

I can't believe how much we dominated in the run game yesterday.  It has been a while since that has been done.  JT was incredible. 

 

I love running football.  Grew up on Walter Peyton and Earl Campbell. I just didn't think you could smashmouth in today's NFL.  That is exactly what happened Sunday.  Started off throwing a couple of times, running HInes wide, then sending JT downhill where he excels.

 

 

Yea I think people took offense because sproles was never a an elite runner but was a great scat back. Sproles is shiftier as well

[CurBeatElite]

On 10/18/2021 at 11:03 AM, CR91 said:

Edge was way more of a threat as a receiver, but speed and power easily Taylor. Taylor right now is Ballard's third best pick.

 

Was going to ask behind who.. and I assumed Q and Maniac (then saw it later in the thread)... not disagreeing with you on that assessment.  I'd throw Braden Smith in the mix.  If Kwity keeps it up, he will turn out to be an exceptional pick (hopefully so will Dayo).  Pittman is really starting to ball out.  As others have pointed out, if you consider Wentz as a draft pick, Ballard was spot on there.  Grover Stewart (for a 4th rounder) is having a very good career.  Heck, Isaiah Rodgers as a 6th rounder is doing great.  

 

You did say 'right now', but to me, it is so hard to pick.  Obviously Q and Leonard have been 1st team All-Pros, so they have to be up there.  JT will likely be a first team all-pro this year, and as a 2nd round pick that's great.  That said, Ballard has done (for the most part) very well in the draft.  

 

On 11/5/2021 at 9:37 PM, CoachLite said:

Marshall was great ... for St. Louis.

 

He was great for us, too.  Glad we got Edge, but Faulk was a stud RB when he was a Colt.

21 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Excellent point, Edge was a great RB but he was never the best player offensive player on our team. That was Peyton and Marvin was 2nd, Reggie was even arguably 3rd. JT is our best player on offense and that isn't even debatable. Dickerson was our best player on offense from 1987-1989 is why I give him so much credit. Faulk was great here but in 1995 it was Harbaugh that made that run, Faulk was out during that 95 run.

 

Disagree here.  Peyton had a very rough rookie year (3-13).  In year 2, with Edge leading the league in rushing, being a phenomenal blocker and receiving RB, the Colts went 13-3 (I believe it is still the biggest single season turn around in NFL history).  Peyton had a good year in Edge's rookie year.. but Edge led the NFL in rushing yards (Marv also lead in receiving yards)... I'd say that year, Edge was our best player, followed by Marv, followed by Peyton... and I firmly believe Edge's ability really allowed Peyton to get so good at play-action which is where a lot of his big strikes to Marv derived from.  Year 2, Edge won the rushing title again and I think he was very arguably our best player... he got hurt in year 3, had kind of a couple of bounce back seasons years 4 and 5... then two 1500+ rushing yard seasons in years 6 and 7.... by that point, Peyton was our best player, but Edge was still very good.

 

It took Reggie 3 years to have a solid year in the NFL and it wasn't until his 7th year when he broke the 100 reception and 1500 yard mark in a season (IMO, both of those numbers are benchmarks of an elite season by an NFL WR).  I don't think there was ever really a time when Reggie was better than Edge as a football player.

 

8 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Look I love Edge, he is one of my favorite Colts of all-time and as of now I rank him better than Taylor due to Taylor has only been in the league for 2 years. Having said that lets not kid ourselves here, Edge was never the best player on our team. 1999 was Edge's rookie season, he led the league in rushing but Peyton threw for over 4000 yards and Marvin had 115 catches for 1600 yards. Without Peyton there and the threat of Marvin I doubt Edge leads the league in rushing, JMO. Edge led the league in rushing again in 2000 but Peyton's stats were even better and Marvin's roughly the same. When it came to the Big3, I always looked at it as Peyton 1, Marv 2, Edge 3. When we had Eric Dickerson he had guys like freakin Jack Trudeau and Chris Chandler and Gary Hogaboom at QB  and Dickerson still dominated.

 

Just focusing on the bolded... and granted Peyton was a rookie the year before... but Marv and Peyton were far from a dynamic duo before Edge came onto the scene.  I think there is just as much, if not more, of an argument that without Edge setting the tone as a running back (who could also block and catch) that Peyton and Marv's signature play-action connection wouldn't have been near what it was.

 

[LiveAndLetAddai]

I loved how Edge put his hand on his blockers back to feel his way through, it was special.  JT's cutbacks are as well....

[Moosejawcolt]

10 hours ago, Nickster said:

He was beyond awesome Sunday.  I still think he looks like Sproles.  I think that was misunderstood.  I'm not talking about production.  I'm talking about burst and cuts.  Just visually. 

 

I can't believe how much we dominated in the run game yesterday.  It has been a while since that has been done.  JT was incredible. 

 

I love running football.  Grew up on Walter Peyton and Earl Campbell. I just didn't think you could smashmouth in today's NFL.  That is exactly what happened Sunday.  Started off throwing a couple of times, running HInes wide, then sending JT downhill where he excels.

 

 

Actually, I think the league is set up for smash mouth football. Teams have built to stop the pass. I think the D front and linebackers are lighter.  U get an Oline like Indy's and u pound the ball. However, I think the Colts r missing that speedster to take the players out of the box. Pittman is a good #2 , but they badly need speed. I wouldn't b surprised to see Ballard go after a free agent wr or play making tight end.

[WoolMagnet]

Kenton Keith