who will be a better RB *Laurece Maroney(NE) *Marion Barber(DAL) *Buckhalter(PHI)?

Answer 1

buckhalter doesn't even belong in this discussion, he is strictly a short-yardage back...maroney has more talent, but i truly believe that barber will be the better back over time because he has tremendous versatility...he is one of the best goal-line/short-yardage backs in the game, he runs with tenacity and has durability, and he is a good receiver and pass protector...maroney is good also, but he doesn't pass protect or catch as well as barber, although he seems more fit to be an every-down back and contributes on special teams

it seems ironic to me that maroney and barber came out of the same college(minnesota) and at one time shared a backfield! wouldn't you have loved to be coach of that team? it must have been a pretty good problem for the coach to have to decide who would get the carries

edit: NASER you bring up some good points but also some irrelevant and contradictory ones...notice how when you compare the number of carries, that maroney and barber had very similar carry numbers, yet jones doubled barber's carries while maroney carried 24 less times only(and he missed a game also)...this refutes your argument about the number of catches completely, because it becomes clear that the patriots passed the ball more, even though barber was in specifically for passing situations...finally, what does how good they were in college have to do with anything? that says nothing, tom brady backed up drew henson for two years at michigan, and look who has the super bowl rings and look who screwed up by picking baseball and ruining his athletic career

Answer 2

I believe that Marion Barber has the edge of having someone ahead of him on the depth chart that has some class. Maroney and Barber are very skilled no doubt, and both have a bright future, but while Barber is learning from Julius Jones (who week in and week out shows an immense amount of effort), Maroney is behind Corey Dillon. Yes, Dillon was a very good back and a veteran with many great games behind him, but the way he left Cincinnati shows that he doesn't really understand the concept of a team. Barber will be far ahead of Maroney on the maturaity level when he reaches the feature back status.

Answer 3

I think Maroney's gonna be the best. I think Maroney's got a chance to rank near the all time rushing leaders because players like him tend to have long careers.

I think Barber's also gonna be very good. He was the best RB on Dallas last year and Parcells was stupid for giving all those carries to Julius Jones at his expense. That, along with the hand injury to TO, cost Dallas the division title.

I don't know about Buckhalter. I haven't seen enough of him to make any evaluation because I always watch the Ravens game which tends to be in the same timeslot as the Eagles game every week.

Answer 4

I like Maroney, but I think that it is Marion Barber. He's got power and speed, and has been getting a lot of playing time despite Julius Jones being a good back. I don't like Buckhalter, and Westbrook has showed that he is an important part of that team. Unfortunately for Maroney, the Patriots have Dillon, and Kevin Faulke. All three are solid backs, but I can't see any one of them standing out (although Faulke is a step behind the other 2).

Answer 5

it's funny that you even put buckhalter's name against maroney's or barber's... the guy blows and on top of that has a couple of bum knees. so, taking buckhalter out of the mix it comes down to being between maroney and barber, and just like when they both played @ minnesota together, maroney was, is and will always be the better RB

lets look at this past season, Maroney's rookie, and Barber's 2nd seasons:

Maroney - 745yds on 175 carries(only 24 carries less than Dillon); 4.3 yds/carry w/ a long of 41yds & 6 TD's to Dillon's 13. Maroney also had 22 receptions for 194yds & td.

Barber - 654yds on 135 carries(132 less carries than Julius Jones); 4.8 yds/carry w/ a long of 25yds & 14 TD's to Jone's 4. Barber also had 23 receptions for 196yds & 2 tds.

now let's analyze what we see here, maroney and dillon were almost identical in stats because both were used almost equally with exception to TD's because dillon, like barber, was used as the goal line back. the yds/carry can also be a little skewed because in the cowboys system parcells used barber not only as the premier goal line back, but also the 3rd down back, meaning he was more likely to be thrown to in the flat or(like parcells has always loved doing) being handed the ball on a draw play. so saying that barber was better catching the ball out of the backfield is asinine, especially considering their receiving stats are identical. finally, going back to college days, maroney was always used more than barber, barber was the bruiser and only the starter because he was older than maroney. i've seen them rip apart my iowa hawkeyes a number of times (with the hawks winning the majority of those games) so i know all about how good both of these RBs are... and like i was saying when they were both in college, MARONEY is the better RB.. on a final note, Barber isn't as shifty in the open field as Maroney, and barber has terrible footwork and tends to make the wrong cuts

Answer 6

Maroney

Answer 7

Lawrence Maroney
1)he is in a better position to start because you never know how many more years Dillion has left.
2)he is young and can run the ball effectivelly
3)he is on a good team with a good offensive line.
4) he can gain good long runs to get a first down.

Buckhalter cant even be talked about because the Eagles pass the ball more than they establish the run. because one they have mcnabb and garcia as qbs two they have Reggie Brown and they got Dante Stallworth from the saints .

Marion Barber who is that? no body never talks about him and he aint even an effective rb. Dallas sucks. sorry if you like them but they are not americas team.

Answer 8

Barber, If he was the feature back He could get around 1100 yards and 13 TD's. Maroney would get 1200 yds but only 5-8 TD's.

Answer 9

If he avoids injury Maroney could be one of the top 3 backs in the league in the next couple of years

Answer 10

Marion Barber would be the better player
he did soo good this year as the backup honestly if he were to be the starter he would reach the millenium mark and a handfull of TDs. When i was watching my Cowboys play on sundays sometimes i was hoping Marion Barber would be the starter.