The Run Is a Key Weapon

Superb running backs are all over the NFL this year. From Terrell Davis and Barry Sanders to Jamal Anderson and Napoleon Kaufman, they’re in both conferences, in every division, and on almost every team--at least two dozen of them in a 30-team league.

There may never have been an NFL year with so many distinguished ball-carrying threats. Two inferences:

* Because most winning teams are now passing teams, their running backs, as they tear through spread-out pass defenses, tend to gain big yardage when they do run.

* If there are now more good running backs than ever, it must also be true that there are more good players than ever at other positions. It seems unlikely that the colleges would consistently turn out great backs and inferior linemen.

Thus, the NFL is probably what it appears to be this year: a league full of very talented athletes whose coaches haven’t all kept up with the revolutionary, pass-first changes in offensive football as originated by former San Francisco coach Bill Walsh. Teams that run twice and throw on third down, such as Miami, seem to be regularly in trouble. Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson’s old-fashioned strategy is perhaps all that keeps running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar from challenging Davis for first in NFL yards gained.

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American Conference: This is a season in which 14 of the NFL’s 24 first-rate ballcarriers have surfaced in one conference. They’re everywhere in the AFC but at Kansas City and Baltimore, which explains, at least partially, why the Chiefs and Ravens are slumping.

AFC West: Davis of Denver, who plays for passing coach Mike Shanahan, is the back of the year, having moved ahead of Detroit’s Sanders, who plays for old-fashioned coach Bobby Ross. Davis gets most of his big runs when the defense is guarding against John Elway’s passes. . . . Kaufman of Oakland and Natrone Means of San Diego, different types, are alike as producers. . . . Although Ricky Watters of Seattle helped make a champion of San Francisco, he has since played for disappointing teams.

AFC Central: Two of the league’s most effective running backs are Jerome Bettis of Pittsburgh and Eddie George of Tennessee, both big men who move like small men. The one thing hurting the Steelers in a passing era is that Coach Bill Cowher is a defensive expert who so far hasn’t managed to create a simultaneous run-pass threat with Bettis and quarterback Kordell Stewart. . . . Corey Dillon of Cincinnati has been at least as impressive as rookie Fred Taylor and injured James Stewart of Jacksonville, the only AFC team with two prime running backs.

AFC East: This is a division with four 5-3 co-leaders in part because all four teams have starring ballcarriers: Karim Abdul-Jabbar of Miami, Curtis Martin of the New York Jets, rookie Robert Edwards of New England and Antowain Smith of Buffalo, where another good one, Thurman Thomas, is aging. . . . Marshall Faulk would make Indianapolis a fifth co-leader with more help.

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National Conference: Overall, the top 10 ballcarriers in this conference are almost as magnificent, if not as numerous, as those in the AFC. The best of the class, Sanders, is prevented from showing it regularly because Detroit’s coaches prefer to run him on first and other running downs, when the defense gangs up on him, instead of third and other passing downs.

NFC West: There are only two running backs of the first class in this division, Garrison Hearst of San Francisco and Anderson of Atlanta, but both have championship ability. For three or four years, Anderson has been the NFL’s most underrated back. He would not have that distinction if Falcon quarterback Chris Chandler were physically able to play every minute of every game. . . . New Orleans and St. Louis lack backs of Hearst’s caliber, and Carolina this year hasn’t shown much anywhere.

NFC Central: Sanders of Detroit is the NFL’s most unusual ballcarrier, the most amazing, and potentially the most effective. . . . But this is a division with four other running backs of note, Robert Smith of Minnesota, injured Dorsey Levens of Green Bay, and Warrick Dunn and possibly Mike Alstott of Tampa Bay, the only NFC team with two potential 100-yard threats. . . . At Chicago, Edgar Bennett, since his injury, hasn’t seemed quite the same.

NFC East: This remains the NFL’s weakest division, partly because of widespread running-back deficiencies.

At Dallas, Emmitt Smith lost his speed two years ago but continues to show everything else. At Washington, Terry Allen is now better than Smith, although his team isn’t better than Dallas.