RUNNING WILD

From Robert Smith to Lamar Smith to Emmitt Smith, NFL backs are running wild this season.

In these days of empty backfields and wide-open passing attacks made fashionable by the Rams and Colts, it’s the rushers who are having the biggest offensive impact.

At least 21 runners have a good chance to break 1,000 yards, and most of them have a shot at 1,200 yards, considered more of a measuring stick nowadays. The NFL record for 1,000-yard rushers is 20, in 1998.

Many of this season’s crop are prime receivers, too--three are in the NFC’s top 10 for total catches.

Minnesota’s Smith, having a career year, leads the league with 1,391 yards. Edgerrin James, who won the rushing crown as a rookie in 1999, is next at 1,358.

Not far behind are the likes of Corey Dillon (1,278) and Charlie Garner (1,046), who play for losing teams.

But crucial to the success of playoff-caliber teams have been rookies Mike Anderson of Denver (1,222) and Jamal Lewis of Baltimore (1,095), workhorse Eddie George of Tennessee (1,169), and Curtis Martin (1,094) of the Jets. Another rookie, Ron Dayne, has 728 yards while splitting time with Tiki Barber in the Giants’ backfield.

Last Sunday, for the first time in NFL history, four runners--Dillon, Anderson, Martin and Warrick Dunn of Tampa Bay--had more than 200 yards rushing.

“People realize that to be a good team, you have to be able to run the football,” says Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who has gone from Terrell Davis to Olandis Gary to Anderson in the last three seasons without losing backfield production.

“You can’t be one-dimensional. I think the emphasis is more there now than it was in the past, and that’s one of the reasons you are seeing more 200-yard rushers.”

It doesn’t hurt to have so many runners who are simply very good. James and this year’s rookies have been immediate sensations. Ricky Williams was headed toward a huge season before breaking his ankle on the carry that got him to 1,000 yards.

Imagine if Marshall Faulk (925 yards, nine touchdowns, plus 64 receptions for 693 yards and six scores) hadn’t been sidelined or playing hurt for the last month.

Martin has been so consistent that he has rushed for at least 1,000 yards in his first six pro seasons. Only Barry Sanders (10 years) and Eric Dickerson (seven) have achieved that. Dillon held the single-game rookie rushing mark (250) before Anderson broke it last week with 251.

But Dillon already had moved higher, breaking Walter Payton’s 275-yard record by getting 278 against Denver.

Of course, comparing Dillon to Payton or Jim Brown, who held the rookie record before Dillon surpassed it in 1997, is ridiculous. Even Dillon admits as much.

“It’s funny that my name is even mentioned when I’m clearly not the caliber of player they were,” he says. “I mean, I hope to be. But as far as right now, I’m not even in their league. That’s something I want to work on. I want to be there with them when my career’s said and done.”

Of the current crop of superior runners, Emmitt Smith is the dean. He needs 50 yards for 15,000, a level only Payton reached, and 13 yards to join Sanders as the only players to gain at least 1,000 in 10 consecutive seasons.

But Smith, now in his 11th season, and Seattle’s Ricky Watters (10th) have big-time seniority over the other 1,000-yarders of 2000.

Pittsburgh’s Jerome Bettis and Robert Smith (eighth season), Garner (seventh) and Martin are in their primes. Davis should be, too, if he could stay healthy. Same for Washington’s Stephen Davis.

And with such youngsters as James, Dillon, Anderson, Lewis, Williams, Dunn, Fred Taylor and James Stewart piling up the yards, there’s no reason to believe the rush to rush won’t last.

Jets coach Al Groh believes the wide-open attack popularized last year by the Rams--with Faulk as the focal point, of course--has contributed to better running games. Four 200-yard rushers on one day got his attention.

“All four of those teams won, that is central to it,” Groh says.

“Teams are trying to get the sacks on first down and second down and are in more of a pass-rush mode. Sometimes that creates some running lanes that might not be there in a more run-oriented defensive call.”

As the season winds down and cold weather becomes more of a factor, so do running attacks. From icy Buffalo to frigid Green Bay to the wind-swept Meadowlands, teams want to run.

Even in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, the more temperate Adelphia Coliseum in Tennessee and the downright pleasant temperatures at Pro Player Field in Miami, teams want to run.

And it’s no passing fancy.