[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I see a lot of talk about offensive lines, but I have a question for people.

Priest was great and he had a great offensive line. But in part I view that as a perfect marriage. Priest was great at patiently awaiting blocks and working with blockers. He wasn't a speed merchant, but he was great at maneuvering in traffic. That worked great with his line, because they were going to win all of their battles and they were good at maneuvering in space.

If we look at Larry Johnson, he was a different kind of runner. He had speed if he got in the open field, but he didn't necessarily work with his blockers. He just blasted. His ideal offensive line was big guys who could get a push, more so than guys working in space. That's why, for example, Tony Richardson wasn't a good fit as his fullback. Priest would wait for Tony to clear the zone, whereas Larry wouldn't (and didn't need to so much).

Jamaal is good at working with blockers, but I think his real strength is identifying a hole, getting to it quickly, and then accelerating to Mach 1. In a weird way, he's actually closer to Larry Johnson's style than to Priest's, though he's a bit of a hybrid of the two. I'm not so sure that our amazing 2003ish offensive line would have boosted Jamaal that much, because I don't see him picking around behind the line waiting for them to take out their man.

I think he would have gotten a bigger boost than Larry did, though, and I'm not saying there wouldn't be a boost. Jamaal running that left sweep behind Roaf would have been a work of art. I just think that that line isn't necessarily what suits him best, whereas they were a perfect fit for Priest's running style.

I tend to agree with this assessment. Priest was just amazing with his patience and vision. Jamaal has more speed and can hit the holes even faster than Priest did.

In the end though, Priest couldn't stay healthy. That is the biggest difference between the two.