Over the last two years, Jackson has had to try to do more with less on the O-line and lousy QB play, and has actually done a pretty good job. If you want 1,000 yard seasons, SJ has done that in each of the last 4 years, even though he only played in 12 games in ‘07 and ’08. He’s also done it behind a sub par group of blockers. Brian Westbrook, who gets praised as one of the top backs in the league, has only done it twice in his entire career.

If you want long runs, Jackson can do that too. Brandon Jacobs is called a great big back, but the longest run of his career is 44 yards. Jackson has had a run of at least 48 yards in every year of his career. He’s also got 10 runs of 40+ yards, and several more of 30+. Again, done behind bad offensive lines. In ’07, he had 6 straight games of breaking off a long run.

He’s got a better yards per carry than Portis’ Washington years. I would submit that if you gave Jackson a line like the Cowboys of the early ‘90s or Denver of the late ’90s/early ’00s (like Portis had), he’d get the kind of praise that gets heaped on Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson. But there’s only so much a guy can do with blockers who can’t block, a passer who can’t pass, and a defense that constant had the team playing from behind.

I think if there’s any fair knock on Jackson, it would be that he hasn’t been as durable as a guy like Tomlinson, who’s had over 300 carries in 7 out of 8 seasons (and 292 last year).