Marcus Allen: You can’t win in the NFL without an established run game
By Jack Crosby
You saw it during the free agency period and you’re seeing it with the NFL Draft process right now; the value of a running back in the league is drastically decreasing. There have always been concerns over the shelf life of a running back to begin with, and over the past few seasons, the NFL has become a much more pass-happy league.
Despite this, Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen hasn’t given up any hope that running games in the NFL will once again take top priority. Heck, he even still believes that you absolutely need a strong rushing attack to make any sort of noise, as he recently pointed out to NFL.com at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan Fest on Sunday.
“We are sort of the Last of the Mohicans, because unfortunately the running game isn’t emphasized like it’s been in the past,” Allen told NFL.com. “Players that wanted to be running backs are playing wide receiver.”
“I still think, regardless of the trend, I think you can’t win without an established running game,” Allen said.
While he does have a point, especially given the fact that the recent Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, won the whole prize behind a solid running game led by Marshawn Lynch, you can’t argue that the league–overall–is all about airing it out.
But, Allen believes that it will come around again to the run game.
“So all you running backs out there don’t lose faith,” he said. “The game will come back around and it will be a running game again, some time soon hopefully.”