Curran: Faulk makes Rams, not Falcons, the Greatest Show on Turf

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During their three-year run as the Greatest Show on Turf, the St. Louis Rams went 13-3, 10-6 and 14-2.

In 1999, the year they won the Super Bowl, they had two 1,000-yard receivers (Isaac Bruce and Marshall Faulk) and Faulk also ran for 1,381 yards, giving him a total of 2,429 yards from scrimmage, the second-highest single-season output of all time. Az Hakim and Torry Holt combined for 1,465 yards on 88 receptions with 14 touchdowns. Kurt Warner had 41 touchdowns and 13 picks, threw for 4,353 yards and completed 65 percent of his passes in a league that still allowed defensive backs to get  a little handsy.

In 2000, even though Warner missed five games and the team went 10-6, the Rams scored 540 points while Faulk was even better statistically in 14 games (26 total touchdowns, 2,189 yards from scrimmage). Holt and Bruce combined for 169 catches and 3,106 yards.

In 2001, the year they faced the Patriots during the regular season and Super Bowl, Faulk once more was well over 2,000 yards from scrimmage (2,147) again had more than 80 receptions (83) and had 21 total touchdowns. Holt and Bruce combined for 145 catches and 2,469 yards.

The Rams team the Patriots faced in New Orleans in Super Bowl 36 was a well-developed offensive machine that -- including playoffs -- had won 42 games in the previous three years.

This brief history lesson was brought to you thanks to the idea that’s gaining traction that the 2016 Falcons are the similar to the Greatest Show on Turf.

To be fair, most of the things written so far are of the “Hey, it’s a dome team that scored 540 -- just like the Rams once did -- and they have a pretty varied offense . . . ” rather than a full-on, “They’re exactly the same!!”

It’s here (although that one is the headline writer’s fault, the story is more about the diversity of the offense), it’s here, it’s here, and it’s even here from great St. Louis writer Bernie Miklasz, who notes,

I’m not suggesting that the 2016 Falcons are equal to the Greatest Show teams we love. Not at all. The Falcons went 11-5 this season before blasting the tired Seattle Seahawks into the offseason . . .The Falcons and their quarterback Matt Ryan are in the prove-it stage. And I’m not claiming that any of the Falcons’ skill-position stars are on the same level as Warner, Faulk, Bruce, etc. Faulk and (Orlando) Pace already are Hall of Famers, Warner should get there soon, and Bruce is a Hall of Fame finalist this year for the first time. I think Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones could be on a career path that puts him into the Hall of Fame.

By next week, I can guarantee you people aren’t going to be combing through the numbers for historical perspective. They’ll be carnival barking into your living room about the Falcons being the second coming.

They’re not.

The Falcons went 6-10 and 8-8 in the two seasons prior to this one. Ryan had a tremendous year and his completion percentage (69.9) and passer rating (117.1) are historic.

But Faulk is the thumb pressing the scales down in favor of the Rams.

He was at once the best running back in the league and one of its top-10 receivers.

It took two Falcons running backs -- Davonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman -- to approximate the production of Faulk, as they combined for 1,599 yards, 2,482 yards from scrimmage, 85 catches and 24 total touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Jones and the Falcons’ No. 2 receiver, Mohamed Sanu, combined for 142 catches and 2,062 yards. Somewhat comparable to Holt and Bruce, but the shine is taken off because you have to add Faulk to the receiving mix.

The Falcons third wideout, Taylor Gabriel, had output similar to the Rams’ Hakim (35 catches, 579 yards)

The counter to these stats is that, when you add it up, the only difference is that it took two running backs to match Faulk but that the running-back position still accounted for the same production.

Understood. But on a play-to-play basis, neither Freeman nor Coleman is capable of causing the fear that Faulk could from 1999 to 2001. His presence and the fact that both Holt and Bruce were comparable to Julio Jones leaves Atlanta in the dust.

The Falcons have an offense to be reckoned with and they’ll pose more than enough problems for New England. But compared to those old Rams, Atlanta is merely The Really Good Show on Turf.

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