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Clash of big backs looms in Cleveland
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Browns running back Trent Richardson runs the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs during Sunday’s game in Cleveland.
Associated Press
BEREA
Trent Richardson remembers Redskins running back Alfred Morris with long hair and one of his teammates stupidly yanking on it before a game.
“He got so hot and everyone was so scared of him,” Richardson said. “Nobody would touch him. He was a big guy. He was the biggest dude out there.”
Morris, too, can picture Richardson a bigger-than-average kid, years before he started carrying the ball for the Browns.
“He had calves of a grown man,” Morris said.
The two rookies, who began their football careers bashing their way to stardom on sandlots in their hometown of Pensacola, Fla., — a football talent hotbed — took dissimilar paths to the NFL.
But they’ll cross paths again and renew their rivalry Sunday when the Browns (5-8) host the Redskins (7-6).
Richardson was expected to have an immediate impact on the Browns, and despite playing for weeks with a rib injury that won’t be fully healed until the offseason, the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft has lived up to projections.
He’s rushed for 869 yards and matched the team rookie record with nine rushing touchdowns, a mark he shares with Hall of Famer Jim Brown, who caused a controversy when he called Richardson “ordinary” after the Browns selected him.
Richardson has been special.
Morris has been even better for the Redskins.
The sixth-round pick (No. 173 overall) from Florida Atlantic enters this week’s game with 1,228 yards and seven scores. Morris is fourth among the league’s top rushers and he’s the latest in a long line of young backs to thrive under Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, who had four rookies top 1,000 yards rushing in Denver.
Shanahan’s system has helped Morris, but the humble 23-year-old has earned every yard through hard work and dedication — values he developed in Pensacola, also the home of career rushing leader Emmitt Smith.
Morris arrived at Redskins camp driving a 1991 Mazda, and although he can now afford to replace the car with 125,000 miles on the odometer, Morris has no intention of splurging. And when he visits his parents’ home, he usually stays on the couch.
“I actually like the couch,” he said. “It’s pretty comfortable.”
He’s equally relaxed in the same backfield with dynamic quarterback Robert Griffin III, giving the Redskins an offense that’s become one of the league’s most potent attacks.
There are currently more than one dozen players from the Pensacola area on rosters throughout the league.