RIP - Essex Johnson

[bengals67]

(10-30-2020, 11:33 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The Essex Express was one of my first Bengal heroes.  1973 was the first year I really started following the Bengals closely.  I was 10 years old.  They finished 10-4 and won the AFC Central.  Lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Dolphins.

People talk about what a great RB duo we had with Brooks and Woods in '88 but Essex and Boobie Clark were a much more productive combo in 1973

1973...Essex Johnson 1353 (997 rush, 356 rec)
1973...Boobie Clark 1335 (988 rush, 347 rec)

Clark and Johnson combined for 2688 in just 14 games for an average of 192.0 per game.

1988...Ickey Woods 1265 (1066 rush, 199 rec)
1988...James Brooks 1218 (931 rush, 287 rec)

Woods and Brooks combined for 2483 in 16 games for an average of 155.2 per game.

Boobie Clark was a rookie that year just like Ickey Woods in '88.  And just like Woods that was by far the best season in his career.

Thanks for this. I am truly amazed at your encyclopedic memory of Bengals stats.  Essex was one of my favorite Bengals when I was a teenager. He was a great Bengal and a good guy as I recall.

Ps Fred- I did not intend to say that Burrow was the greatest of all time after 7 games in my thread the other day. Only that he is doing amazingly well for a rookie on this awful team and that the front office needs to get competent coaches and personnel evaluators now ( not wait for Zach to do awful for 3 or 4 years) to take advantage of a guy who could be ( I think is) a once in multi generational talent.