Brian Westbrook and Duce Staley/Correll Buckhalter
I lump Staley and Buckhalter together because Westbrook and either one of them made up a significantly explosive duo. The three of them together combined for 2,465 yards from scrimmage in 2003.
In 2002, Westbrook’s rookie season, he and Staley combined for 1,849 yards from scrimmage. However, Staley had 1,570 of those yards. Once Westbrook got his feet wet in the NFL, those yards started to pile up for him.
In that 2003 stat previously mentioned, Westbrook had 945 of those yards. Staley had 845, while Buckhalter had 675.
In 2004, Westbrook had 1,515 yards from scrimmage on his own. However, he did not have a Buckhalter or Staley to complement him in the backfield. The Eagles did go on to the Super Bowl that season though.
In 2005, Westbrook continued his balanced attack, with 1,233 yards from scrimmage. His stats between rushing and receiving were almost split in half, with 617 yards rushing and 616 yards receiving. Again, no Buckhalter or Staley.
But in 2006, Buckhalter was back with the Eagles to pair with Westbrook to bring the team a combined 2,517 yards from scrimmage. 1,916 of those yards coming from Westbrook. Buckhalter’s 4.2 yards per carry average perfectly complemented Westbrook’s 5.1 YPC, and the duo brought 165.3 yards from scrimmage to the Eagles offense each game.
While 2007 saw a very down year for Buckhalter in terms of receiving yards, only 87, his YPC went up to 5.0 to pair with Westbrook’s 4.8. Westbrook had a career year with 2,104 yards from scrimmage to pair with Buckhalter’s 400, but the duo still brought 168.9 yards from scrimmage per game to the offense.
The 2008 season was the last of this pairing, with Westbrook’s 1,338 yards from scrimmage and Buckhalter’s 693. Another strong YPC average for both, 4.9 for Buckhalter and 4.0 for Westbrook, led to a 145.1 yards from scrimmage average per game for the two backs.
Although this pairing only led to three playoff wins for the Eagles, their impact on the offensive side of the ball could not be denied. But why would a Jordan Howard and Duke Johnson duo be similar?
