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BY JOHN KRYK,QMI AGENCY
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/25/qa-hall-of-famer-marshall-faulk-on-dual-threat-runners-bush-harbaugh-and-more" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/25/qa ... h-and-more</a>
Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk could run and catch like no player in NFL history.
As a running back with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams from 1994-2006, he remains the only NFLer ever to run for 12,000 yards and catch 6,000 yards worth of passes in his career.
Faulk, now an NFL Network commentator, was in Toronto on the weekend to help promote NFL Canada’s Touchdown Tour exhibition.
During a break from signing autographs, Faulk spoke with QMI Agency about blazing the trail for dual-threat running backs, about how he thinks his old quarterback, Jim Harbaugh, is enjoying football much more as a head coach, and more.
On being so prolific a pass receiver:
“It’s funny. When we grew up playing sandlot football, we just played, right? Everybody threw the football, caught the football, ran with the football -- you did everything. But when you got older, you specialized. You’re a receiver, or a running back, or a quarterback, and you forget how to play the whole game. I really never thought about catching the ball. That was football to me, ya know? Coming up I played receiver, defensive back, tight end, running back and quarterback. So it’s lost on me when a running back says catching is something he should work on. I always say, ‘Show me a guy who has to work on catching the ball, and I’ll show you a guy who has problems catching the ball.’ Catching the ball should be an after-thought, man. That’s like saying, ‘When I walk, do I go right foot first and then left foot?’ You’ve got issues if you need to ask how to walk.”
Last year a new wave of running backs turned heads, from Alfred Morris to Doug Martin to Trent Richardson. Are they revalidating the position, so to speak, with so much emphasis the past few years on quarterbacks?
“It’s not revalidating. It’s kind of where the league has gone. And it’s not as though the position has been devalued. It’s that you’re not going to allow one guy to be carry the whole load anymore.”
Will running back Reggie Bush help Detroit’s attack?
“He’s a good accessory for them. In throwing the ball and what they want to do, Reggie’s definitely going to help. He’s going to provide them with what Jahvid Best did before he had the concussions, and their offence was dangerous when he played like that. They’re not looking for Reggie to be an every-down back, running into the line of scrimmage. They understand the element that he brings to the team. The other night against New England he had 103 yards receiving and only one yard rushing. That’s just fine by the Lions. That’s what they want.”
You played with Jim Harbaugh at Indianapolis (from 1994-97). Did you see then that he could become a great head coach some day?
“Yeah, because back then I went to the camps that his father put on. And their dad, Jack, was just a phenomenal coach who demanded excellence. I met him. You could tell. The things that a coach asks of his players, he was asking of his kids. Part of Jim’s problem was, in playing the position of quarterback you’re never going to have a perfect game. And you can’t control everything. Sometimes he couldn’t just let bad things go. I think it was fun for him, but he just wanted to be perfect. But, as a coach, you can control a lot more things, and he’s just done an amazing job.”
So you think he’s enjoying football more as a coach than he did as a player?
“Oh, I know he is. I’ve spent about two days up there with him at Niners camp, and just watched him in his element. It’s fun for him. He’s thriving in it. As much fun as he had when he played, I think he’s having even more fun now being in control, putting guys in position to make plays and giving guys an opportunity.”
You know him well. Were you surprised when he made the bold decision to switch to Colin Kaepernick in mid-season last year, when the team already was on a possible Super Bowl trajectory?
“I was, because I know what Jim went through in Chicago, and how tough that was. (NOTE: Harbaugh was basically booed out of town.) But after watching the dynamic of what Kaepernick brings to their offence, which they’d been missing -- he can throw the ball deep, late. And you have to be able to do that in the league today. I get it. It’s simple. The upside of Kaepernick is that he makes their ceiling on offence so much higher.”
Will the NFL now lead the way with offensive-football evolution, after the college ranks developed hurry-up and read-option attacks over the past 10 or 15 years?
“I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where the quarterback looks to the sideline to get the play signalled in, as in college. Hurry-up has always been a part of our game at the pro level, and the quarterbacks have to have the mindset. In order for it to work, they have to figure out that stuff themselves.”