Marion Barber was found dead in his Texas apartment Wednesday. At age 38, it was entirely too soon for a seven-year NFL veteran who played a major role on some very good Dallas Cowboys teams.
Barber was a constant for a franchise that ushered out the brief Bill Parcells/Drew Bledsoe and welcomed the even briefer Wade Phillips/Tony Romo one. His bull-nosed runs led to 57 wins in six seasons, despite significant personnel turnover. He split platoons with Julius Jones, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice and generally reveled in his ability to elude linebackers or, in a pinch, shuck them aside like corn husks.
With one glorious run in 2007, we got to see both. That was the year the Cowboys hosted the soon-to-be 16-0 New England Patriots in a spotlight showdown in Dallas. While the Pats’ offense gets all the hype, it was backed by a top-5 defense led by players like Asante Samuel, Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison. With the Cowboys facing first-and-20 deep in their own territory, each had a shot at Barber.
Every one missed.
Behold, the greatest two-yard run in modern NFL history.
It starts with disaster:
Jarvis Green has pushed right tackle Flozell Adams into the backfield. Rodney Harrison, having sniffed out the run, moved all the way up to the line of scrimmage pre-snap. Tony Romo is in his first full season as a starter and doesn’t yet have the ability to figure out how plays will unfold before they happen. He should’ve audibled out of this, but that would have prevented the magic from happening.
Fourteen seconds later, Barber will be on the opposite side of the field from where he was supposed to go and it will be second-and-18. But let’s analyze the play’s biggest moments as they happen.
Welp, Harrison’s got him. This is over.
Oh no, he’s going backward. And worse yet, former first-round pick Ty Warren has a free run at him while future Hall of Famer Junior Seau lies in wait. If he’s not careful, this will be a safety.
Yep, now he’s in the end zone and in a battle of strength with Seau. HOW IS THIS GETTING WORSE?
OK, he broke free, but now he’s deeper in the end zone, and Vince Wilfork is chasing him. All free safety James Sanders has to do is slow him down, and Wilfork can mush him with that 330-pound frame of his.
That’s not what happened, but there’s still several angry swarming bees to be dealt with. Case in point, All-Pro cornerback Asante Samuel has streaked in from out of frame to wrap up Barber around the waist.
Nope! Well, surely Green can wrap this up and deliver two po-
Man, come on. That dark blue blur barreling toward some unlucky photographer beyond the sideline, by the way? That’s Mike Vrabel. After powering through multiple Patriot defenders and covering 45 yards of turf, Barber still has the afterburners to make a 2007 All-Pro miss him by two full yards.
And here New England’s embarrassment comes to a merciful end. Barber is pushed out of bounds one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. The officials, respecting the monumental work he’s just put in, double his gain in tribute.
The entire play lasted 15 seconds. For those 15 seconds, he was the greatest running back in the universe. Barber shed, by my count, seven tackles — eight if we’re counting Vrabel’s dive into oblivion. Saquon Barkley, by comparison, carried the ball 162 times and was credited with four broken tackles for the entire 2021 season.
This is one of the most beautiful, sloppy, and ultimately perfect plays in NFL history. And it only gained two yards! It was a pit stop en route to a 21-point Cowboys loss. But every inch of that run mattered to the tailback who refused to settle for anything less.
That’s the Marion Barber I remember. Rest in peace, Barbarian.
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