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Dunn raised a few eyebrows with his comments about not receiving enough props for his on-field performance.

And whenever you talk about Dunn, T.J. Duckett's name seems to follow shortly.

What are people's expectations for the running game this year. Not really the overall success, but the sort of individual success?

Greg Knapp has made a living juggling a two-headed running attack. He did so in San Francisco, and since the world has discovered that Barlow and Hearst were not good as individuals as they were together.

I think the same can be said of Duckett & Dunn. Now, I do believe DUnn could be a 1000 yard rusher by himself, and the same for Duckett (potentially). But I think neither player gets the most out of their ability if they aren't sharing carries.

Dunn received about 2.5 times more carries than Duckett did last year. But at the height of our running games success (around midseason) that number was only about 1.5 times as many. Do people see that type of split for the two? Or is the disparity going to be bigger like it was early on in 2004?

I have confidence in our running game, assuming our key run-blocking OL (Weiner & Forney) stay healthy and the same goes for Vick, Dunn, and Duckett. Our running game also functions on the health of Vick because without him in the lineup, defenses can dedicate 8 and 9 men in the box since Matt Schaub is not the type of QB that is going to air it out.

So what kind of numbers are we looking at? I'm going to say that Dunn will probably get about 250 carries, and should have another 1000+ yard season. Duckett will probably receive between 150-180 carries and will probably get around 700 yards. Vick, I hope, won't carry the ball more than 80 or so times, but should still have around 600 or so yards rushing. So the distribution should be about the same as it was last year, except Duckett getting more touches and Vick much less.

And if this is the case, what does this mean for the future of the RB position? I think we all realize that the team is going to have to decide if it has long term plans with Dunn and/or Duckett after the season. Do they cut Dunn and save the $$$. Trade Duckett? Keep them both? Extend Dunn? Extend Duckett? Dump both of them and hope to get a RB high in the draft? But I guess we still have 5 or so months before we really need to worry about that...

It is interesting to here Dunn say that he believes he should get more credit.I take him for a guy who could careless about notoriety but a player that just plays hard all the time and who cares what the media thinks.Maybe this was taken out of context where a reporter blew the story up?

Dunn is an intragel part of the offense and as many times as I wanted TJ in there Dunn always comes up big for the most part when we need him.This year shall be quite interesting since I read Vick is gettimg alot better at dumping the ball off meaning more touches for dunn and duckett on pass attempts.As far as can the coexist,sure they can but neither will be the ultimate back that we can say he is the leader of the running attack.Duckett is a pounder and bruiser but when we need speed and open field running dunn is the man.

We will just have to let the season play out to see which one the falcon's keep.With as many good teams as the falcon's play it will be interesting to see which back is more effective against them than the also ran teams of the league.

I think we will see more of what we saw last year, Dunn doing the yoeman's work and TJ getting the goal line carries. I can't imagine Dunn is in the teams long plan as he is getting old for a RB. Is Duckett the man after Dunn leaves? Maybe, maybe not. As for Dunn's comments about getting more recognition, they are puzzling.

Rumor has had it he was unhappy splitting carries in Tampa and that's why he came here. We will have to see how the season plays out. This isn't the year for locker room unhappiness, because the NFC is ripe for the picking, especially with Philly's injury and off field problems.

I don't find Dunn's comments puzzling or out of character. As you said, in Tampa Bay he publically called out the organization because he was splitting carries and felt that he could produce at twice the level. He chose Atlanta over Philly, partially due to money, but also because the Falcons promised him more carries than the Eagles were.

Then when the team drafted Duckett a little more than a month after signing him, he was publically disgruntled about having to share the load. It's only been in the last 2 or so years that Dunn hasn't made much about sharing time with Duckett, because he realized that he didn't have much leverage in the situation besides what he did on the field. He just kept his mouth shut and played his best football in order to prove in the eyes of his detractors that he was the lead back and could be one on 32 different teams in this league. Now, he's speaking out again because I think he believes he has proven his detractors wrong. He rushed for 1100 yards in a split backfield.

Dunn is a great humanitarian, but he's never been one to mince words about when he's felt he's been wronged. Unlike before, this doesn't have to do with how many carries he gets, but just the fact that nobody gives him credit for his skills and accomplishments on the field.

People see him more now as a good guy off the field than a good running back on the field. But he plays bigger than his 180-pound frame. The fact is, Dunn is smaller than Tim Dwight, and nobody would ever believed that Dwight had the body to hold up at RB in the NFL. And Dunn has proven that he can handle a 20-carry per game load. Although I'm not sure he could do that for 16 games, he can do so for most of the year.

Dunn's success in Atlanta is very much because he is playing in a split backfield. Dunn has never been able to carry a full load without getting injured. God help us if we didn't have Duckett after we loss Dunn for the season in week 12 I believe (tear in the arch of his foot). Like it or not Dunn has been succesful because he isn't getting the rock 300 times a year.

Also, in my mind, TJ Duckett is the second coming of Ron Dayne just a bit better. He's constantly incurring the wrath of the coaching staff due to weight and drive. Had Duckett been starting this entire time he surely would have been delt or demoted for an average FA talent.

I'm happing with our running unit combined but individually none of the pieces are all that great. Barely average in an age of a league with two tiers of runners: Uber backs and "I can get the job done" backs. The Falcons should have elected to deal Duckett and make a play for any of the major backs that came out out in the last two drafts. Kevin Jones comes to mind. But McKay & Crew are content with our three headed rushing beast. McKay is one of the best defensive engineers in the history of the NFL but his offensive skills aren't the sharpest.

IMO in one of the next two drafts we target runningback and let Dunn & Ducketts contracts expire. We need the cap space and last I heard Duckett wasn't going for much more then d a 3rd round pick. We could get that out of a team since he'll be an RFA.

Duckett in goalline formations? I wish that were the case. 2-3 years ago, Reeves had no idea what to do on the goalline, now Knapp doesnt know what to do on the goalline. Case in point.....Tampa game @ Tampa. Instead of giving it to Duckett and letting him do is thing we put Dunn out there and PASS two times resulting in INTS both times.

Now I must admit.....Dunn is awsome as a goalline back. God put lightning in a bottle when he made Dunn. All he needs is an inch and he gets through.

Just thowing out a possibly meaningless stat. Last season, Dunn got the ball 11 times from the goal line and scored on 5 of the attempts. Duckett got the call 10 times and scored on six.