This got brought up in the fantasy help thread to some extent. Curious what people are seeing for these two running backs going into the season. I have seen rankings that put Barber ahead of Jones, although both are placed rather low.

I said that Julius Jones would be featured more this year, citing the local reports, althouth the national perception is that Marion Barber will get more time.

What we have now is Julius Jones saying he was forced to run "like a robot" under Parcells. Again, the national media has laughed it off, while the local media has pretty much backed it up. Basically, Parcells preached and preached on Julius Jones to run to where the hole is supposed to be, only to find it not there. Julius Jones is not that type of runner, but Parcells wanted him to be.

From Wade Phillips during the Cowboys first Mini Camp, he plans on taking the reigns off of Jones, and letting him run instinctively. He also says the offense will feature Julius Jones with more outs and screen passes. This is basically how the offense ran with Emmitt Smith back when Jason Garrett was the backup quarterback in Dallas.

So, by my accounts of what has been said, and the new offense that is being put in place (which isn't a whole log different from last year's offense), it appears to me that Julius Jones will clearly be the feature running back this year, and will be left on the field more.

Agree? Disagree? Have any reasons to think it will still be Marion Barber over Julius Jones?

I have a hard time imagining a guy who scored 14 TD's last year being left by the wayside. I know no details of the situation, but it seems Barber would get a fair crack at the job. He ran in a zone blocking scheme in college, which is basically a pick your hole and hit it hard type system, so it sounds like he might fit what they need in a runner too.

To me, the value of Barber over Jones was two fold. First, Barber got all the redzone touches, and also he got alot of late game, and 3rd down carries. So he would be up against a tired defense...burning up yards. My knock on Julius Jones was his size and style, and his constantly seeming to be hurt. Ankles then shoulder and so on.

Net, if they are really retooling the offense, and will be doing more screens and such...I can see the value of Jones' is much, much better. My only kicker is the HC. He loves to pound the ball, and eat yards. So I can still see value for both.

I think we will be seeing a lot of Marion Barber until he proves he can't do the job well. That's not to say that Julius Jones won't get his fair share of playing time but I think when the Cowboys need something done on the ground they are going to go with Barber. As BP said, you don't just turn away from a guy who found the endzone a total of 16 times last season.

From a fantasy standpoint, I'm not sure I would want to risk taking either of these guys. Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from either one of them, but let's face it, either of them could have a big game any week and the risk of playing the wrong one is much too great.

And they will still pound the ball off-tackle. The difference will be, if Jones sees a better opening than the hole that was supposed to be there, he will be able to go that way, without getting scolded on the sideline.

This is what happened to during his first two years constantly. Parcells would constantly be on him for improvising, even when it worked. That also carried out into the interviews during the week.

It was like Parcells envisioned Jones being a certain type of running back, and was determined to mold him into it.

The touchdowns (marion barber) - For the most part, that was due to being given the ball in the redzone after Julius Jones took the offense down there.

The yardage (marion barber) - A result of getting series late in games, and getting the ball on passing downs.

This isn't really to be down on Barber, I like him as a running back, he just isn't the complete package that Julius Jones is. Statistically, he looked very good last year, but statistics don't tell the story of what happened on a game by game basis.

I suppose this could be a Jerome Bettis/Willie Parker situation. Two years ago Bettis scored something like 10 TD's to Parker's 5 or so, while Parker rushed for 1200 yards and bettis rushed for about 400 or less.

I'm more worried that it will be almost a straight platoon situation which will be great for the team and terrible for fantasy.

i played the jones/barber game last year. its a losing proposition. unless philipps firmly establishes one as a full time starter (which, in nfl terms, he'd be stupid to do so), theyre both relatively worthless.

Agreed...fantasy value drops to nothing when teams have tandem runningbacks.

I think the best comparison, both in terms of how the cowboys SHOULD use them and how it will suck in FF, is the days of Alstott and Warrick Dunn in Tampa. Neither was very useful, one always had a decent game while the other did little, and I always picked the wrong one to start.

I am going to disagree some here. I am in a dynasty league, where 6pts for tds, and ppr are in play. In that format, both were very viable plays last year as fantasy players....and if they split again...would still be a viable option. It is a very important reason why you have to know your scoring, and draft accordingly...not just by standard perceptions. In fact, in that league Barber was a better pt scorer than Julius.

The problem with having them both last year was knowing which one was going to score points on a given week.

I was in the same scenario as Da Bomb, having both, and I also seemed to choose the wrong one every week. Very frustrating.

Here is 2006, fantasy scoring aside, as that will depend on if the new coaching staff decides to do at the goal line.

Combined rushes and receptions by running backs - 456

Julius Jones - 267+9 = 276 (60.5%)
Marion Barber - 135+23 = 158 (34.6%)

The remaining 4.9% was Tyson Thompson and Lousaka Polite.

Is Marion Barber a better receiver out of the backfield? Julius Jones averaged 15.8 yards per reception, Barber averaged 8.5 yards per reception. Barber got the receptions at the goal line however, including two touchdowns.

Marion Barber had a better yards per carry average, however he got the 3rd and long carries when the defense was in coverage expecting the pass.
My main question in the beginning was the national perception that Barber would be getting more time that Julius Jones. Then again, the national perception was that Julius Jones wouldn't be on this team by draft time.

• Do you think Barber will get more playing time than Jones, closer to 50/50, or much like last season with the bulk going to Julius Jones?
• Also, do you think the new coaching staff will constantly pull Julius Jones in scoring situations like the Parcells staff did?

Honestly, Mike, I think alot of this debate is due to rumors flying Jones was trade bait, and the Tds Barber scored. Most can't believe that you won't give more time to a player who scores that much.

I honestly see another Pittsburgh scenario here. I do think Jones will get most of the carries. I still think Barber will get red-zone, short yardage and late game carries. It worked last year, and with some kind of O-line improvement, it could work better this year. Fact is..until we see what they do in game situations...we won't know.

The current trend in NFL rbs..is you have to have two, and play both. Alot more teams are doing this to extend the careers of the rbs. I don't see much change this year.

the bottom line is that both of these guys are talented enough to be decent starters, and you have to believe wade phillips will be smart enough to platoon them and use both. one may get more work in some way than another, but it just wouldnt make sense for him to suddenly pick one to be the workhorse. if he did, its a top 10 fantasy RB, but he couldnt care less about that.

One other factor her is the. . .CONTRACT YEAR. Julius Jones is running for money. He is vying to be the top RB in FA next off season along with Michael Turner. The contract year isn't quite as pronounced in the NFL as in the NBA or MLB, but I'm guessing he will be better than last year even if he's still outscored by Barber.

I will be shocked and disappointed if Julius Jones doesn't start this season with a new contract from Dallas.

I was reading that OC Garrett plans to use a blocking fullback more this year and get away from so many two TE blocking schemes. If JJ is running more in instint mode this could be helpful. If a fullback is hitting the intended hole it is more likely to be open, But conversely, the intended hole will also attract more Defensive attention making lanes elsewhere a little more open should JJ choose a different path.

I'm not sure how less two TE schemes will effect that talented TE.......what's his name.........damm, he was so underutilized last year I can't remember.

Another interesting note when evaluating these running backs.

In the first 10 games of the season, Dallas was 6-4, winning 3 of their last 4 during this stretch including a huge victory over the Colts. In this stretch, Julius Jones averaged 20+ carries a game.
(3 out of 4 of these games were on the road)

In the final 6 games, Dallas went 3-3, losing 3 of their last 4 games. In this stretch, Jones carries were cut to an average of 10 per game.

This was discussed at the time it happened last year, when the gameplan apparently changed for no reason, annoying the hell out of me.

Another way to look at this:
With Romo as a starter, Dallas was 3-1 when giving Julius Jones 20+ carries (including the game against the Colts).
When Jones carries decreased, and Barber's carries increased, Dallas was a .500 team, falling apart down the stretch.

Not being a cowboys fan, I don't know of all the factors involved, but those stats are pretty telling. I wonder if it would have been just as true if Barber would have been getting the 20+ carries per game?

Barbers carries increased, Cowboys winning percentage dropped. That tells me no.