Dixie, I always rooted for Bob Christian, too. Here's CF archived comments on him:
BOB CHRISTIAN
(3/13/02) Christian suffered a severe concussion near the end of the regular season and recently announced he is retiring after a 12-year career. Christian was a great blocker but had excellent running skills that were of course never utilized because of his race. When given limited chances to run the ball because of injuries to Falcons RBs, Christian routinely had a better yards per run average than any of the team's black tailbacks; in fact, in 2001, when he had a career high of 44 carries, Christian had the highest rushing per carry average in the NFL, but didn't have enough carries to qualify.
(8/23/02) As anyone who watched the Falcons last year witnessed, Bob Christian knows how to run the ball. With no one blocking for him, as he has done so well for others for so long, Christian had career highs in '01 for carries (44) and yards (284), along with a very high yards per attempt of 6.5.
Unfortunately Christian is now almost 34 years old and in his 12th season in the NFL. To be able to run that effectively after 10 years of blocking linebackers and linemen is testimony to Christian's conditioning and ability.
But Christian could always run, he just wasn't allowed to in the NFL. He left Northwestern as the university's all-time leading rusher with 2,643, including a single-season record of 1,291 yards his junior year.
In the NFL he has been a fine blocking fullback who gets the occasional catch or run. He has played with Chicago, Carolina (where, in 1995, he led all white runners with the paltry total of 158), and with the Falcons since 1997.
Ever since Jamal Anderson went down with his first torn ACL early in the 1999 season, the Falcons tried a slew of different running backs to replace him. None came close. Their best runner has been Bob Christian, but head coach Dan Reeves, an "overachieving" tailback for Dallas in the ‘60s, would probably suit up and come out of retirement to play the position himself before he would let Christian have the featured running back role.
With Warrick Dunn and '02 first round pick T. J. Duckett it's all academic anyway as Atlanta has invested much money in strengthening the tailback position. But to see how ably Bob Christian could step in, even near the end of his career, and be very effective running ball when given the opportunity, indicates that there are plenty of other white runners more than capable of doing the same.
