CORTLAND — Which is it going to be?
Will it be Shonn Greene, the Jets’ second-year bulldozer running back, battering opposing defenses or will it be LaDainian Tomlinson, their Hall of Fame-bound back with his nine years of experience ducking and deking out defenses, making the biggest impact?
The Jets will take either but would prefer — and are planning on — both being equal parts to the engine that runs their “ground-and-pound” offense.
What makes the two-headed running back attack so fascinating is watching how their use and effectiveness unfolds.
Will Greene be the workhorse back everyone expects him to be after gaining 304 yards with a 5.4-yard average and two TDs in the postseason last year?
That surely will depend on whether Greene, who had 105 regular-season carries for 540 yards and two TDs as a rookie last year, is able to stay healthy — something he was unable to do last season. Greene was nicked up in training camp, then again in the middle of the season and was knocked out of the AFC Championship Game with fractured ribs.
Will Tomlinson, whose production has been on the decline the last couple of years (a career-low 730 yards and a 3.3-yard average), return to form as the Hall of Fame back he’s been and play so well that the coaches can’t help but make him the feature back?
“The thing about Tomlinson is if he’s coming down, he’s coming down from the very top of the mountain,” Rex Ryan said. “It’s not like he was three-quarters of the way [before] coming down.”
Tomlinson has said all the right things since he was signed, insisting he’s fine playing a complementary role to Greene. But those who know him well know that Tomlinson is burning to show the world he can still carry the rock and show he’s still a feature back.
“It’s going to be exciting to watch and see how it unfolds, but either way it’s going to good for the Jets,” running backs coach Anthony Lynn said. “They understand their roles; they’re situational starters. I’ve sat them both down and told them the hot guy will stay in the game.”
How Greene goes will depend on how healthy he stays.
Both Lynn and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer say they believe that the year with the Jets’ strength-and-conditioning staff will help him be more durable than he was as a rookie.
Lynn, too, has worked with Greene on not always taking on the hard hit head-on, to pick his spots. There also is a plan to put extra protection around his ribs, which were injured last year.
“I don’t want to change his style at all. I just make him aware that, ‘Hey, we need you for 16 weeks, so if you don’t have to take a shot don’t take a shot,’ ” Lynn said.
Tomlinson is most likely to make his biggest impact catching passes out of the backfield, a glaring weakness in the Jets’ arsenal last year. He’s one of the best in the business as a receiver out of the backfield, having caught 530 career passes, including 100 one season.
It all adds up to one of the most compelling subplots to the Jets’season: Who will carry the load in the backfield?
“When Shonn played, he played really well,” Schottenheimer said. “The thing with LaDainian is that everyone wanted to put him in a mold, like, ‘Here’s your role if you come here.’ We said, ‘Look, you get to define your role. It depends on how you perform.’ ”
Said Tomlinson: “It doesn’t matter to me who gets the glory as long as at end of the year we’re all standing up on that podium with the trophy hugging each other.”