A very interesting thing about Dameon Pierce's 20-yard run against the Jaguars is it's being discussed more than the 75-yard blast he had a week earlier against the Chargers.
Of course the 20-yarder happened in a win, which helps immensely. But the tackle-busting, refuse-to-go-down nature of the shorter one is what has attracted people's attention locally and nationally.
We had a conversation with John McClain on Texans Radio and the comparison to Earl Campbell's famous torn-jersey run against the Rams in 1978 came up.
Both runs started at the opponent's 22-yard line. Earl's was a toss sweep, delivered by Dan Pastorini, that saw the Tyler Rose break several tackles on his way to the six. In the melee, his jersey was completely torn off by desperate defenders trying to grab anything they could.
No one is saying Pierce is Campbell. But it's fun to compare plays, as if works of art. And it's fun to talk about a back who has us harkening to the best Texans runs we've ever seen.
Johnny Harris did part of his Texans Match Up podcast on the subject and featured some doozies from the last ten years.
I could also dig into the first ten years and come up with some great moments from backs not named Arian Foster like Domanick Williams (Davis), Steve Slaton, Jonathan Wells and others.
The bottom line so far is that Pierce has the most yards in the division through five games and is off to the kind of start you hoped for when he was drafted in the fourth round.
After Sunday's game he was asked what was going through his head while breaking tackle after tackle. He said "Run country boy, run." That quote almost sent Drew Dougherty to the tee shirt shop to semi-immortalize the slogan.
That'll have to wait. There's more running to do when the Texans next play against the Raiders in Las Vegas on October 23.
