Christian McCaffrey spends the perfect season, dragging his team into the playoffs on his own shoulders and is considered by sports analysts to be one of the main contenders for the MVP title after the start of the championship. NFL Therapy tells in detail about the little white hope of the NFL in the material of Jimmy.
1998 year. Super Bowl 33. The end of the third quarter. The Denver Broncos are fighting the Atlanta Falcons. 17-6 in favor of the Broncos. The third and six. Legendary quarterback John Elway takes over the game and transmits a 15-yard pass. Catching. The stadium is ecstatic. This Pro Bowl party receiver Ed McCaffrey is celebrated with a welcome. The ball is five yards from the score in Atlanta. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Griffith puts the ball into the Falcons score. 24-6. Atlanta no longer has the strength to resist. Another Broncos offense: Elvey finds Ed McCaffrey again, this time with 25 yards. Ilam punches a field goal and the ball is in goal. Everything is clear to everyone. Denver becomes NFL champion for the second year in a row.
Players, coaches, friends, relatives jump out on the field. Next to one of the main characters of the meeting - Ed McCaffrey - his little son.
After 20 years, Christian will be sitting at a table in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His face is covered with perspiration. He is very nervous. The heart is about to jump out of the chest. The loud noise of the speakers is diluted with cries of joy and welcoming sighs of the audience. He's waiting. His time has not come yet. It is about to come. Nearby parents and brothers. He is trying to make a happy face. But his face is distorted by some awkward expression.
This is the 2017 NFL draft. A few years earlier, Christian was recognized as one of the best students in the country. In 2015, a white-skinned rear-runner with a height of less than 180 cm was nominated for a prize for the Heisman Trophy - the best player in the NCAA. But the prize went to another early back - Derrick Henry, who is twice as much as McCaffrey.
However, McCaffrey was not very upset. By that time, he already owned the student championship record for the total number of yards (from screaming and returning). And next year he will be the best in the country in the average number of yards per game (211.6 yards on average per match). Both times, he will end up in the symbolic ALL-Pak 12 team. The back running Stanford will be respected and feared by the entire league.
But on December 19, 2016 Christian will refuse to participate in the Sun Bowl.
- I will not participate in the Sun Bowl! My goal is the NFL draft. I want to prepare for the draft. I dream of becoming an NFL player. This is the most important thing for me! - sharply cut Christian.
This story cost McCaffrey many fans and the respect of some experts. But he didn’t care. He really always wanted to be a professional and play in the NFL, just like his father.
But the critics did not relent. The cheater! Wimp! Choker! - such accusations rained down on McCaffrey Jr.
"Calling McCaffrey a weakling because he refused to play a training game that precedes his real dream is stupid!” This guy is building his career, so shut up! - the well-known radio host Mike Greenberg will stand up for Christian.
Now he was sitting there, on a draft in Philadelphia, and was thinking about what a long way he had to go, and how difficult it was to make important decisions. But he knew exactly what he wanted. He wants to hear his name on the NFL draft.
- Under the seventh draft number -2017, “Los Angeles Chargers” choose the wide receiver Mike Williams from Clemson! - came from the speakers.
Christian McCaffrey proved to be very good at the draft combine, albeit without much enthusiasm. Everyone understood: this player will be selected in the draft top. A week before the draft, Sports Illustrated named McCaffrey the best class runback. Pro Football Focus were less enthusiastic, but still put McCaffrey in the top three rear runners of the upcoming draft.
Leonard Furnette, one of the three top ranks, has already left the fourth draft number. McCaffrey knew that his time would soon come. But the fifth, sixth, seventh election passed. And he was still waiting for his name to be announced. My throat is dry. He hardly breathed.
- Under the eighth number of the 2017 Carolina Panthers draft pick, Stanford Christian McCaffrey is choosing a running back! - came from the speakers.
At first, he did not understand what it was about him. He sat and did not react for a moment. And this moment stretched out and became a whole abyss of time. He remembered his father's champion title, how he played with him and his brothers in the backyard of his house, his school years, Stanford - a whole kaleidoscope of memories. At this time, the brothers jumped around him like three crazy monkeys, and his father was already shaking his hand proudly. He is in the NFL. And at that moment Christian smiled.
But there was no time to relax. It’s one thing to get into the NFL, and it’s quite another to become your league in the league like his father. How could he sum up the memory of the surname, of the father who won the championship three times, of the host, who was a member of the Pro Bowl and one of the main goals of the cult John Elway.
- No one ever took me seriously. When I first went to training, I was offered to try myself as a kicker. But I wanted to be like a father. I wanted to play in the Offense. And the trainers told me that I did not have enough skills and physical data. Then I decided to prove to them all that they were wrong. I was lucky that my father devoted a lot of time to me. He talked about such things that only professionals know. But the coaches and the boys still laughed at me. Until I showed them all! - recalls McCaffrey.
"They laughed at him and compared him to every white loser player.” He was offered to be a kicker. But he wanted to play host or rear runners, and that made his teammates even more fun! And then he came to training and ran! He overtook them all! They stood there, mouths open, they watched this white little guy overtake each of them! Probably the thing is in our genes! - laughs Lisa McCaffrey, mother of Christian.
Lisa doesn't just remember genes. And the matter is not only in her husband. Her father - Christian's grandfather - was the sprinter of the US team. No, he was not just a sprinter, he was a legend. His name was Dave Sime, and at the 1960 Olympics he not only took part as a member of the US national team, but even won a silver medal in the hundred-meter race.
He was a participant and won the race in the relay 4 × 100 m of the US national team, but it was disqualified because one of the athletes went beyond the limits of his track. During his career, he set world records at distances of 100 yards, 220 yards and 220 yards with low obstacles.
On the eve of the Olympic Games in Rome, he turned to the CIA to organize a cover for the flight of the Soviet athlete Igor Ovanesyan. He went to Ter-Ovanesyan and introduced him to the CIA agent in Rome, but the agent’s manner of communication frightened off the Soviet runner, and he did not dare to escape.
In 2010, Duke University named him the most outstanding athlete of the 20th century.
Christian's uncle - Billy McCaffrey - played basketball for Duke in the early 90s. Yes, and Lisa herself played at university level European football for Stanford.
In general, when Christian ran, it was surprising only for his teammates, not for his relatives. Nature has tried its best generation after generation, working on the genes of the Carolina running backs.
- Somehow they no longer laughed at me anymore. At school, I played in the positions of a safe and a corner in defense, and in offense, with a receiver and a running back ! - recalls Christian.
"This boy has incredible genes.” Speed, explosion, mobility. But besides this, he has an incredible head. He is uniquely prepared mentally. He is confident in himself and knows exactly what needs to be done in every moment. And most importantly, he knows what he wants from his career: he wants to be a great professional! - he says about his Christian student coach David Shaw.
The First season of McCaffrey in the professionals immediately turned out to be impressive. He was supposed to join the team that had recently played in the Super Bowl and help assault leader Cam Newton at the backfield and at the reception. In the first game, Christian made a name for himself. 47 yards on take-out, 38 on reception and the Panthers win 23-3 in a game against 49s. He will continue to light in the match against the division rival “New Orleans Saints” when he catches 101 yards against them in 9 moves. Toward the end of the championship, in the 15th week against the Packers, McCaffrey will bring the statistics of the season to 73 ketch with 5 touchdowns at the reception, becoming the first runback in history with such indicators. A little later, at the end of the season, Alvin Kamara will join him, repeating this achievement.
With Alvin Kamara, McCaffrey will compete for the title of best offensive rookie, but will give way to the Saints running back. And the “Panthers” will concede to the same “New Orleans” in the Wild Card round and finish the season. In this match, C-Mack will catch 101 yards.
The next season will be for the “Panthers” a real challenge. In the offseason, Cam Newton will go under the surgeon’s knife, he will be operated on with a throwing shoulder. The season, however, will begin perfectly. The team will continue to lead the championship until Newton again begins to suffer a shoulder injury. After that, the “panthers” will begin to fall apart and lose six games in a row, not getting into the playoffs. On the other hand, McCaffrey will continue to show his leadership skills and become a real NFL star. By the end of the season, he will collect 1965 yards in total, which will be a franchise record.
But it became clear that the problems of “Carolina” are only exacerbated. The offense team is experiencing clear problems. Cam Newton rests on the operation again. Two operations per year on a throwing shoulder - can become a sentence to the future of one of the most talented quarterbacks of the league. Greg Olsen is not getting younger either. For two years, he suffers three times a relapse of a fracture of the foot, but Greg is already 34 years old. So, the new season was supposed to be the season of Christian McCaffrey. In this situation, there was no other choice. It was he who was to become the leader of the offense team. And what did he do? He became them!
Newton broke again. And when everyone had already written off “Carolina” as hopeless and hopeless, a little white hope changed everything. The new season not only designated McCaffrey the leader of the Carolina offense, but also showed that Christian is one of the best players in the league in general. The rear runner took on the burden of leadership, and in fact, on his shoulders, on his fast legs, on his tenacious arms, rushing his team forward - taking it out.
After the match with the Jaguars on Sunday, where McCaffrey scored 233 yards from screammage and three touchdowns, it became clear that McCaffrey was not just the best back running back of the season, but also one of the main contenders for the MVP after the first five weeks of the championship.
-McCaffrey plays as if his value for the team is higher than that of quarterbacks. In recent years, the difference between quarterbacks and players of other positions in terms of value for the team’s game, and as a result, in voting for the MVP title - has become enormous. But today, Carolina's early back is changing the usual picture. And in this he is completely unique! - writes Robert Mays from The Ringer.
This season, McCaffrey gives out wild performances one after another. In four games this season, he scored at least 179 yards from scrimmage. His 866 yards are the second best result in NFL history in the first five matches. The only one with the best stats in history is Jim Brown in the 1963 season. Most analysts and fans still consider Brown to be the best earlyback in American football history. And then Christian McCaffrey is located right behind him.
During quarterback dominance, Christian McCaffrey makes you seriously think that he could be the first rear runner since 2012 to win the profit center. It is clear that only five weeks have passed since the start of the championship. But, firstly, this is already a third of the season in the short-term regular season of the NFL championship, and secondly, McCaffrey's numbers and his importance for “Carolina” do not exactly become less important from this.
Today, Christian McCaffrey is responsible for 44.1% of the team's yards in the offense. And it is the main driving force of “Carolina”, at the same time while Cam Newton’s backup - Kyle Allen - suffers from problems with passes to downfield.
Today, Christian McCaffrey and his eternal ally, friend, foe and Alter Ego - Alvin Kamara - continue to prove the importance of the position of the Running back. Position, which in recent years has depreciated as much as possible.
- Of course, one of the quarterbacks will receive the profit center. Most likely so! And at the moment, the main contenders for the title are Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. But just imagine, this guy from “Carolina” last year nearly got the result of 1000 yards both at the pass and at the reception. He says that this year he is confident that he will be able to surpass this result. This is just unbelievable. He spends one of the strongest individual seasons in history. A brilliant player! - he says about McCaffrey former NFL superstar Chris Carter.
- If the profit center was awarded right now, McCaffrey would have been obliged to get it! - says Gerald McCoy, Carolina defender.
If McCaffrey continues to show such performance as it is now, he will surpass the NFL record in yards from a scream of more than 200 yards!
“The first time I saw him was when he was still in school.” It was spring break, but he worked in the gym with his brothers. They spent the whole day there. And I realized this guy has every chance of succeeding. He is a real talent, but also a hard worker who never rests on his laurels! - tells the owner of the Super Bowl, and former NFL player Reggie Bush.
He is an incredible player! Now, when Cam is not on the football field, the Carolina coaches understand that the only chance to win matches is to use Christian McCaffrey to the maximum. After all, he is their best player! Therefore, they use it as often as possible. They pass to him, make tabs, pitches, tosses. They come up with a variety of creative combinations so that it is he who decides. And yet - he almost never leaves the field! Who is the best NFL player right now? Wilson, Mahomes, McCaffrey - choose any of the three. Each of them deserves to be in the conversation about the title of the best football player in the league. I am glad that Christian proves with every game that he is on the same top as the league’s two most important quarterbacks! - says Shannon Sharpe.
Christian himself believes that he became physically more powerful in the last offseason. He gained weight and muscle mass. Now he feels perfect. This season, he was able to get away from 35 tackles for 136 possession of the ball, which makes him one of the two most elusive early back leagues of the league (along with Kamara!). Christian scores 201.3 yards from screaming (!) On average in three games without Newton. He feels like the player he always wanted to be. And he knows that his father is proud of him.
"Ed and I recently watched the Carolina game.” And then suddenly he asked me: “Do you think Christian is faster than me in the best years?” What did I answer? Let it remain within the family! - smiles Lisa McCaffrey.
“You know, I was a fast guy.” I think that I was one of the fastest players in the NFL. But when I look at Christian, I understand that he can not only run. He is thinking on the football field. And always makes the right decisions. He still, of course, has to compete for the champion title and get into the Pro Bowl, but one thing is for sure - I'm proud of my boy! He is a true profe