Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. In a matchup that absolutely no one would have predicted,

the Seattle Seahawks will play the New England Patriots in this year's Super Bowl.

The most prominent players on those teams are New England quarterback Drake May and Seattle

wide receiver, Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. You'll notice I did not name a running back.

Why not? That's what this episode is about. We first ran it last season, and now we've updated

facts and figures as necessary. As always, thanks for listening.

The National Football League, a phenomenally successful piece of the sports and entertainment industry, is largely built around the forward pass. That's when the quarterback, the star of the show,

throws a ball down field to one of his sprinting receivers who tries to catch the ball

and sprint even further down the field.

This can be a very exciting thing to watch.

In recent years, the passing game has gotten even more exciting and more sophisticated,

and it has helped drive the league's massive growth.

But if you ask football fans of a certain age who they idolized when they were kids, it

probably wasn't a wide receiver or even a quarterback.

It was probably a running back.

Big opening for Tony Dorset.

Look out, he's got great speed.

99 yards.

Tony Dorset was my favorite player.

I had the uniform, the helmet.

The running backs were bigger stars during my childhood than the quarterbacks.

My favorite player of all time was Barry Sanders.

...