Chris Ivory isn’t just running through and around exasperated defenders, he is running full speed ahead into the hearts of Jets teammates.
To them, he is more than Beast Mode. He is Best Mode.
“He’s already the best running back in the league right now,” Brandon Marshall said. “Just watch the tape — speed, quickness, agility, vision, endurance — he has it all.”
Earlier, Marshall had labeled Ivory a monster.
“He runs really violently, he has great feet, great vision. … He’s humble … and he doesn’t even know how good he can be, and that’s the scary part,” Marshall said. “I remember having a conversation when I first got here with him, and he was like, ‘I want to have 1,000 yards. I just want to get there.’ I said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘No, the goal’s gonna be 1,500 or better.’ And now he’s there, he’s like, ‘Man, I see it,’ and that’s the good thing.
“I asked him that one day, I said, ‘Man do you really know how good you can be?’ He’s like, ‘Man, I really don’t.’ And I love that humility. And the sky’s the limit for him.”
The Redskins are expecting 60 minutes of hell from Ivory.
“He looks like an angry runner,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said. “I tell our guys Chris Ivory’s gonna run hard and physical from the first carry to the last carry.”
Ivory — a 6-foot, 222-pound tank — runs the way Lawrence Taylor played defense. Safety Calvin Pryor was asked if Ivory reminds him of Marshawn Lynch.
“No doubt about it,” Pryor said. “They never let one person bring them down. They both have great vision. I consider both of ’em Beast Mode.”
Breno Giacomini blocked for Lynch. Now he blocks for East Mode.
“He’s not scared, he’s a downhill, physical, angry back,” Giacomini said. “He’s a great runner, and very similar to previous employment.”
Ivory (314 yards on 63 carries with three touchdowns this season) is sixth in rushing in the AFC. Among AFC backs with 50 or more carries, Ivory’s 5.0-yard average is third behind Giovani Bernard (5.5) and Jamaal Charles (5.1). At 27, with just 699 carries on those oak-tree legs, he is in his prime, and a defense’s worst nightmare in the fourth quarter.
“The way we look at it, those 1-, 2-, 3-yard gains in the first and second quarter become four-, 5-, 6-, 7-yard gains in the third and fourth quarter,” Giacomini said. “That’s our goal. Every defense is tough, but the more you get after ’em, they wear down.”
The reluctant Ivory, who was nowhere to be found in the locker room, prefers to do his talking with his legs and shoulder pads. The expression in boxing is: Kill the body and the head dies.
“They hit him, no matter what if it’s in the backfield, he’s leaning forward, he can get at least 1 or 2 yards,” linebacker Trevor Reilly said. “It’s a special talent he has, and he runs as hard as anyone in the NFL. You should see the hits he took against Miami. They had right guys in the box, we had seven to block ’em, a free hitter just coming to hit him, and he’s just taking him on and keep going forward. Absolutely amazing.”
Reilly was asked how he would compare Ivory to Lynch.
“It’s funny, I asked [former Seahawks offensive lineman James] Carpenter about that,” Reilly said. “He said Marshawn, in the hole, he’ll try to make you miss. He said Chris, he likes to run everybody over. Chris has got good feet, he can make you miss, but it’s almost like he relishes going through people.”
Jets rookie defensive lineman Leonard Williams never has played against Lynch. But he has encountered Ivory.
“I remember one time in camp, we were in like full pads, and he ran in my gap and I thought I was gonna just like easily thud him up, and he knocked me back, and I was just like, ‘Wow, welcome to the league,’ ” Williams said.
Pryor was asked to describe the way Ivory runs.
“Angry. … He [has] got something to prove,” Pryor said. “I believe he’s one of the best running backs in this league, and people are really starting to take notice.”
Especially the people in his locker room. Best Mode.