Athletes - Tiki Barber

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	Athletes - Tiki Barber

Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber is an American Football Running Back, drafted in the 2nd round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Primarily drafted for his ability as a 3rd down, "change of pace" back, he has since bulked up and has become a standout starting running back. For the 2004 season, he was the NFL's top yardage gainer from the line of scrimmage. It is notable that he attended the University of Virginia on an academic scholarship, not an athletic scholarship.

NFL career

In the 2000 NFL season, Barber formed a fearsome duo with the NCAA's all time leading rusher, Ron Dayne. The two were labeled "Thunder and Lightning" by the New York media, and helped the Giants reach Super Bowl XXXV.

Over the next 4 years Barber would become the most important part of the Giants offense. In the last regular season game of 2002, Tiki exploded for 203 yards against the Eagles, at the time one of the league's best defenses. His performance helped the Giants clinch a playoff berth, only for the team to fall to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card round. He ended the season with 1,984 yards from scrimmage.

The 2003 NFL season saw the Giants finish an abysmal 4-12. Barber had only three touchdowns on the season, but finished with 1,677 yards from scrimmage.

In spite of his success, Tiki still had one weakness that followed him for most of his NFL career: fumbling the football. After changing the way he carried the football from a horizontal to a vertical stance, his fumbles went down dramatically and he has truly become an elite back in the NFL.

Barber finished the 2004 season with 15 touchdowns, 1,518 yards rushing and 578 yards receiving for 2,096 total yards from scrimmage, but his effort was wasted by the Giants, who finished at 6-10. On January 2, 2005, Tiki broke Rodney Hampton's Giants' all-time rushing record and Joe Morris's single-season rushing record in the same game.

2005 Season

2005 was the rebirth of the New York Giants. Led by Eli Manning, they finished 11-5, and the offense was once again led by Barber. On December 17, 2005, Barber broke the Giants' single-game rushing record against the Kansas City Chiefs, rushing for 220 yards. It was his second (of three) 200 yard rushing games during the 2005 season, as he ran for 206 yards in week 8, after a bedside promise to ailing legendary owner Wellington Mara that the team would put forward its best effort. The Giants promptly shut out the Washington Redskins 36-0 two days after Mara was buried, proper homage to their beloved owner, to whom Tiki himself was especially close.

He finished the 2005 regular season with 1,860 rushing yards (second in the league to Shaun Alexander) and 2,390 all-purpose yards with a performance of 203 rushing yards against the Oakland Raiders in the final game of the season. Barber's 95-yard touchdown run set a Giants team record for longest touchdown run, previously held by Hap Moran for a 91-yard run on November 23, 1930 vs the Green Bay Packers.

After being shutout at home in the first round of the 2005 playoffs by the Carolina Panthers Tiki made a post game comment that he felt the Giants had been outcoached by their former defensive coordinator, and the Panther's head coach, John Fox. Heavy sports media attention was placed on the comment, which Tiki apologized for shortly afterwards, saying he only meant to convey the Giant's performance was 'unacceptable.' It is believed that Tiki and head coach Tom Coughlin have sorted out their differences.

Barber's total yardage for 2005 was second highest in history behind Marshall Faulk's 2,429 total yards in 1999. It is also the highest total for a running back over or at the age of 30. He was named to the NFC Pro Bowl squad for the second time in his career, and is expected to be named an All-Pro, and named to the All-NFC squad. Barber placed fourth in the voting for the 2005 MVP award. Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander won the Award, followed by Peyton Manning (second place) and Tom Brady (third place).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Tiki Barber ]

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Athletes - Tiki Barber

NFL career

2005 Season

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