Notable comments from around the league over the first eight weeks of the season about Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler.
"(Ekeler) has added a lot. That's one thing that Whisenhunt has always been able to do is use his backs in the passing game as well as the running game. … When Melvin gets tired, you get happy that he goes off to the bench, you're glad he's out of the game and then this young man comes in and geez, you wish we would've signed the guy. He's running hard, he can make you miss, he's got flexibility to line up in the backfield or come out of the backfield or line up in the slot or out wide. He's obviously a very sharp customer. He knows how to play the game. They have a real good combination going on." –Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden
"Both their backs, Melvin and Ekeler, they're both talented runners, both bring two different things to the table. Melvin's a bigger guy, he's got great balance (and) he's a little strong. Ekeler's just slippery inside the box. He can make a lot of people miss. I think people take him too lightly when they try to tackle him because you see him breaking a lot of tackles out there on film."–Browns LB Joe Schobert
"They have probably close to 50 or 45 explosive plays running and throwing the ball between them. That's something that's not easy. They probably have 35 of the 62 explosive plays and a lot of those are in the run game, some are in the pass game. You've seen Ekeler get downfield, catch a ball 20, 30 yards from the line of scrimmage. Seeing Gordon catch it near the line of scrimmage and turn it into 20 yards. Two explosive guys, both guys are comfortable with the ball in their hand. They do a good job of catching it and Philip certainly looks for them." – Head Coach Mike Vrabel
"(Gordon is) a little wise beyond his years, but a great talent on the football field. A guy that I respect." – Rams DT Ndamukong Suh
"Gordon is a physical runner. He is a downhill, get after it, get behind you pads (runner), but he has good lateral quickness. The other guy is fast. (Ekeler) can catch, and he can run. He does a lot of different things with the ball. They screen to him. They do it all to him. They have a pretty good one, two punch." – Browns Head Coach Hue Jackson
"Gordon is impressive. This guy is a hard runner. He gets to the sideline and (becomes) more violent on the sideline. There was a play the other day in the 49ers game where he's running up the sideline and the defenders are pulling back on him. Then all of sudden he keeps going and you see the change of speed." – Raiders Defensive Coordinator Paul Guenther
"They're doing a great job of blocking for (Gordon) this year, making holes. He's hitting it. He's making guys miss. He's doing incredible things as a running back. It's going to be key for us to make sure we get him down and (we've) got to make sure we gang tackle him because he's making the first man miss all the time." – Titans DT Jurrell Casey
