Tiki Barber

Biography

Tiki Barber was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. His identical twin brother, Ronde Barber is a cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the 2005 season, he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage. 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 an integral 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 1,651 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 many now considered him to be in the top tier of running backs.

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 with the NFC East title, 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 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[1] 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 Giants' 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 was voted an All Pro. 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).

He was nominated for the 2005 FedEx Ground Player of the Year Award, along with LaDainian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander.

2006 Season

In October 2006, Barber revealed his intention to retire at the end of the 2006 NFL season. There had been speculation that Barber might retire to pursue a career in broadcasting, but the news still came as a shock to Giants fans and NFL observers.

Barber had another outstanding season. Barber rushed for 1,662 yards and five touchdowns. Tiki's best game in 2006 was the last game of the season, at Washington, when he was rushed for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Giants 34-28 victory against the Redskins, a win that gave the Giants a playoff berth.

Television personality

Barber has appeared a number of times as a guest host on Fox News' morning show, Fox & Friends and has signed a contract with the network to be a general contributor and appear each Tuesday (dubbed "Tuesdays with Tiki" or "Tiki Tuesday") on the morning program. With his historic 2005 season now behind him, Barber plans to appear on the show more often as a regular host, frequently substituting for either Steve Doocy or Brian Kilmeade. He has also co-hosted FNC's DaySide alongside Juliet Huddy.

He has also served as a sports analyst for WCBS-TV in New York City [2] and in 2006, became guest anchor on WNYW's Good Day New York morning program.

Tiki has a twin brother, Ronde Barber, who is a cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The brothers host a weekly radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio called Barbershop.

Career highlights

• Led NFL in total yards from scrimmage: 2004, 2005
• 4 games of 200+ yards rushing
• Pro Bowl: 2004, 2005
• First player in NFL history with 1,800 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in one season
• In 2005, Barber became one of three players in NFL history with at least three 200-yard rushing games in a season (O.J. Simpson had three in 1973 and Earl Campbell ran for at least 200 yards four times in 1980)

New York Giants Team Records

• Longest Touchdown Run: 95 yards, December 31, 2005 vs. the Oakland Raiders
• Most Rushing Touchdowns, Career: 50
• Most Rushing Attempts, Season: 357, 2005 season
• Most Rushing Yards, Single Game: 220 yards, December 17, 2005 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs
• Most Rushing Yards, Season: 1,860 yards, 2005 season
• Most Rushing Yards, Career: 8,787 yards
• Most Total Yards, Season: 2,390 yards, 2005 season

Trivia

Tiki and his twin brother Ronde Barber are often compared to Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander, they call him the "third Barber brother".

Even though Tiki Barber is a vegetarian, he enjoys grilling with his brother Ronde Barber in his spare time when he's not playing football or practicing his throws.

Statistics

Rushing Stats

Receiving Stats

Punt Return Stats

Kick Return Stats

Fumble Recovery Stats

Passing Stats

Advanced Stats

(Normalized to 2005 environment)

Season	Team	Pos	 G	Plays	  TAY   NetPts  Pts/Pl	 PAR	PAR/G	WARP
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1997	nyg	rb	12	152.1	 691.5	 57.63	0.379	22.19	1.85	0.55
1998	nyg	rb	16	 73.7	 353.0	 29.42	0.399	12.24	0.77	0.31
1999	nyg	rb	16	 96.5	 573.0	 47.75	0.495	25.27	1.58	0.63
2000	nyg	rb	16	251.9	1443.5	120.29	0.478	61.60	3.85	1.54
2001	nyg	rb	14	205.0	1205.0	100.42	0.490	52.65	3.76	1.32
2002	nyg	rb	16	341.7	1729.0	144.08	0.422	64.47	4.03	1.61
2003	nyg	rb	16	310.3	1420.5	118.38	0.381	46.08	2.88	1.15
2004	nyg	rb	16	346.9	1884.0	157.00	0.453	76.17	4.76	1.90
2005	nyg	rb	16	384.5	2225.0	185.42	0.482	95.83	5.99	2.40
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Trivia

See also

External links

• Tiki Barber Bio at Greater Talent Network (Speakers Bureau)
• Current Stats
• Tiki Barber's MySpace Page