Hyperbole is inevitable because Tomlinson is in the middle of one of the greatest individual NFL seasons of all time.

Against the Denver Broncos last Sunday night, the San Diego Chargers' running back scored four touchdowns in a single game for the fourth time in the current campaign. That took his tally for the past six matches to 19. No player has ever scored that many in so few outings before. His quartet against the Broncos also helped his team come from 14 points down to win, earned him the title of the fastest player to reach 100 touchdowns in his career, and put his individual total of 22 for the season ahead of 18 entire teams.

"He's the best there is, " said Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers last week. "There aren't many people who would argue with that, at least not anymore. He's unbelievable more than because he makes great runs. Every down he brings it, whether he's blocking or he's catching it or running it. His value can't be measured for us."

Playing a position that absorbs so much brutal punishment, the average professional career lasts just five years, Tomlinson is halfway through his sixth season and forcing pundits to seriously discuss whether he might just be the greatest running back ever. Some regard it as premature to compare him to icons like Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders but others contend he's on pace to outstrip them all. Five-foot-11 and 16 stone, Tomlinson met Brown . . . who retired after nine incredible years to become an actor and civil rights activist . . . before a game in Cleveland earlier this year.

"I will never forget the moment of meeting him, " said Tomlinson. "He said I had a great career so far and said to stay healthy. The guy inspired me a lot. To me he was the best combination of power and speed. He was phenomenal. But walking around the corner and seeing him. . . I'm there thinking to myself, 'My goodness, that is Jim Brown.' The first thing I do is go and shake his hand and say, 'Hey, I appreciate you inspiring me to be a running back.'" Staying healthy is the toughest part of the deal. Running backs are responsible for gaining what are called the "hard yards". They take hand-offs from the quarterback and try to drive up the middle or around the line of scrimmage. It's a measure of the difficulty involved in trying to squeeze past the 25-stone behemoths in their path that a gain of four yards per carry is considered an excellent return. This season, Tomlinson is averaging nearly a yard better than that every time, and by forcing opponents to double-team him on every play, he's also creating openings elsewhere for his side.

A team player in a sport where the slightest bit of national attention often turns previously reticent individuals into rampant egomaniacs, Tomlinson is cut from different cloth. A tireless charity worker, he sports a tattoo of his mother's face on his left shoulder, with the inscription "My Inspiration . . . Loreane" around it. When she ministered in their local church back in Waco, Texas, her son often led the congregation in prayer.

Having subsequently attended Texas Christian University . . . not a college gridiron powerhouse . . . Tomlinson's development once reaching the pros is a parable of self-improvement. In the summer of 2004, he hired a personal trainer.

Already wealthy beyond his childhood imaginings, and having just become the first player to run for 1000 yards and catch 100 passes in a season, he wanted to further improve his balance and his core strength. The result of that renewed dedication was to turn a really good player into an all-time great.

"Obviously I'm in the prime of my career, " said Tomlinson this week. "I see things clearly out on the football field. It's kind of a thing like when you were in high school and you knew you can make plays for your team because you're seeing things clearly and you felt like you were on top of your game. That's the way I feel right now.

"I'm focused on the present right now, and obviously the future ahead and I never really want to stop and look at what I've done or even to look back. I've got a one-track mind going forward, and that's to win and build something special, something that people can remember."

For all the headlines he's generated in recent weeks, Tomlinson has still been overshadowed by his old idol Smith. The former Cowboy great has just sambaed and cha cha chaed his way back to prominence by winning America's Dancing with the Stars.

A torch nobody ever wants to see him pass on to Tomlinson.