Marcus Allen was a master of scoring a touchdown or getting a first down in short yardage situations. He was not very big, but he got the job done. Also, like the fact that he handed the ball to the ref after he scored. Old-school: “Act like you’ve been there before.” Combine all that with his distain for weird Al and I’d go with him. Priest Holmes and Dontarie Poe were both fun. :-)
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My mother in law. Nobody can stop that bitch once she gets a full head of steam.
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Jamaal Charles is the all-time NFL leader in yards over expected per carry. He was actually 1.28 YPC over expected.

Only 4 backs in NFL history have even exceeded 1 YPC and Charles was a quarter yard better than that.

I mean I know he got stuck in the backfield sometimes...but not very often.

For me it comes down to Charles or Jim Brown. And I might just take Charles. His vision and balance through the hole was second to none.
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Lot of good answers, but I'm going with Marcus Allen
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Jamaal Charles on 12 career carries of 4th and 1-3 (unfortunately I can't find a simple 4th and 1 split) -- he converted 9 of them for 1st downs.

For perspective, Adrian Peterson was 17 of 28. Charles clearly better.

Emmitt Smith was 19/27 over the games when the stats were kept (post 1994) so Charles beats him as well despite Emmitt running behind the best line of all time.

I don't think we consider Charles short-yardage ability because he was so often breaking long ones, but the guy was a force even in short yardage situations.
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Ironhead Hayward
or
Bo Jackson (especially if we are talking Tecmo Bowl)
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