Al, your posts are excellent as always, love reading them.
But a small semantic point
The #8 is the box-to-box mid
In traditional tactical position/role nomenclature, the #6 is the holding mid, the #10 is the advanced playmaker, and the #8 does both jobs (defends the box and gets into the attack at the other end).
Gerrard's issue in regards to Lampard is that they were usually played together as a pair, and both players wanted to get forward, and nobody wanted to mind the house, IIRC.
But in terms of his activity, he has almost always played the #8 role in the middle. His issue is that he played almost entirely on instinct, which is probably part of the reason Rafa liked him out on the right more than in the middle.