Best Rusher in NFL History? Emmit Smith Vs. Barry Sanders

The Radish · Mar 27, 2013

hawksfansinceday1":3lqk4ctw said:
Seahawk Sailor":3lqk4ctw said:

Gotta give the nudge to Sanders, just a hair better than Brown. Sanders had a crap team pretty much his entire career, and was about the only thing that kept the Lions in it at all............

Click to expand...

But Brown had crap QBs his whole career too unless you think Frank Ryan was good. Defenses were just as focused on him as they were Sanders. Barry is my #2 behind Brown who was almost as elusive as Sanders and had near Earl Campbell power to go with the elusiveness. He was the complete package like none before or since.

One thing I thing I remember clearly about both Brown and OJ. They didn't try to skip away from contact very much. They tended to hit the pile full on. The difference with them was that many times they came out the other side of the pile and were off and running. And remember especially with Brown it was a running league in those days. 4 yards and a cloud of dust was the norm. Everyone knew Brown was going to get the ball.

Where the Juice is concerned I always give him credit for his football abilitys as it was. What happened after was off the field by years and really shouldn't be used against him for what he did on the field.

If/when an athletic gets himself in trouble during his playing/managing/whatever time on the field than they should perhaps be faulted for that. Orenthal James Simpson was a good student at USC, respected and liked by his team mates through out his career. But as we all know something happened to him after football. But it really shoudn't be held against his career stats/accomplishments.

:roll:

Seahawk Sailor · Mar 27, 2013

Brown had crap quarterbacks, sure, but quick, name a Lions' quarterback not named Matthew Stafford. But the point of running backs is to run the ball down field, gain yards, and stuff it in the end zone. Even with a crap team behind him, Barry Sanders was set to break almost every running back record there is. The only reason he didn't is a tribute to him suddenly quitting, in what many consider the prime of his career. Much like Brown, I suppose. But Barry had the edge. Very very slightly. Maybe.

penihawk · Mar 27, 2013

The thing that makes comparing Jim Brown with modern day players hard is that the guys on defense he played against were not 300 lb athletes in the D-line or 250 lb super athlete LBers. He was no doubt a freak of his day but who knows if you put him in the time machine. My guess would be he would still be pretty damn good but we will never know. Having said that, I say Barry Sanders and if Bo Jackson would of been dedicated to football and stayed healthy he would of been the greatest of all time by far.

TheLargentLine · Mar 27, 2013

The four best in order: Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, OJ Simpson, Walter Payton.

I think you can definitely make an argument for any of those guys as to who is the best RB of all-time. Simpson was a terrible person, sure, but I think if people want to be honest with themselves when it comes to skills on the field, you have to at least consider him as one of the best.

Emmit Smith may have the record, but it wasn't because he was more talented than the previous four and quite honestly, many other running backs had more talent. His record is truly more of an accomplishment to his offensive line in my opinion as he basically had a great O-Line during his career with Dallas. On the other hand, Barry Sanders basically had a below average offensive line and was always way more dynamic than Emmit Smith. Always. Not sure how anyone can compare the two to be honest - I don't even think it is close.

Someone previously compared Shaun Alexander to Barry Sanders, but I think Shaun compared a lot more to Emmit Smith. Alexander benefited more from a really good offensive line, much like Emmit Smith did, although he was not as good nor did he have the health and offensive line longevity that Smith did. I do agree though that Shaun Alexander is underrated based on some of the things I see posted on this site about him.

Of the four I mentioned above, I am only old enough to have had watched Barry Sanders, which probably has a lot to do with why he is my personal favorite. The other guys I have watched video, heard the stories and all that.

Emmit Smith was a damn good back. He was smart and elusive, which is why he lasted as long as he did. But he was not a great back, at least not skill wise and he doesn't really belong in the "greatest RB of all-time" discussion imo. The ONLY time I ever hear his name mentioned is among some biased Cowboy fans - yet never among fans of the sport in general. To be fair, if Alexander had the career Emmit did I think many of us would be the same way.

hawksfansinceday1 · Mar 28, 2013

penihawk":3d4cpx69 said:
............if Bo Jackson would of been dedicated to football and stayed healthy he would of been the greatest of all time by far.

Completely agree with this.

The Radish · Mar 28, 2013

TheLargentLine":y1isdu47 said:
The four best in order: Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, OJ Simpson, Walter Payton.

I think you can definitely make an argument for any of those guys as to who is the best RB of all-time. Simpson was a terrible person, sure, but I think if people want to be honest with themselves when it comes to skills on the field, you have to at least consider him as one of the best.

Emmit Smith may have the record, but it wasn't because he was more talented than the previous four and quite honestly, many other running backs had more talent. His record is truly more of an accomplishment to his offensive line in my opinion as he basically had a great O-Line during his career with Dallas. On the other hand, Barry Sanders basically had a below average offensive line and was always way more dynamic than Emmit Smith. Always. Not sure how anyone can compare the two to be honest - I don't even think it is close.

Someone previously compared Shaun Alexander to Barry Sanders, but I think Shaun compared a lot more to Emmit Smith. Alexander benefited more from a really good offensive line, much like Emmit Smith did, although he was not as good nor did he have the health and offensive line longevity that Smith did. I do agree though that Shaun Alexander is underrated based on some of the things I see posted on this site about him.

Of the four I mentioned above, I am only old enough to have had watched Barry Sanders, which probably has a lot to do with why he is my personal favorite. The other guys I have watched video, heard the stories and all that.

Emmit Smith was a damn good back. He was smart and elusive, which is why he lasted as long as he did. But he was not a great back, at least not skill wise and he doesn't really belong in the "greatest RB of all-time" discussion imo. The ONLY time I ever hear his name mentioned is among some biased Cowboy fans - yet never among fans of the sport in general. To be fair, if Alexander had the career Emmit did I think many of us would be the same way.

Can't really argue with any of those picks. Can't really argue with a bunch of others either. Its mostly more what you think and have seen. Sayers has always been my favorite but didn't play long enough to be considered the best. But the fact he only played what 6 seasons attests to us now how damned good everyone else thought he was.

Best Rusher in NFL History? Emmit Smith Vs. Barry Sanders

Best Running Back In History

Emmit Smith

Barry Sanders

Walter Payton

Jim Brown

Gale Sayors

Tony Dorsett

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