A football life: Barry Sanders

[muck4doo]

Originally Posted by NickZepp

The guy that gets lost on the best ever discussions is Earl Campbell. The guy from about 78-81 put out sick numbers. Today we may have on that will be an all time great in Adrian Peterson. Now he really does have a line that's not any good and right now has no QB or receivers and just came off a brutal knee injury and has put up sick numbers the last 6 weeks.

Sanders, Brown, Payton, Dickerson, Smith, Campbell, Motley, Simpson, Dorsett, and Faulk would be my top 10 in no real order right now.

That Marcus Allen guy was pretty good too.

[NickZepp]

Sayers, Sims, and Jackson are talented freaks probably would have been easily top 10 guys but just had too short of careers. Especially with Jackson. He never even had a 1000 yard rushing season. Sims should be in the HOF but for whatever reasons isn't.

[muck4doo]

Originally Posted by NickZepp

Sayers, Sims, and Jackson are talented freaks probably would have been easily top 10 guys but just had too short of careers. Especially with Jackson. He never even had a 1000 yard rushing season. Sims should be in the HOF but for whatever reasons isn't.

Billy Sims=Karate Kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0O7973Ew8A

[StarBoyz83]

Well emmitt is my favorite but he was behind the best o-line to ever play. So that for sure takes away from it imo.

[dexternjack]

I think its funny that some people who don't consider Romo elite is because he lacks hardware. Well, so does Sanders. How can it be that Barry is better then Emmitt, the guy that does hold some SB trophies.

Also, Emmitt was money in the playoffs, Barry was not even close. Here is a snippet I found:

Barry Sanders -- Overrated


Barry Sanders, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 (his first year of eligibility), scored one touchdown for every 35 touches in his 153 regular-season games, but just one touchdown in 112 postseason touches in six playoff games.
Indeed, Sanders' only career playoff touchdown was a 47-yard run against the Dallas Cowboys in a 1991 divisional-round playoff game in the Pontiac Silverdome. The Lions won that game 38-6. Sanders' touchdown came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter with Detroit already leading 31-6. The following week, the Lions went on the road to play the Washington Redskins at RFK Stadium. Sanders was not a factor. Detroit took a 41-10 beating.


US Presswire
Barry Sanders wasn't the same player away from home.
Sanders' postseason performance supports the notion that he was a product of the cozy, climate-controlled Silverdome. Nice carpet for easy, stop-on-a-dime maneuvering. Seventy-two degrees. Detroit faithful keeping the defensive line off balance with high decibel support.
In four career outdoor postseason games, Sanders averaged a paltry 2.8 yards per carry. He never scored a touchdown. And he never ran for more than 65 yards in a single game. With Sanders, the Lions went 0-4 in outdoor playoff games, losing by an average of 17 points.



So, what is the final analysis if Romo can't be better than Eli because of rings but Barry can be better than Smith?

Emmitt may or may not be better(he is IMO) than Payton or Brown, but he sure is heck superior to the quitter Sanders. Just my two cents.

[rynochop]

Originally Posted by StarBoyz83

Well emmitt is my favorite but he was behind the best o-line to ever play. So that for sure takes away from it imo.

And how many of all those o lineman are in the hof?

I think people still forget that Emmitt played almost another entire season in playoff games and superbowls. I think its 14 games, well over 1000 yds, not sure of tds, double digit I'm sure.
If im starting a franchise, I pick Emmitt every time as my rb.

[bbailey423]

Originally Posted by erod

Look, Emmitt is my all-time favorite Cowboy. Wear his jersey to every game. Greatest Cowboy of all time in my opinion.

But if he was drafted by the Seahawks, he'd barely be mentioned. He had the perfect quarterback, coordinator, and offensive line, and he took advantage of it. Incredibly durable and consistent.

Sanders had ZERO help. Terrible coaches, awful quarterbacks, no defense, and no notable offensive line. He was the most unique running back of all time.

Brown, Payton, and Simpson still set the example that others follow. And if he hadn't gotten hurt, Bo Jackson might have trumped them all.

Didnt we get Newton and Tuenei off the scrap heap? I believe Erik Williams was a 2nd round pick. Larry Allen was a 2nd round pick. Stepnoski was not here for every Super Bowl. Neither was Allen. There is ONE hall of famer in the bunch.....Allen. No doubt they were a great OL.....but part of what made them great....and Irvin great....and Aikman great......was Emmit. On TRULY great teams...they all feed off each other. And the great ones elevate the performance of their teamates. Which is the problem we have in Dallas right now with our so called great players. Barry quit. Do you think that gene developed over night? Do you think he had a little of that in him all along? Do you think his teammates sensed that trait?

He had some tremendous highlight plays. So did it Emmit. But again, we are talking about running, catching, picking up the blitz, converting 1st downs, scoring TDs, playing hurt....I mean, this is about winning, right? And to win, you have to make game winning plays....to make game winning plays, you have to carry your team on your back. Emmit did that in big games!

[BraveHeartFan]

I agree on Bo Jackson. If he'd never been hurt and if he'd focused entirely on football the guy would have been the best ever.

He was that damn great.

[bbailey423]

Originally Posted by BraveHeartFan

I agree on Bo Jackson. If he'd never been hurt and if he'd focused entirely on football the guy would have been the best ever.

He was that damn great.

I agree he was great. But again, his greatness was predicated more on his physical gifts....than all the other things that made Emmit great. Every guy being named above Emmit...was more physically gifted....whether it was more size, speed, wiggle...you name it. But NONE of them accomplished what Emmit did. And that is because being more physically gifted is NOT enough. All you have to do is look at Montanna and Brady to understand that being the most physically gifted is not enough. Neither can run fast. Neither of them have a rocket arm. But they had so many things that CANNOT be measured...which is why they have achieved more than most other QBs. Heck Jerry Rice was not the most physically gifted WR. And you know what he did.

[TheFinisher]

Originally Posted by Hostile

Can't stand him. For my money the most over rated player who has ever stepped on a football field.

Glad he was never a Cowboy. Would not even make my top list of RBs because I don't respect that he would not run between the Tackles. Exciting as hell, but contributed too much to his team being losers because he handicapped them.

Barry Sanders is one of the greatest RBs to ever play the game, to say he handicapped the Lions is ridiculous.

[vta]

I'm not sure why anybody watches football, if not to be entertained.
Their personal accomplishements are 'nice'. For them. I don't benefit from them one bit, so I can't guage them by that.

I completely enjoyed watching Emmitt Smith. The guy was an all-around juggernaut who could run, catch and block. Reliable, tough and indispensible.

I completely enjoyed watching Barry Sanders. Even until today, there doesn't exist a player who makes me want to watch a team I do not even like. (Earl Campbell came close earlier). The guy was lightning, made moves no other human would attempt and blew away the poor guy who was sure he had him wrapped up.

I couldn't down one for the other and would be happy with either one.

[Yakuza Rich]

He was the most overrated football player I ever saw. Forget the 'quitter' stuff (which he was), he was flat out overrated.

There's some YouTube videos where they show games and only show his carries. One game against the Packers their O-Line was fine. Their backup TE stunk. But, they did quite well against Reggie White and the gang. But every time the opposing defense got any penetration, everybody remarks how 'bad' the Detroit O-Line was.

Barry was simply afraid of getting hit. Unless he saw a wide open crease immediately set for him, he was going to stutter step and try to reverse his field. It made for some incredible highlights, but it also made for him getting -3 yards when there was 3-5 yards to be had. And because he was a tailback who touches the ball frequently on 1st downs, the Lions would get a lot 2nd and 13's when they should have had at least 2nd and 8.

I'm not trying to be a contrarian when it comes to Sanders because he could do things I didn't think were possible. But, that's exactly what he was...a highlight film. I wouldn't even put him in my top-10 tailbacks of all-time. How could you when he kills drives like he did?






YR

[Nirvana]

I would take a healthy Bo Jackson over any other RB in history.

[big dog cowboy]

A lot of interesting comments on Barry. I'll throw one out there that might surprise some folks. I can't prove this, but I got to see him play high school football. Sanders grew up in my hometown and I currently live about 5 or 6 minutes away from "Barry Sanders Football Field."