10 greatest players of all-time?

[scottsp]

The one thing about Emmitt's yards per game stat is that it decreased drastically after going to Arizona.

His yards-per-game following his final season with the Cowboys, after already breaking the rushing record with over 17,000 yards in 201 games played, was roughly 85.4 yards per game. When you consider that, I think it makes it look a lot less like the only reason he beat Payton's record was because he stuck around forever.

It's amazing what those two years in Arizona did to that stat.

Agreed. The time in Tempe did tarnish his numbers to an extent. That record, IMO, is still one that has much to do with longevity. Deuce had the carries record before he got the big one. But ya know, Sweetness did the same thing before he ever touched Jim Brown's mark. It's just amazing to me what Payton did while playing most of his career on some pretty awful teams.

BTW, while those two runners are certainly two of the greatest ever, I'll take Jim Brown over them both.

 

[Juke99]

Agreed. The time in Tempe did tarnish his numbers to an extent. That record, IMO, is still one that has much to do with longevity. Deuce had the carries record before he got the big one. But ya know, Sweetness did the same thing before he ever touched Jim Brown's mark. It's just amazing to me what Payton did while playing most of his career on some pretty awful teams.

BTW, while those two runners are certainly two of the greatest ever, I'll take Jim Brown over them both.

I barely remember Jim Brown...

But I do remember Gale Sayers who was the best pure runner I have ever seen.

Check out these stats.

Liftetime avg carry of 5.0 (even after coming back from a serious knee injury back in the days when those types of injuries ended careers). His season high was 6.2 and that was the year he got hurt. Makes ya wonder how good he would have been.

11.7 avg yds per catch with a season high of 17.5! A RB with a 17 yard average per catch. Amazing stuff.

14.5 Avg on punt returns with 2 TDs

30.6 Avg on kick off returns with 6 TDs including one season where he averaged over 37 yards per return with 3 TDs

My guess is that if he didn't get hurt, he'd be considered the best ever.

 

[jackrussell]

I barely remember Jim Brown...

But I do remember Gale Sayers who was the best pure runner I have ever seen.

Check out these stats.

Liftetime avg carry of 5.0 (even after coming back from a serious knee injury back in the days when those types of injuries ended careers). His season high was 6.2 and that was the year he got hurt. Makes ya wonder how good he would have been.

11.7 avg yds per catch with a season high of 17.5! A RB with a 17 yard average per catch. Amazing stuff.

14.5 Avg on punt returns with 2 TDs

30.6 Avg on kick off returns with 6 TDs including one season where he averaged over 37 yards per return with 3 TDs

My guess is that if he didn't get hurt, he'd be considered the best ever.

Right on the money juke. Numbers aside, to truly appreciate Gale Sayers was to watch him run. Words cannot describe, but 'subtle fluidity' would be the best I could do.

Is fluidity a word?

 

[dbair1967]

I'd quantify mine as saying its only players I have SEEN play...I started watching football regularly in 1975...no particular order:

1) Roger Staubach
2) Randy White
3) Walter Payton
4) Lawrence Taylor
5) Larry Allen
6) Reggie White
7) John Elway
8) Earl Campbell
9) Derrick Thomas
10) Emmitt Smith

David

 

[Hostile]

I barely remember Jim Brown...

But I do remember Gale Sayers who was the best pure runner I have ever seen.

Check out these stats.

Liftetime avg carry of 5.0 (even after coming back from a serious knee injury back in the days when those types of injuries ended careers). His season high was 6.2 and that was the year he got hurt. Makes ya wonder how good he would have been.

11.7 avg yds per catch with a season high of 17.5! A RB with a 17 yard average per catch. Amazing stuff.

14.5 Avg on punt returns with 2 TDs

30.6 Avg on kick off returns with 6 TDs including one season where he averaged over 37 yards per return with 3 TDs

My guess is that if he didn't get hurt, he'd be considered the best ever.

Gale Sayers or Bo Jackson, either one could have been the best ever with full careers.

I know I'll never hear a football guy say Brown was over rated. I guarantee you that right now.

 

[scottsp]

I barely remember Jim Brown...

But I do remember Gale Sayers who was the best pure runner I have ever seen.

Check out these stats.

Liftetime avg carry of 5.0 (even after coming back from a serious knee injury back in the days when those types of injuries ended careers). His season high was 6.2 and that was the year he got hurt. Makes ya wonder how good he would have been.

11.7 avg yds per catch with a season high of 17.5! A RB with a 17 yard average per catch. Amazing stuff.

14.5 Avg on punt returns with 2 TDs

30.6 Avg on kick off returns with 6 TDs including one season where he averaged over 37 yards per return with 3 TDs

My guess is that if he didn't get hurt, he'd be considered the best ever.

Juke, Good stuff. Can't really argue with that. Sayers is, in my eyes, still the most electrifying return man ever to play. And yeah, I often wonder just how great he would have been had he not been forced out so early.

His talent was undeniably awesome.

 

[MiamiFan13]

I'd quantify mine as saying its only players I have SEEN play...I started watching football regularly in 1975...no particular order:

1) Roger Staubach
2) Randy White
3) Walter Payton
4) Lawrence Taylor
5) Larry Allen
6) Reggie White
7) John Elway
8) Earl Campbell
9) Derrick Thomas
10) Emmitt Smith

David

AHHAHAHAHA Roger Staubach? Larry Allen? John Elway? ahaha lmao you think that there in the top ten lol. Ever heard of a guy named Dan Marino? yeah i think he's deff. in the top ten

 

[wxcpo]

In no particular order;

Emmitt
Marino
Rice
Payton
Brown
LT
Butkus
Kellen Winslow
Deacon Jones
Farve

 

[Payton34Smith22]

1) Jim Brown
2) Walter Payton
3) Emmitt Smith
4) Barry Sanders
5) Dick Butkus
6) Lawrence Taylor
7) Deion Sanders
8) Joe Montana
9) Dan Marino
10)Jerry Rice

 

[The30YardSlant]

Walter Payton was a better running back than Emmitt Smith. PERIOD.

Not a chance. The only player you can even make that arguement for is Barry Sanders, but Emmitt was a far more complete back than Sanders was.

 

[The30YardSlant]

You know the problem with your argument?

If you put Brown in today's game he'd have the benefit of the training and nutritional improvements that today's players have.

By the same token put today's players in the 50's and they can't train year a round, because they'd have to work in the offseason, they won't be lifting weights or eating the same way.

Great football players are great period, and Jim Brown is without a doubt the best football player EVER, and it's not even close.

To not have him in your top ten is ridiculous, and screams of a total lack of football knowledge.

This list has nothing to do with who was the best in their time, its who was the best period. Thats why most of the greatest ever come from the 80s and later, because talent and skill continue to grow every year. Jim Brown was a freak of nature because he played in a time when the average offensive lineman was 260 pounds. Today they are over 300 pounds. The averaged D-Lineman in the 60 was about 230-240 pounds, which is what many RBs weigh today.

And if you think players today dont work in the offseason, it is you with the lack of football knowledge.

 

[Drederick Tatum]

No, you cant argue that. Todays players are undeniably faster, stronger, and more athletic than players were then. Yes, he was a beast amongst boys, THEN. He wouldnt be had he played in the same league the other guys did. He would have been great yes, but he wouldnt have averaged 150 YPG or whatever number it was. But come on, if Barry Sanders had been running in the 60s with his 4.25 speed, with defenders not running anything close to that like they do now, he would have scored on every play.

By your own logic, because athletes are bigger and faster now, Barry Sanders wouldn't have run 4.25 in the 60's.

 

[Nors]

Jim Brown if born 30 years later would have also been bigger and stronger and dominated the NFL of today just the same.

 

[The30YardSlant]

By your own logic, because athletes are bigger and faster now, Barry Sanders wouldn't have run 4.25 in the 60's.

Speed is an ability that cant be taught. Athletes are simply getting naturally more talented as the years go on. Its true in all sports. Compare todays NBA players to those of the 60s and 70s? Compare todays home ruin hitters in baseball to those of years past?

 

[The30YardSlant]

Jim Brown if born 30 years later would have also been bigger and stronger and dominated the NFL of today just the same.

My point is not "had he been born now" my point is put his skill and ability from his time in any RB of today's game and he wouldnt dominate as he did then.

 

[Drederick Tatum]

Speed is an ability that cant be taught. Athletes are simply getting naturally more talented as the years go on. Its true in all sports. Compare todays NBA players to those of the 60s and 70s? Compare todays home ruin hitters in baseball to those of years past?

Ok, I'll bite.


Than what external phenomemom would you attribute to players simply naturally getting more talented, the water, food additives, accute evolution. I don't think so. Speed can be taught to a certain degree, it is the area of sports science where you can teach training techniques and biomechanics to help athletes get better. These technique are available today and they weren't 30 years ago, but that should not take away from the fact that Jim Brown was the best RB at the time, and given these advances in training techniques would likely have been today. I am not sure the reverse would be true for every great player today going back to the 60's.

People don't just get naturally more talented for no apparent reason.

 

[Big Country]

ya'll aint going back very far now...
Here's some more going back a little further...

Sammy Baugh
Art Donovan
Dick Butkus
Lance Alworth
Otto Graham
Jim Thorpe
Bronco Nagurski
Gayle Sayers
Lem Barney
Forrest Gregg

thoughts anyone?

 

[blindzebra]

This list has nothing to do with who was the best in their time, its who was the best period. Thats why most of the greatest ever come from the 80s and later, because talent and skill continue to grow every year. Jim Brown was a freak of nature because he played in a time when the average offensive lineman was 260 pounds. Today they are over 300 pounds. The averaged D-Lineman in the 60 was about 230-240 pounds, which is what many RBs weigh today.

And if you think players today dont work in the offseason, it is you with the lack of football knowledge.

Work as in J..O..B.

Players today are setting up businesses for their post-football days, they are not working 9 to 5 to feed their families, dispite whta TO may say.

Brown today would still be a freak.

He'd be lifting weights, something not routinely done in his time, so he'd be bigger and stronger.

He'd be eating better, not just meat and potatoes like it was in his time.

He'd have the benefit of supplements.

And you CAN TRAIN FOR SPEED, players do it all the time for the combine to increase their 40 times, also how do track athletes improve their times if you can't coach speed?

Take away the weights, supplements, better food, and year around traing from today's players and you know what you have?

250 pound lineman and 180 pound RBs who run slower than they would today.

Greatness is greatness, and Jim Brown is one of if not the best football player ever.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Ok, I'll bite.


Than what external phenomemom would you attribute to players simply naturally getting more talented, the water, food additives, accute evolution. I don't think so. Speed can be taught to a certain degree, it is the area of sports science where you can teach training techniques and biomechanics to help athletes get better. These technique are available today and they weren't 30 years ago, but that should not take away from the fact that Jim Brown was the best RB at the time, and given these advances in training techniques would likely have been today. I am not sure the reverse would be true for every great player today going back to the 60's.

People don't just get naturally more talented for no apparent reason.

I dont want to turn this into a scientific thread, but the process of evolution even exists in humans. Humans are gradually getting taller and bigger, so why is it so hard to believe natural athleticism is increasing as well?

 

[blindzebra]

I dont want to turn this into a scientific thread, but the process of evolution even exists in humans. Humans are gradually getting taller and bigger, so why is it so hard to believe natural athleticism is increasing as well?

The key word is GRADUAL, that normally means more than a generation or two.

Mark Spitz was giving an interview during the olympics and he was swimming within fractions of seconds of his times in the 70's, 25 years later, why?