105.3 has upset me: Emmitt vs Barry

haleyrules

haleyrules

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BAT said:
LOL. Did you use a crystal ball to predict that? Barry did not like running behind his blockers. Dallas OL was built for power running, that was NOT Barry Sanders. Detroit went to the spread to maximize Barry's talents. It is foolish to say that Barry would have had Emmitt's success simply by swapping the 2 backs.
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I would take Smiths toughness any day.....he was no quitter....;).
 
Yakuza Rich

Yakuza Rich

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CashMan said:
I am not saying Emmitt was bad.

I don't think HOF is exactly the be all end all for how great you are. You can look at a few positions that do not have a lot of HOF players at them. Erik Williams was pretty dominant. He also was able to head slap people He also did a lot of cocaine. Mark Tunei was pretty good. Newton was good as well. Step was great.
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Erik Williams was a 3rd rounder that dominated people in pass coverage, particularly Reggie White.

Tuinea was a journeyman football player who was originally a DT that they moved to OT where he couldn't play until all of the sudden...Emmitt came along.

Newton was a journeyman player until Emmitt came along.

Stepnoski was a very small center who wasn't nearly as good when he left the Cowboys.

This team couldn't win when Emmitt was out (either due to injury or holdout). But, it could win...even in the playoffs...without Troy.

Emmitt made the O-Line, not the other way around.




YR
 
Toomany10pins

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As not a fan of either team, I ask why can we not appreciate the uber talents of both of these great running backs??? Different teams, different styles, both HOF'ers and a hell of a lot of fun watching them dominate an opponent.
 
Bullflop

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The Emmitt Smith vs. Barry Sanders debate has been hashed and rehashed for decades now. It's time to put it to rest. There's a case for both to get due respect without allowing undue stress to prevail. It's nothing but a pointless argument that accomplishes nothing. Both have a case to be made in their favor. It's easier on everyone to simply praise these long-retired athletes with great respect and leave it at that. Just relax.
 
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Ranched

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Bullflop said:
The Emmitt Smith vs. Barry Sanders debate has been hashed and rehashed for decades now. It's time to put it to rest. There's a case for both to get due respect without allowing undue stress to prevail. It's nothing but a pointless argument that accomplishes nothing. Both have a case to be made in their favor. It's easier on everyone to simply praise these long-retired athletes with great respect and leave it at that. Just relax.
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Agree. Emmitt's too busy polishing his 3 rings anyway. :p
 
jmnichols75

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bbailey423 said:
Did Emmit have anyone drafted higher than the 3rd round on his OL? Did Emmit have castoffs from other teams on his OL? Are any of Emmits great wall on the HOF? They were great as a unit. They had great coaching. But lets not act like they were 5 blue chippers. Other guys ran behind this same OL when Emmit was out....and did not look like a HOFer. And Emmit also blocked and caught passes. Emmit also got a steady 4+ yards. Emmit was savage around the goaline and in short yardage. Barry was electric....but give me Emmit all day. And during Barrys prime...the Lions had the highest paid OL in the league.
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I've never understood that line of reasoning about the OLs either. I do think that there was an advantage to Emmitt in that regard...but, not the overwhelming advantage perceived by some due to the persistent myth the Emmitt played behind a solid, impenetrable wall for his entire career, while poor Barry had to make due with cast offs from the Detroit-area high s hooligans JV teams. Barry had an above average line for several years...probably a very good one for 2-4 years of his career depending on who is making the evaluation. Emmitt just happened to have an All-World one in roughly the same time frame in the early 90s. But, over their careers, I think that Detroit may have had roughly equivalent OLs to Dallas...maybe even slightly better ones here or there going into the late 90s. Again, on the whole, probably still slight advantage to Emmitt, but not so much of one that you can explain away his success vis-a-vis Barry.

There is also one thing that ALWAYS gets overlooked in this comparison. Barry played in an offensive system (for much of his career...maybe all of it?) that all but prevented opponents from stacking the box. The Run and Shoot offense Detroit used in that era meant that a LOT of DBs were on the field AND spread out wide to cover the WRs. There weren't a lot of 8 and 9 man fronts that Barry had to face, whereas Emmitt did. Granted, that means that Emmitt had a FB in front of him that Barry wouldn't have. But, I think that the offense Detroit ran is an often overlooked factor in the comparison.

I've always actually maintened that both backs were in the best situation possible for each of them. I don't think Emmitt would have thrived like Barry without a FB consistently in front of as part of a system that allowed him to make use of his vision, instincts, and alight advantage in power (as compared to Sanders). I don't know that Barry would have been able to put his agility and evasiveness to as good a use in the offense that Dallas ran. I sometimes wonder if Barry wouldn't have ended up being injured, or hampered by the wear and tear even if not on IR, being hit a bit more often by people who are a bit bigger, a bit stronger, weigh bit more, and who put just a bit more pride/emphasis in/on their tackling. Getting whacked Junior Seau, or any linebacker, was probably a different experience than being hit by a CB (or even most safeties). Once makes little to no difference. One hundred times, you may start to notice a difference. A few thousand times over the course of a career, and it adds up. Barry with 5% less agility, a tenth off his 40, or any other subtle results of that phenomenon might have a made big difference...whether in year 6 of his career, in games 13 through 16 for all of it, or both.
 
ABQCOWBOY

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haleyrules said:
Yeah. Campbell was another favourite of mine. Completely different styles. Man, l loved Earl Campbell. Hard to honestly compare such emotionally inspiring players. I couldn't argue it.
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Yeah, you hit it on the head. The thing, to me, that separated Campbell from the others, and really I think you can say from any other player I saw, was heart. I just never saw another player with as much heart as that guy. You put that kind of ability and size together with a never say die attitude and you get Earl Campbell.

Unfortunately, he paid for it after football but while he was on the field, no words...
 
ksadler1

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CATCH17 said:
So I'm listening to 105.3 the fan and they say that Barry is better than Emmitt and it's not debatable for anyone outside of the metroplex and then 2 seconds later they say Jerry Rice is better than Randy Moss and it's not debatable.


To me... Emmitt and Jerry are the same. Jerry and Emmitt both weren't the biggest, strongest, or fastest but they were warriors who got it done in the biggest moments and have titles and all kinds of records to show for it.


Barry and Randy share the same thing. Immense physical ability and nothing to show for it. Heck... I would take a young Adrian Peterson over Barry Sanders.

I just don't understand though how you can just not apply the same rules to Jerry Rice as you do Emmitt smith when they are basically the same player at different positions.
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I haven't read all the posts on here, but I will say this. If Barry had not walked away from the game when he did, Emmitt would have never caught up to him. I know a lot may disagree with that, but Barry would have been the all-time leading NFL rusher right now.....
 
Thomas82

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Emmitt is the only running back in the history of football to ever be his state's all-time leading rusher in high school, his school's all-time leading rusher in college, and the NFL's all-time leading rusher. That should count for something.
 
darthseinfeld

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CATCH17 said:
So I'm listening to 105.3 the fan and they say that Barry is better than Emmitt and it's not debatable for anyone outside of the metroplex and then 2 seconds later they say Jerry Rice is better than Randy Moss and it's not debatable.


To me... Emmitt and Jerry are the same. Jerry and Emmitt both weren't the biggest, strongest, or fastest but they were warriors who got it done in the biggest moments and have titles and all kinds of records to show for it.


Barry and Randy share the same thing. Immense physical ability and nothing to show for it. Heck... I would take a young Adrian Peterson over Barry Sanders.

I just don't understand though how you can just not apply the same rules to Jerry Rice as you do Emmitt smith when they are basically the same player at different positions.
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Barry was a great back, but Youtube highlights have made him the Michael Jordan of HB's in the eyes of people who are too young to have followed football at that time.

Barry is well known to no show critical games, and games against strong opponents amd destroy weaker teams.

That Barry played on bad teams with a bad line is a huge misconception as well. The Lions werent on the Cowboys level in either department but he played on a playoff quality team and with multiple pro bowl level OL ( Lomas Brown, Kevin Glover, Jeff Hartings).
 
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