A Football Life: Barry Sanders

[DFWJC]

I really enjoy the NFL Networks' series on various football legends.

The "A Football Life" production for Barry Sanders was amazing.

If anyone here ever gets a chance to see it, please check it out. Man, I'm ashamed I forgot just how amazing a player that guy was.

I also forgot about his 1st starting season at OK State.
11 games, 2628 yards, 39 TDs....:laugh2:
Outer worldly.

And then, of course, he tore through the NFL as well.

Extreme leg drive, blazing speed, and maybe the best moves of any player in history.

Plus, the guy did not really live for records or accolades.
Just rare in how humble he was.

I think some of us think we knew what he was about as a player or person, but moreso in Dallas than maybe any other NFL town, I think we underrate Barry Sanders

 

[RastaRocket]

[youtube]5djLHXt7gcI[/youtube]

Check out Barry Sanders Jr. He redshirted for Stanford last season.

 

[trentmonster]

That's fair, because all non-Cowboy fans underrate #22.

 

[DFWJC]

That's fair, because all non-Cowboy fans underrate #22.

Except that this thread was not about #22.

Anyway, it was a good show.

 

[Idgit]

[youtube]5djLHXt7gcI[/youtube]

Check out Barry Sanders Jr. He redshirted for Stanford last season.

That's cool.

It looks like somebody slowed down some of his dad's tape and just changed the uniform.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Barry Sanders is the most overrated player I have ever seen in the game of football.

He had the most carries for negative yards in NFL history. He simply didn't like getting hit. He admitted it over and over again. He had perennial Pro Bowlers on the O-Line. He wasn't interested in grinding yards out to avoid losing yards and instead would readily bounce out of the play. Often times it worked, often times it didn't. He was terrible at picking up blitzes and wasn't much of a receiver or short yardage back.

I think we underrate Marshall Faulk because he's such a terrible analyst





YR

 

[DFWJC]

Barry Sanders is the most overrated player I have ever seen in the game of football.

He had the most carries for negative yards in NFL history. He simply didn't like getting hit. He admitted it over and over again. He had perennial Pro Bowlers on the O-Line. He wasn't interested in grinding yards out to avoid losing yards and instead would readily bounce out of the play. Often times it worked, often times it didn't. He was terrible at picking up blitzes and wasn't much of a receiver or short yardage back.

I think we underrate Marshall Faulk because he's such a terrible analyst





YR

I knew, even if it was just a harmless suggestion that someone actually watch this special on Sanders, there would be some Cowboy fan (always a Cowboy fan) Barry hater that would have to tear him down--and usually in a backhanded way to un-necessarily build up our Emmitt.

No offense YR; none of us agree on everything.

But IMO
On this topic....You are totally and completely clueless.

You are entitled to think that way though. Part of it would be how youo define a great back vs the rest of the world. A yards lost in a 2000 yard season would mean a lot more to you than some.

But that's just my opinion ..and my 98% of the rest of educated football fans. Seeing that you qualify as an educated fan, you fall in that 2%

Like I said earlier; if you ever find an exception, it would be from a Cowboy fan, and would usually be in some form to build Emmitt up while tearing Barry down. That is not necessary.
Anyway, Emmitt and Jim Brown both though Barry was outstanding.

Emmitt espcially sympathized with Barry--saying the only reason tey ever even made the playoffs was becasue of him. That goes agaist those who say he was not a winner. His team was just not that great. Good, but not great.

Anyway, I have know problem agreeing to disagree. You and i happen to agree on some other football-related topics....just not this one.

 

[Idgit]

Barry Sanders is the most overrated player I have ever seen in the game of football.

He had the most carries for negative yards in NFL history. He simply didn't like getting hit. He admitted it over and over again. He had perennial Pro Bowlers on the O-Line. He wasn't interested in grinding yards out to avoid losing yards and instead would readily bounce out of the play. Often times it worked, often times it didn't. He was terrible at picking up blitzes and wasn't much of a receiver or short yardage back.

I think we underrate Marshall Faulk because he's such a terrible analyst

YR

I think BS is overrated, too, when it comes to the impact he had on winning football games, which is what really matters.

As far as watching him, though, he's one of the one or two most enjoyable players to watch on a football field that I've ever seen. Sanders and Bo Jackson were two others. Sanders was unbelievable with the ball in his hand.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Barry Sanders is the most overrated player I have ever seen in the game of football.

YR

Nope, that honor belongs to Joe Montana!

 

[DFWJC]

I think BS is overrated, too, when it comes to the impact he had on winning football games, which is what really matters.

As far as watching him, though, he's one of the one or two most enjoyable players to watch on a football field that I've ever seen. Sanders and Bo Jackson were two others. Sanders was unbelievable with the ball in his hand.

Guess it depends on what someone means by "overrated".
If they mean best RB ever, yes, he would be overrated. But nobody rates him best ever. Everyone puts him inthe top 10 though. I don't think that overrates him at all. 10 season, 10 pro Bowls, 10 all-pros..unheard of.
Jag teams that he carried to the playoffs many times. Once they got there, the lost, but as Emmitt said, he carried that team on his back to get anywhere.

 

[Idgit]

Guess it depends on what someone means by "overrated".
If they mean best RB ever, yes, he would be overrated. But nobody rates him best ever. Everyone puts him inthe top 10 though. I don't think that overrates him at all. 10 season, 10 pro Bowls, 10 all-pros..unheard of.
Jag teams that he carried to the playoffs many times. Once they got there, the lost, but as Emmitt said, he carried that team on his back to get anywhere.

I don't want to knock the guy at all, because I think he was a fantastic player. He's not in my top-5 all-time, but that's about as far as I'd go.

And he was just a joy to watch with the ball in his hands. I totally get the intentions behind your OP.

 

[RastaRocket]

[youtube]lGQp90Rzj9M[/youtube]

Found it on youtube for anybody interested. I will watch it later.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I agree that Barry was fun to watch. Off the top of my head, Barry isn't even in my top-10:

Emmitt Smith
Walter Payton
Gale Sayers
Earl Campbell
Terrell Davis
Marshall Faulk
OJ Simpson
Ladanian Tomlinson
Tony Dorsett
Bo Jackson

The problem is many people do not fully understand the running back position and what it entails. Each of these guys made their O-Line appear better than they really were. Barry made his O-Line look worse than it really was.






YR

 

[DFWJC]

I agree that Barry was fun to watch. Off the top of my head, Barry isn't even in my top-10:

Emmitt Smith
Walter Payton
Gale Sayers
Earl Campbell
Terrell Davis
Marshall Faulk
OJ Simpson
Ladanian Tomlinson
Tony Dorsett
Bo Jackson

The problem is many people do not fully understand the running back position and what it entails. Each of these guys made their O-Line appear better than they really were. Barry made his O-Line look worse than it really was.


YR

That's your opinion--which you are always entitled to.
I also feel that I know plenty about the running back position.

I guess some of this is in the eye of the beholder--what someone feels makes one back better than another.
From my view, anyone that does not have Barry Sanders in their top 10 loses some credibilty when disucssing RBs.
Sorry, just my opinion.

We agree on plenty, YR, but not on this.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Has the career record for most carries for a loss. That's the bottom line. Lost yardage is a killer in the NFL.

'It's not about the great plays you make, it's about the bad plays you avoid making' - Jimmy Johnson








YR

 

[Biggems]

That's your opinion--which you are always entitled to.
I also feel that I know plenty about the running back position.

I guess some of this is in the eye of the beholder--what someone feels makes one back better than another.
From my view, anyone that does not have Barry Sanders in their top 10 loses some credibilty when disucssing RBs.
Sorry, just my opinion.

We agree on plenty, YR, but not on this.

You do realize that on 3rd down situations, especially in the red zone, Barry was on the sidelines......Sure that is because Fontes was a complete moron, but if Barry demanded to be on the field, they would have made it happen.

He was a great back, but he was very overrated. He was subpar in pass protection and he couldnt get the tough yards like many other backs could....sure he had a huge flair for the spectacular, but like YR stated, he also had a propensity to put his team in a huge hole time and again.

When I think of Barry, the first thought in my mind is when he was held to negative yds in the playoff game against the Packers. NEGATIVE YARDS :laugh2:

 

[DFWJC]

You do realize that on 3rd down situations, especially in the red zone, Barry was on the sidelines......Sure that is because Fontes was a complete moron, but if Barry demanded to be on the field, they would have made it happen.

He was a great back, but he was very overrated. He was subpar in pass protection and he couldnt get the tough yards like many other backs could....sure he had a huge flair for the spectacular, but like YR stated, he also had a propensity to put his team in a huge hole time and again.

When I think of Barry, the first thought in my mind is when he was held to negative yds in the playoff game against the Packers. NEGATIVE YARDS :laugh2:

It's a Cowboy site, so this is what I would expect.

During his career, nobody had more yards are abetted UPC than Sanders. If you want to look for negatives, fine.

Outside of our Cowboy fan world, nobody else looks at Barry the way some of us do. He was a home run hitter who also hit for average...but just a 300 average with 50 homers instead of a 340 average with 20 homers.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

I am not a Cowboys fan, but I agree with the reasoning of everyone that has stated why he is overrated.

Another few I would likely add to that top ten that YR posted ...Thurman Thomas, Jim Brown, and Eric Dickerson.

I did enjoy watching the guy play however. He was lightening in a bottle.

 

[ghst187]

Nope, that honor belongs to Joe Montana!

no easily Steve Young, had Jerry not done what he did in regards to Jimmy, Stevo would've NEVER gotten a ring and possibly not gotten into the HoF.
Plus, we'd had the first and only 4-peat.


As for Barry, no doubt the most amazing RB of all time. When I think of comparing him to Emmitt, Barry was similar just a LOT quicker and faster. Barry hardly ever got ran down from behind. And yes Emmitt ran behind an exponentially better OL but no doubt Emmitt made us a better team and often changed games by himself. However, he turned a really good team into a truly great team. Meanwhile, Barry turned a crummy team into a pretty good one.
As big a fan of Emmitt as I am, I still have to admit Barry might've had 3,000 yards in a single season behind our OL plus Aikman, Irvin, Harper, and Novacek keeping the secondaries honest.


I watched the 30 on Marcus Dupree....what a genuine simple guy...just wanted to play football. Barry was such an idiot. I'm an OU alum but I have no idea how he won like he did, he's a moron. Had Barry handled Dupree differently (decently), would've probably been a very different story written.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Once again, I think it's an absolute joke when people trash Sanders. What, do people think he had holes to run through but just chose to dance around in the backfield for the hell of it? The only reason for any back to do that is because they don't have room.

If the guy hadn't retired early, he'd easily be the all-time leading rusher. People who want to act like that kind of player could be some kind of detriment are just looking for reasons to dislike the guy.