Razz said:
Yeah, the NFC East title and home-field advantage through the playoffs had nothing to do with it.
Oh, yeah .. if Emmitt had come out after the drive where he got hurt, he'd have still won the rushing title.
Dallas offense that day? Emmitt: 229 yards, the rest of the team: 110 yards.
Let us know when you get that foot extracted.
WRONG! Emmitt Smith had 46 yards prior to separating his shoulder in the second quarter of that game. Had Emmitt left the game at that point, he would have finished the season with 1364 yards which would have been well short of Jerome Bettis' 1429 yards. Emmitt came back in the second half and rushed for 122 more yards to finish the game with 168 yards rushing.
Dallas was already in the playoffs despite not having homefield advantage. Emmitt could have permanently sidelined himself by playing with a separated shoulder. And while homefiled advantage is nice, not having Emmitt Smith because he exacerbated his condition by playing with a separated shoulder wouldn't have done the Cowboys any good. But his quest to get the rushing title "gave him some incentive" to play in the second half. I think his desire to join Jim Brown, Earl Campbell and Steve Van Bruen as one of 4 RB's to lead the league in rushing three years in a row might have had something to do with it as well. Considering that Emmitt has been open about his desire to eclipse records and that he wrote his goals down, I will let you be the judge as to what truly motivated him that day.
I don't think there is anything wrong with Emmitt being driven to accomplish these goals or break these records. But anyone who thinks Emmitt was purely motivated by getting Dallas homefield advantage is drinking the Kool-Aid. He was thinking about himself and getting that rushing title. I seriously doubt he would played in the second half had he already won the title outright.
So before you accuse anyone of putting their foot in their mouth, I suggest you do your homework otherwise you will get exposed again.
