Deion Sanders Vs Darryl Green

[MichaelWinicki]

Green was a very good player but come on you cant even mention his name in the same breathe as Deion. Green gave up more big plays then he ever made in my opinion. One stat would sum it all up TDs given up vs TDs scored. Deion could win games on his own, and did a few times in Dallas, with his big play ability on defense and special teams.

Green is sorta the way Champ Bailey is now... great reputation but got beat a little too much for my liking.

 

[THUMPER]

Another great post. It's refreshing to find a true fan who has lived it from his early days. I was much the same way, although I'm about 4 years younger so some of the guys you mentioned I've only seen in highlight films.

My earliest football memory was watching Don Merideth - I don't think I even knew any of the other players at the time. But in those days you didn't have multiple TVs and you watched what Dad watched. I loved sports anyway, so I took to it naturally.

I also admired players from other teams. The "Purple People Eaters" and the ..... damn, I'm drawing a blank - what did they call the Rams defense in the Olsen, Greer, Jones days ......? Those guys were animals.

I was a little bit of a Raiders fan in those days, and have actually been to a Raiders game. Stabler, Casper, Belitnikoff and especially Blanda caught my eye.

But my passion was always the Cowboys and I grew up hating the Commanders and still do to this day. In my mind George Allen, Sunny Jergenson and Billy Kilmer still define that organization.

Staubach was the guy that really sealed it for me. To this day I would take him over any QB in history.

Sounds like we grew up in similar households. My dad would fall asleep in front of the TV but if we tried to change the channel he would wake up and say "I was watching that" and we'd be stuck watching the news instead of "Bonanza" or "Gilligan's Isle".

My dad was very big into sports (so my whole family was too) and loved football in particular. We always had a nice rivalry between the Cowboys and Rams, especially in the 70s when both teams were at the top of the NFC but we came out the winner most of the time.

The Rams front-4 were called "The Fearsome Foursome": Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier, and Lamar Lundy. My dad knew Lundy and we were invited to his house for BBQs a couple of times and got to meet many of the Rams players from the mid-late 60s teams. Great guys for the most part. Deacon Jones was really scary looking but was a super nice guy and very funny. He made my younger brother (who was about 4) cry one time when he scowled at him and spent the rest of the day trying to make friends with him again.

I also liked a lot of the Raiders' players and throughout the 70s I predicted Dallas and Oakland in the SB almost every year. It never happened but they were two of the best teams in the league so it was a pretty good bet anyway.

I always hated the Commanders, even when they sucked in the early 60s, and they were one of the few teams who didn't have any players I liked. Pat Fischer was about the closest. I think I admired and respected him more than liked him. The guy was undersized yet played at a high level for 17 years. The Commanders have had some excellent CBs who played for a very long time!

I disliked Jurgensen and Kilmer but hated George Allen (who was a traitor to the Rams) and Joey Theezmann more than any others.

I could talk about those days for hours...

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

Maybe you didn't hear me the first time.

You might as well tell me that Joe Theisman was a better QB than Tom Brady.

I'm not interested in hearing it. Your opinion means squat to me once those words come out of your mouth.

This makes no sense, and has nothing to do with this discussion.

Great, make all the concessions you want.

Deion Sanders was SUPERIOR as a cover CB to any other player ever to play the game.

Case closed.

Usually people with the weakest argument always proclaim the argument over without actually proving anything. In case you haven't realized, stating an opinion as a fact doesn't make it a fact. Sorry.

And it really wasn't even close.

If you really believe this not only do I doubt you ever watched much of Green, but I also doubt you know much about football. Your inability to be impartial in this argument is a forgone conclusion.

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

Deion is going to go in the HOF at as 1st Ballot HOF. That is unheard of for a Corner.

Thats all you need to know abot Deion

And Darrell Green won't?

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

Green gave up more big plays then he ever made in my opinion.

You are entitled to it, too bad you'll be quite alone with it.

 

[lane]

I would take a Darrell Green over a Dieon Sanders every time. I hate the Commanders as much as anyone but Green was an exceptional talent and maintained a consistently high level of play for nearly two decades. He was a great player and a great team player.

Sanders was all about his image and his money and I never had any use for him. Yes Sanders was talented and could have been good for a long time but he chose to get all he could while he could and ended up using up his body and his talent much too quickly. Add to that his mercenary mentality and I just had no use for him.

ding ding!!!

lights flashing!!

sirens wailing!!!

tell him what he's won johnny!

 

[jobberone]

Deion, IMO, was the best ever.. Lightening fast, a threat to INT everytime someone threw the ball in his direction, and a threat to score anytime he touched the ball.

Not to mention teams not even wanting to throw in his direction or punt in his direction.. Green was great, but Deion was all universe.

You nailed it. Green is IMO one of the best CBs around. Up the with Renfro. But Deion is on a roster my himself.

 

[gbrittain]

If a nation wide poll were to be conducted as to who the better corner was there is no doubt in my mind that Deion wins hands down and it would not even be that close.

Darrell Green is to Deion Sanders what Michael Irvin is to Jerry Rice. HOF great players no doubt, but Sanders is in a league by himself and anyone outside of Washington fans would agree.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone knew a good site or had factual information in regards to stats of Deion Sanders and Darryl Green. Specifically total yards given up and # of tds given up. For whatever reason, for me stats such as these for CBs are very difficult to find.I Appologize if im coming across lazy and dont feel like searching but that is not the case I have looked and looked and have not found. FYI, I just concluded an intense argument with a skins fans in regard to who was the better cornerback. Obviously, his main argument was that Deion avoided contact which was true but I argued Deion was by far the better cover corner and was looking for factual info to back it up. Thanks in advance and your thoughts on who was the better corner would be nice as well.

It's a shame we don't have ex-NFL QBs on this message board. I guarantee you if asked which CB they'd rather throw at, 90% of 'em would give ya Darryl Green.

 

[Q_the_man]

For those who state emphatically that Deion was the best CB ever to play I would say that you haven't seen the best then as I could name 5 guys who I saw play that were better CBs than Deion: Herb Adderley, Mike Haynes, Dick Lane, Mel Renfro, and Lem Barney were all, IMO, better CBs than Deion in that they could cover consistently, made plays, and were solid tacklers.

Were they as fast as Deion, no. Could they close on the ball like he could, no. But they also didn't let players get past them or give up long runs because they were afraid to tackle guys (see Ricky Williams vs Deion).

For those who say that teams were afraid to throw against Deion I would say that you must not have been a Cowboys fan in the early 90s since Aikman routinely threw against Deion and completed passes to Irvin and Harper with regularity against him, and that was in his prime. Mark Brunell also ate Deion for lunch when Sanders played for us. He completed several deep passes to Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell over Deion. Steve Young didn't fear him nor did Marino, Favre, or Elway. Even Scott Mitchell ate him up one game with 2 big TD passes to Herman Moore. Deion always struggled against the bigger WRs and the better QBs.

I think Deion was a great cover corner but he was over-hyped by ESPN and Chris Berman and was nowhere near as good or consistent as some believe. He made a lot of big plays but he also gave up a lot with blown coverage, being outmuscled, and missed tackles. He relied too much on his closing speed and while it served him well at times he was also burnt by it too often.

I would also say that Deion was the best threat of any defensive/STs player I have ever seen to score and it was this ability more than any other that earned him his reputation as he scored 22 TDs in his career on: 9-INTs, 9-Returns, 3-Receptions, & 1-Fumble. Those are amazing stats and make him the best defensive/STs threat to score ever! But that doesn't make him the best CB ever.

Lastly, I don't like self-serving, grandstanding players and Deion epitomized that mentality. I never wanted him on the Cowboys and was upset when Jerry signed him, just as I was about signing Terrell Owens. Guys like that are a distraction to the team and are only in it for themselves.

That's my opinion, take it or leave it.

Yeah right, u said it, could they close in on a ball, had the speed, take it to the house on any giving pick, NO!

Respect is what make u great and teams feared Sanders, u might complete 5 passes his way but that 6 pass would be a TD, and that's for Deion.....

And only certain passes got to Deion, over the middle yeah, just about every Reciever in the league can catch passes over the middle, but how often are u going to send ur best Reciever over the middle, not to many times, Safties and LBs sit there!

BTW, if u threw an out pass, it's Primetime- Primetime- Primetime

For those that take Green over Deion means u are putting Green where at on ur list of top CBs in history?

 

[EveryoneElse]

Deion vs. Green isn't even close.

Anyone that would put them in the same class, is either blinded by loyalty, or plane "Special".

Green was a great cover corner, and had great recovery speed. He wasn't flashy, and he coldn't take a game over.

Deion, on the other hand was the whole package. He had Great speed, Great coverage skills, instincts, and showman ship. He struck fear in whatever QB was throwing the ball. Deion could take a game over and you knew he would if you threw at him one more time. You could suprise him on occasion, when he was bored.

Then you throw in his punt return skills.....not even close.

Deion is the greatest Corner that has ever played the game.

Green will be lumped in with the likes of the Champ Baileys and Rod Woodsons of the world. Very god corners, just not in Deion's class.

Didn't Deion walk into Washington and tell Green to take a seat on the bench?

You make this a league wide poll and the only votes Green gets will be from loyal "special" Commander fans.

 

[Stautner]

Sounds like we grew up in similar households. My dad would fall asleep in front of the TV but if we tried to change the channel he would wake up and say "I was watching that" and we'd be stuck watching the news instead of "Bonanza" or "Gilligan's Isle".

My dad was very big into sports (so my whole family was too) and loved football in particular. We always had a nice rivalry between the Cowboys and Rams, especially in the 70s when both teams were at the top of the NFC but we came out the winner most of the time.

The Rams front-4 were called "The Fearsome Foursome": Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier, and Lamar Lundy. My dad knew Lundy and we were invited to his house for BBQs a couple of times and got to meet many of the Rams players from the mid-late 60s teams. Great guys for the most part. Deacon Jones was really scary looking but was a super nice guy and very funny. He made my younger brother (who was about 4) cry one time when he scowled at him and spent the rest of the day trying to make friends with him again.

I also liked a lot of the Raiders' players and throughout the 70s I predicted Dallas and Oakland in the SB almost every year. It never happened but they were two of the best teams in the league so it was a pretty good bet anyway.

I always hated the Commanders, even when they sucked in the early 60s, and they were one of the few teams who didn't have any players I liked. Pat Fischer was about the closest. I think I admired and respected him more than liked him. The guy was undersized yet played at a high level for 17 years. The Commanders have had some excellent CBs who played for a very long time!

I disliked Jurgensen and Kilmer but hated George Allen (who was a traitor to the Rams) and Joey Theezmann more than any others.

I could talk about those days for hours...

Ticks me off I couldn't pull fearsome foursome out of my head - maybe it's an age thing.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

If I was basing my decision on over career value I would have to take Green due to his longevity but for peak value it's all Deion.

 

[ravidubey]

Sanders was all about his image and his money and I never had any use for him. Yes Sanders was talented and could have been good for a long time but he chose to get all he could while he could and ended up using up his body and his talent much too quickly. Add to that his mercenary mentality and I just had no use for him.

The flash has apparently blinded you to his substance which he had plenty of. Green was also known to be arrogant in his day if you'll recall and was a sloppy cover corner during his first couple of seasons.

Deion was the best defender on the field the moment he walked into the NFL. He created an image to make money, but no one could play like he could.

A cornerback must be:

1) Great at covering receivers-- that means jamming them, shadowing them, and anticipating their moves. Deion did this better than anyone and against the best competition. Mel Renfro, Willie Wood, and Jimmy Johnson never had to cover receivers as profific as Andre Rison, Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe, or Michael Irvin and they were allowed to bump receivers up and down the entire field. Deion and Darrell had to do it hands off after five yards.

2) Great at playing the ball. No one, I mean no one, in NFL History did this better than Deion Sanders except maybe Rod Woodson-- but then Woodson got a good portion of his picks as a free safety. When the ball went up, Deion became a receiver as much as a defender. He even played receiver for a time.

3) Dangerous. 123 passes defended, 53 career ints, 1,331 return yards, 9 taken back for scores. Teams didn't throw in Sanders' direction because he could not only take away a drive but also score. Green's 54 interceptions, 631 return yards, and 6 TDs were also not shabby, but look at the difference in seasons played and return yards per pick!

4) Fast. You couldn't measure Deion's speed on the field. Green was great here too. The speed of both translated well on the field.

5) Durable. Corners must be relied upon game after game. Green was incredible here for a career, but he also missed an entire season with a broken arm suffered after holding out and playing out of shape. Yes, the great "selfless" Darrell Green held out for more money. Deion began suffering injuries midway through the 1998 season, and until then stayed injury-free despite for a time having simultaneously played two sports at a high level.

6) Solid in run support. Deion's image does him a great disservice here. He shied away from tackling when he himself played hurt, but he was a consistent tackler throughout his career. I can remember several tackles vs Natrone Means, Edge James, and Jerry Rice where he just clamped down what could have been a big play. Darrell Green was fine here, but did not have the physical size to match Deion.

Deion taked up the image of him not being a tackler, but he tackled as well as most any corner.

IMO the only corner who seriously compared with Deion was Rod Woodson, and his coverage skills diminished rapidly though he became an excellent free safety and center-fielder. He had a knack for interceptiing passes, but was not known as a shut-down corner (just ask Terry Glenn).

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

Didn't Deion walk into Washington and tell Green to take a seat on the bench?

Quite a bit of revisionist history you have there. Deion didn't tell Green anything, Green was pushing 40 and the coaches made the decision before anyone put on pads and actually got a chance to compete for the position.

I'm noticing alot of posters who are voting Deion keep rehashing the same crap over and over again, and show little to no knowledge of how good Green was. They ignore obvious factors such as run support, tackling, durability, longevity. You know, factors that actually matter in deciding which football player was better and had a better career. Yet they'll only mention Deion returned punts, which has nothing to do with playing corner....but you see where their bias is at.

Apparently, nothing matters in comparing corners but coverage ability. Which both players had in spades, yet why has Deion's performance as a returner been mentioned so many times. Why has it been ignored that no one would've ever known who Brian Mitchell was if Gibbs would've just let D.Green return punts on a regular basis, like he wanted to since his rookie season.

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

5) Durable. Corners must be relied upon game after game. Green was incredible here for a career, but he also missed an entire season with a broken arm suffered after holding out and playing out of shape. Yes, the great "selfless" Darrell Green held out for more money. Deion began suffering injuries midway through the 1998 season, and until then stayed injury-free despite for a time having simultaneously played two sports at a high level.

Are you actually trying to say Deion was more durable than Darrell Green? You're reaching. What does being out of shape have to do with breaking an arm, nothing. Your analysis is so biased in Deion's favor when you question Green's selfless nature, yet mention nothing of the "mercenary" who went anywhere where the money was the best. Furthermore, Deion was not as healthy as you claim. He always had nagging injuries. Green, on the other hand, had an off-season workout regimen so rigorous that occasionally teammates would try it with him and quit after a day or two.

6) Solid in run support. Deion's image does him a great disservice here. He shied away from tackling when he himself played hurt, but he was a consistent tackler throughout his career. I can remember several tackles vs Natrone Means, Edge James, and Jerry Rice where he just clamped down what could have been a big play. Darrell Green was fine here, but did not have the physical size to match Deion.

Wow. Are you actually trying to say Deion was a better tackler than Darrell? :laugh2: Darrell never whiffed on tackles, Deion did. Darrell never allowed ballcarriers to get extra yards just to have an opportunity to push them out of bounds, Deion did. That fact that Deion was such a bad tackler is evident in you trying to justify by naming players people were probably surprised he brought down all on his own. Darrell threw all 180 pounds of his 5'9" frame at ballcarriers and rarely did he need help from the rest of the defense to bring them down.

 

[THUMPER]

Are you actually trying to say Deion was more durable than Darrell Green? You're reaching. What does being out of shape have to do with breaking an arm, nothing. Your analysis is so biased in Deion's favor when you question Green's selfless nature, yet mention nothing of the "mercenary" who went anywhere where the money was the best. Furthermore, Deion was not as healthy as you claim. He always had nagging injuries. Green, on the other hand, had an off-season workout regimen so rigorous that occasionally teammates would try it with him and quit after a day or two.

Something that hasn't been brought up in this discussion was how Deion would get beat by Randy Moss, or some other top WR, and suddenly have a mysterious ailment for the rest of the game but by next week, when he was facing a lesser opponent, he was completely healthy.

He didn't do this early in his career but when he was with us he sure did it often enough. Moss in particular had Deion's number and if you look back you will very few times that Deion actually covered Moss. Most games he was "hurt" and didn't play or came out early.

Deion was more concerned about his image than about winning games. Not saying that he didn't want to win but he would rather look good and lose than to look bad and win.

Wow. Are you actually trying to say Deion was a better tackler than Darrell? :laugh2: Darrell never whiffed on tackles, Deion did. Darrell never allowed ballcarriers to get extra yards just to have an opportunity to push them out of bounds, Deion did. That fact that Deion was such a bad tackler is evident in you trying to justify by naming players people were probably surprised he brought down all on his own. Darrell threw all 180 pounds of his 5'9" frame at ballcarriers and rarely did he need help from the rest of the defense to bring them down.

I've never seen any player shy away from making tackles the way Deion did. His "matador" technique against Ricky Williams in Ricky's rookie season was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen in football. He would see Ricky coming and slide to the side and try to arm tackle him. Of course Ricky would run right through it and go on for several more yards before someone else would bring him down.

The truly great CBs were also football players who would sacrifice their bodies to make tackles. Green had no problem using his smaller body to make tackles. Sometimes he was overpowered but usually he made the stop.

To Deion's credit he did make a number of TD-saving tackles from behind over his career. His closing speed was incredible but his tackling technique and willingness were among the worst the NFL has ever seen in a defensive player.

 

[Cowboy Bebop]

Heavy, I like ya man but could you please remove your sig. It's killing me to see my Techsters in the background and be reminded of what happened last weekend.

If you like I have a few "Life is Good" pics I'd be willing to send to you.

BTW, Agree - Deion was the better player.

Why on earth would anyone want to use those pictures...

 

[cowboys19]

"He didn't do this early in his career but when he was with us he sure did it often enough. Moss in particular had Deion's number and if you look back you will very few times that Deion actually covered Moss. Most games he was "hurt" and didn't play or came out early"

i dont know where you got this information but Moss "never" had Deions #. Yes Deions toe was hurt but the one time Deion was on Moss and Cunningham threw it deep deion deflected the pass.

Watch the games again