Emmitt Smith: Underrated Running Back

[Big D]

I'll take 22 ony my team over anyone.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I think so too. I get the impression that he is in his early 20s.

He did qualify it as in his viewing years. Gee, Grandpa, chill. We all have our generational favorites.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I'll cosign for you on that one.

Sanders was the best.

 

[MCowboys]

Sanders was the best.

Just wondering how Barry Sanders gets a free pass for consistently sucking when it mattered? If he were a QB, he would have been looked at as the biggest choke artist ever, but because there is some ridiculously different standard for backs, he can be thought of as the best.

 

[Thomas82]

Just wondering how Barry Sanders gets a free pass for consistently sucking when it mattered? If he were a QB, he would have been looked at as the biggest choke artist ever, but because there is some ridiculously different standard for backs, he can be thought of as the best.

That's why I want to know if he was so great, how come that greatness didn't carry over to the playoffs?

 

[Hostile]

Sanders was the best.

I would never want him on my football team.

Ever.

 

[Thomas82]

I would never want him on my football team.

Ever.

Yeah Hos, I remember you saying that there are 20 running backs you would take over him.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sherman Williams was the best to ever play the game.

 

[Arch Stanton]

When I think of Barry Sanders I think of tackles for loss, running sideways and quitter.

 

[CATCH17]

Sherman Williams was the best to ever play the game.

Who was that huge RB that played 1 week for us when Emmitt was hurt and just went off?

The guy was big and I think he played in the Gailey era.

Anyone remember?

He was seriously a 1 game flash in the pan almost never to be seen again.

 

[interestedobserver]

I always felt Emmitt was very underrated and there is not a back that played in his era I would take over him... not Barry not Thurman and not Faulk...

as for Jim Brown, was he better than Emmitt? really?
when Brown played the Dline was probably his size or smaller/ I am sure there were games where he might have been the biggest guy on the field...

take that guy from the giants for example... If Jacobs would have played when Brown played would he have accomplished what Brown did or close to it...when he would have been bigger than most who tried tackling him????

would any one say that Jacobs is a better back than E. Smith. I think not....

as for Walter Payton , yes he was a great player but was he really better than Emmitt ? for me they were very close to the same player...

some will always argue for the guy back in history that may be more folk lore than fact....

for me as a huge Cowboy fan I vote E.Smith.....

my favorite non Cowboy back was Earl Campbell, he was fun to watch...

If you could take Jacobs with today's steroids and conditioning, he'd have been the best all time on Jim Brown's team. But it doesn't work like that.

I'd take Barry Sanders over Emmit. Running Back has had a lot of great athletes. Emmit goes in the top ten, but it's hard to put him over OJ Simpson, Brown, Sayers, Walter Payton. And it also matters how you count. Campbell was better, but didn't last very long. And what about Bo Jackson? I think his forty time was 4.12. But take into account career, and it's Emmit by a mile.

 

[Hoovie]

Who was that huge RB that played 1 week for us when Emmitt was hurt and just went off?

The guy was big and I think he played in the Gailey era.

Anyone remember?

He was seriously a 1 game flash in the pan almost never to be seen again.

Hambrick?

 

[Thomas82]

Who was that huge RB that played 1 week for us when Emmitt was hurt and just went off?

The guy was big and I think he played in the Gailey era.

Anyone remember?

He was seriously a 1 game flash in the pan almost never to be seen again.

I think you mean Robert Chancey. He stepped in for Emmitt against Green Bay, the week after he broke his hand back in '99.

 

[Thomas82]

If you could take Jacobs with today's steroids and conditioning, he'd have been the best all time on Jim Brown's team. But it doesn't work like that.

I'd take Barry Sanders over Emmitt. Running Back has had a lot of great athletes. Emmit goes in the top ten, but it's hard to put him over OJ Simpson, Brown, Sayers, Walter Payton. And it also matters how you count. Campbell was better, but didn't last very long. And what about Bo Jackson? I think his forty time was 4.12. But take into account career, and it's Emmit by a mile.

So you would take somebody that's a crap-shoot over somebody who can get you yards when you need them the most?

 

[interestedobserver]

Sanders did what he did without help. Plug him into those early 90's teams and it's an upgrade.

 

[BAT]

Sanders did what he did without help. Plug him into those early 90's teams and it's an upgrade.

One of the the most enduring epic LIES ever told.


Sanders had multiple 1000 yd receivers on his team and a couple of pro bowl OL. Not to mention, Sanders benefited from the Detroit offense which spread defenses horizontally and vertically leaving him huge gaps to run through.


Put Sanders into a power running system, like the Cowboys, and he would have broken down. There was a reason why his coaches took him off goal line running situations, it just was not a strength of his.

 

[AmishCowboy]

Who was that huge RB that played 1 week for us when Emmitt was hurt and just went off?

The guy was big and I think he played in the Gailey era.

Anyone remember?

He was seriously a 1 game flash in the pan almost never to be seen again.

Lincoln Coleman is who I think you are refering too.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Who was that huge RB that played 1 week for us when Emmitt was hurt and just went off?

The guy was big and I think he played in the Gailey era.

Anyone remember?

He was seriously a 1 game flash in the pan almost never to be seen again.

Lincoln Coleman. Funny thing is, I was going to say Coleman was second only to Williams in the post, but didn't.

The flash in the pan, was the infamous Thanksgiving day game against the Dolphins when it was sleeting. He had 10 attempts for 56 yards, but those 56 yards were brutal. One play was for 16 yards. Of course it happen because he was big and strong and Miami was having trouble stopping that in the ice.

btw, Jimmy Johnson was the coach.

 

[jobberone]

Darren McFadden is around those numbers. Brandon Jacobs is nearly as big as your hypothetical, and not too terribly much slower than that, although no one would call him a pure burner (I could be mistaken on this last point, but I think his 40 time was decent). I'm not claiming either of those men could sniff Brown's jock, but it shows that the measurables aren't everything. Bo Jackson is one man who puts anyone's numbers to shame--including a hypothetical modern beefed-up Jim Brown. Still, over everyone, I would take Emmitt for his all around football-playing prowess. I don't care how big he was or wasn't or how fast his 40 was, Emmitt always came through. Always. When he held out, his supposedly dominant team couldn't win a game. When he stepped on the field, he produced every time, for more seasons (at the elite level) than anyone else ever has as an RB. Give me 22 any day.

I'd say Jackson and Campbell are the only two backs that compare with Brown and they didn't do it long enough. I suspect Jackson was faster than Brown. He didn't have his power. Campbell did but he wasn't as elusive as Brown. Walker had the size and speed but didn't run as hard. I'd have loved to seen him in the league his entire career.

 

[BAT]

If you could take Jacobs with today's steroids and conditioning, he'd have been the best all time on Jim Brown's team. But it doesn't work like that.

That's a heck of a lot of "what ifs". And you are correct, it does not work like that in real life. Its not about what you could have done, its about what you did.

I'd take Barry Sanders over Emmit. Running Back has had a lot of great athletes. Emmit goes in the top ten, but it's hard to put him over OJ Simpson, Brown, Sayers, Walter Payton. And it also matters how you count. Campbell was better, but didn't last very long. And what about Bo Jackson? I think his forty time was 4.12. But take into account career, and it's Emmit by a mile.

I was only taught to count one way, 1...2...3...4. Too much algebra in your thinking, stick to simple math, 1+1=2. Adding "X" for highlight reel runs or "Y" for "what could have been if he didn't quit" or "Z" for "if he had this player, this position group, coach, guts or sense to run straight ahead in short yardage situations" is immaterial.


Emmitt's production = greatest ever