Emmitt Smith's Rushing Record: Will It Ever Be Broken?

[Cowboy Brian]

if we go to an 18 game season I think the record will be broken

+1
but Emmitts will last longer.

(AN EXAMPLE IS FOLLOWING, I HOPE I DON'T GET 5 REPLYS SAYING MILES AUSTIN IS NOT YOUR KING JERRY RICE)

Say Miles Austin plays 16 more years, Romo the same, with Garretts pass happy offense, Miles could break Rices records.

Now lets take a more plausible example, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson Jr. up in Detroit could make a nice run for the Rice records

Heck if TO decides to play for another 9 years he could take em

 

[AdamJT13]

Smith was quoted by a Sports Illustrated writer that he "felt like a diamond surrounded by trash" last season.

In explaining his comment publicly, Smith said he was referring to the behavior of some players.

"That statement meaning, like, the Cowboys is a diamond organization; the trash is the way that we played,'' Smith said. "The way we played did not represent that organization all that well last year, and the way some of the players acted did not represent what that organization deserved."


Sounds like he was calling some of the players trash. Spin it any which way but lose.

Again, he was not saying HE was the diamond, which is the way it has been portrayed by King and plenty of people since. Both times he used that analogy, the Cowboys franchise was the diamond, not himself. The "trash," or the "poo-poo" (as he said the other time), is the players' performance on and off the field.

 

[Gzus]

All records are meant to be broken unfortunately, eventually this one will be broken as well, once the league goes to a 18 game season and the multiple-back system falls out of favor again. The league is all about cycles and right now no one will threaten the record because teams are favoring a multiple back season, eventually they will go back to favoring a one-back system. And I agree with other posters, if it gets broken I hope a Cowboy does it.

Point taken, but we still didn't find a worthy running back for quite sometime after that. Julius was OK, but that's about it. The crew we've got now is much more talented.

I don't remember Emmitt being too excited about sharing carries, which would have behooved his cause imo. But that's my only problem with Emmitt. He became too obsessed about the record, and not enough about the team. Towards the end, that was his goal more than anything.

Btw, CowboyMcCoy you're still an idiot for now mentioning that we didn't find a worthy running back because of Emmitt Smith. Last time I checked it was the GM's job to find new talent and to plan ahead, not the star RB's job. Again you're placing the blame that should be on Jerry on Emmitt. And when it comes to the end of your career and the entire team around you is falling apart what else should you be worried about other than trying to win your team some games while in the process breaking some records? Prime example. Brett Favre, actually Favre is even worse. In the end, Emmitt is the best Cowboy in history and I don't understand how any Cowboy fan can bad mouth the guy who has been a consummate professional, minus his one year that he held out for a few games (which is understandable. If my team is going to end up sub .250 I'm gonna try and get some good yardage outta it.... (is. CJ's 2010 record of 2k yards)

 

[burmafrd]

It will be very hard since its not likely many backs will get the carries necessary to break the record; not likely due to the changing O lines due to FA; and if they go to the 18 game season backs will wear out that much sooner.

 

[Daudr]

I disagree. He was the best back on our roster every season of his career, and he was still productive on bad teams. Even in his worst season for us, at age 33, he still averaged 3.8 yards per carry. It's not his fault that Jerry never prepared a replacement for him.

He proved he was the best back. Half the planet was cawing for Troy Hambrick to start because he was averaging 5+ ypc as a "change of pace" back and then they got their wish. With the same line as Emmitt had, he averaged 2.9 ypc as a starter.

 

[Direwolf63]

Barry Sanders probably would have had 20,000 yards had he not retired prematurely. But he had very rare ability. Same with Jim Brown.

I think there will be another guy who will break the record, but I think it will be at least 1 (more likely several) decades down the road before that happens.

 

[perrykemp]

Barry Sanders probably would have had 20,000 yards had he not retired prematurely. But he had very rare ability. Same with Jim Brown.

I think there will be another guy who will break the record, but I think it will be at least 1 (more likely several) decades down the road before that happens.

Jim Brown and Barry Sanders were certainly the most talented. Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton were certainly the most productive. I guess it all depends on how you measure.

 

[Doomsday101]

Barry Sanders probably would have had 20,000 yards had he not retired prematurely. But he had very rare ability. Same with Jim Brown.

I think there will be another guy who will break the record, but I think it will be at least 1 (more likely several) decades down the road before that happens.

I have always felt Barry Sanders was the best pure runner in the game. I think Emmitt was the better all around RB who could give you big yards in the running game, good coming out of the backfield in the passing game and an excellent blocker. Sanders could not give us all of that.

 

[CF74]

Well said!!! :clap2:

The funny thing is though... At first, the talking heads thought Emmitt was too small to make it in the NFL. Looks like he proved them wrong!


And he has 3 :lombardi: rings to back it up!!!

All those postseason yards he racked up sure gives him an edge...

 

[AdamJT13]

Barry Sanders probably would have had 20,000 yards had he not retired prematurely.

That assumes that he would have not declined as quickly as backs typically do after reaching age 30 or so. Given his production in his final seasons and his age when he retired, a normal rate of decline and no major injuries would have left him with 17,836 career rushing yards. Remember, Sanders played at age 30, so his retirement wasn't THAT premature.

 

[AdamJT13]

All those postseason yards he racked up sure gives him an edge...

Postseason yardage is not included in the record.

 

[joseephuss]

Postseason yardage is not included in the record.

And if it were then Emmitt's rushing record would be even higher and he would also have a larger lead over Walter Payton.

Emmitt has the most post-season rushing yards with 1586 while Payton only had 632 post season rushing yards.

 

[DFWJC]

He proved he was the best back. Half the planet was cawing for Troy Hambrick to start because he was averaging 5+ ypc as a "change of pace" back and then they got their wish. With the same line as Emmitt had, he averaged 2.9 ypc as a starter.

That's what happens when backs become the focus vs the chage-up guy....the YPC drops like a rock.
I'm trying to warn some on this board to not expect Felix to maintain outerworldly YPC numbers if he become the featured guy. Projecting those averages with more carries is silly. Of course, unlike Hambrick, Felix would still have excellent numbers, but my guess is it would be between 4-5 ypc.

 

[DFWJC]

Barry Sanders probably would have had 20,000 yards had he not retired prematurely. .

I agree. But that is only theoretical.