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HE SAID: Sorry, Barry. Emmitt's Better.
Oct 10, 2007 | 8:17AM | report this After a short hiatus, He Said She Said returns with a request from one of our fellow bloggers. Hoit suggested Bluegrass and I tackle the age-old question of who was the better overall, NFL running back, Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of the breaking of one of the NFL’s most hallowed records. On October 27, 2002, Emmitt Smith surpassed Walter Payton as the league’s leading rusher. His record of 18,355 career yards stands to this day and is in no danger of being broken any time soon. Yet despite holding this and several other league records, many often claim Barry Sanders was a better, overall running back. Proponents of Sanders claim Smith had the good fortune of playing with a better team and behind a better offensive line and was thus granted more of an opportunity to thrive. A closer look at Emmitt’s numbers, however, tells an astonishing story of consistency, durability and unrivaled post-season accolades that give him the nod as the better career back.
After leaving the University of Florida as their leading rusher at the time, Smith was drafted in 1990 by the Dallas Cowboys. Emmitt was an integral part of Dallas’ turnaround. The year prior to his arrival, Dallas was 1-15. Within years they were Super Bowl Champions. His presence and consistency in the backfield fueled the Cowboys’ success. Beginning his second year in the league, Emmitt ran off a string of eleven consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons, becoming the first back to ever do so. Emmitt Smith tied Jim Brown’s record by starting his career with seven consecutive ten-touchdown seasons. He was Dallas’ workhorse. Accordingly, he is also the league leader in career rushing attempts.
But it was Emmitt Smith’s ability to find the end zone and his post-season play that defined him and solidified his legacy in NFL history. While Sanders racked up rushing yards at a robotic pace, his ability to score lagged well behind Emmitt’s. Within the 1992-95 seasons, Barry Sanders had 30 rushing touchdowns; Emmitt had 74. Within that same period, he also led his team to three Super Bowls, while the Lions lost three consecutive playoff games. Smith ended his career with 175 touchdowns compared to Sanders’ 109. Smith is second in career touchdowns only to the immortal Jerry Rice.
Emmitt’s most impressive season was undoubtedly 1993. Although his numbers that season were not as gaudy as in others, that year Smith became the only back to win a Super Bowl, the NFL MVP, the rushing title and the Super Bowl MVP. The beginning of that season was a contract year for Emmitt. He held out the first two games, both of which Dallas lost, until eventually signing a four-year, $13.6 million deal, making him the highest-paid back in the league at the time. That turned out to be money well spent as the Dallas franchise, with Emmitt back in their lineup, rallied to win 15 of their next 17 games on their way to consecutive Super Bowl victories. While Emmitt was an essential part of Dallas’ success over the years, Detroit may very likely have been just as mediocre without Barry Sanders.
For all his flash and dazzle, Barry Sanders’ post-season career was A-Rodesque at best. In six career playoff games, his Lions were 1-5. Sanders rushed for 386 yards and scored only one post-season touchdown in those six games. Conversely, Emmitt Smith played in 19 post-season games, going 14-5, while scoring 21 touchdowns. Emmitt has scored more Super Bowl touchdowns (5) than any other player in history. Barry also only had one 100-yard rushing game in his post-season career, while Emmitt had seven. Consider that between 1991 and 1996, Emmitt essentially played a whole extra season, by playing in fifteen post-season games, and amassing nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards. Within that time frame, he only missed four games, two of them due to the aforementioned holdout. He was a model of consistency and the driving force behind the 1990s Dallas dynasty.
While Sanders is unquestionably one of the best running backs of all-time, his numbers simply do not live up to those of Emmitt Smith. Sanders was famous for chewing up huge tracks of yardage, but his scoring numbers clearly pale in comparison. While many argue that Emmitt Smith had better players surrounding him, one can also argue that Sanders’ career rushing numbers are inflated as the Lions had no other offensive outlet. What cannot be debated, however, is the difference between these two backs when it mattered most. Year after year, Smith rose to the occasion after the regular season, while Sanders post-season career fluttered. Any such comparison between these two Hall of Fame backs must take those numbers into perspective when determining the better overall back.
SHE SAID: Jim Brown says - I'd Take Barry
Oct 10, 2007 | 2:54PM | report this It seems in sports we are always comparing players and debating the “best”. Whither it is Bird or Magic, Chamberlain or Russell, Koufax or Gibson or, in this HSSS debate, Smith or Sanders. In my opinion, Jim Brown was the best overall running back so I guess this argument will be who the best was during the 90’s or who the was best between the two; Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders. Rev, being very biased, mistakenly chose Emmitt Smith. I, on the other hand, actually chose the best RB of the two and that is Barry Sanders. Special thanks to Hoit for this HSSS suggestion.! Let us know if you have any for us and we will look into it!!
"I was always someone who led by actions, not words," Barry Sanders
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders.jpgBarry Sanders was never a man that gave good quotes. He was a man of very few words. He was a man that never showed much emotion. You would never see Barry Sanders spike the ball after a touchdown. His actions spoke for themselves.
Sanders was one of the most electrifying runners to ever play the game. He spent his entire pro career with the Detroit Lions (1989-1998.) Each season with the Lions, Sanders rushed for more than 1,000 yards; the first running back to do so. Sanders best year came in 1997 when he rushed for over 2,000 yards. He became only the 3rd player to reach this plateau in a single season and the first since O. J. Simpson to rush for 2,000 yards in a span of 14 consecutive games.
Barry Sanders played for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1986 to 1988. He backed up All-American Thurman Thomas during his first 2 years but became the Cowboys starter his junior year once Thomas moved on to the NFL. That season has been called the greatest ever in college football history. Highlights of Sanders’ collegiate career:
*Set 34 NCAA records during his Heisman Campaign.
*Holds the college single-season rushing record with 2,628 rushing yards in 1988.
*In 1988, Sanders won the Heisman Trophy.
Sanders left for the NFL draft after his junior year and was selected by the Detroit Lions with their 1st-round pick (3rd overall) in 1989. Barry’s size while a concern was deceptive. He was too quick for defenders to hit consistently and way too strong to be brought down with arm tackles. His explosiveness and ability to reverse direction seemingly at will, often left defensive players tackling nothing but air. Sanders finished his first season 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns, and won the Rookie of the Year Award. Listed are highlights of Sanders pro career:
*15,269 career rushing yards
*109 career touchdowns (99 rushing, 10 receiving)
*76 100-yard rushing games
*10 consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons (1989-1998)
*Tied NFL record for total 1,000-yard rushing seasons
*NFC Rookie of Year (1989)
*2-time NFL Player of Year (1991,97)
*10-time Pro Bowl selection (1989-1998)
* Five-time NFC rushing leader (1989,90,94,96,97)
* Four-time NFL rushing leader (1990,94,96,97)
*Set NFL single-season records for most 100-yard rushing games and most consecutive 100-yard games (14 in 1997)
*Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2004)
At the age of 30, Sanders astonished fans when he announced his retirement from pro football. Barry left football still in his prime, having gained 15,269 rushing http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders4.jpgyards, 2,921 receiving yards, 118 kickoff return yards, and 109 touchdowns (99 rushing and 10 receiving). Upon retirement, he was so close to Walter Payton's career rushing mark of 16,726 yards. Only Payton and Emmitt Smith, who broke the record in 2002, have rushed for more yards than Sanders.
His retirement was unexpected and controversial. Just two years earlier, Sanders had renewed his contract with the Lions for $35.4 million over six years with a signing bonus of $11 million. The Lions demanded he return $7.3 million of the bonus. When Sanders refused the franchise sued, eventually winning and Sanders was ordered to pay $5.5 million plus interest over the next 3 years.
At the time of his retirement Sanders owned almost every Lions’ rushing record along with numerous all-time NFL records. However, in the argument of who is the best between Sanders and Smith, numbers are really pointless. For example, Smith gained 10,160 yards in seven years with the Cowboys, an average of 1,451 yards per season. Sanders, over eight years, gained 11,725 yards, an average of 1,466 per season. See my point? Numbers don’t show the moves and stamina. They don’t record plays that start wide right and end up on the left side with every guy in the secondary scrambling to save his job.
Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith have similarities. They both have the strong, thick legs which defied logic when they moved up and down and sideways all at the same time. Their legs changed the thinking of NFL personnel directors about RB with short stumpy bodies. Sanders and Smith proved that it is okay to be short; it just might be preferred.
"Here's what I see," Jim Brown says. "Emmitt is a great player in a great system, a system that suits him perfectly. He is a hell of a warrior, and he fits into the Dallas scheme better than anybody.” "I don't think Barry's ever been used properly, but that's a different story. If I had my pick of anybody in the league, and I was picking in terms of talent -- maybe not even winning and losing games, but just pure talent -- I'd take Barry. He's the most talented running back in the NFL."
Sanders' rare abilities go well beyond cerebral explanation. The human form just wasn’t meant to cope with endless runs on artificial turf, with stops so hard and fast the skin tears from underneath his toenails, turns so quick tendons and cartilage are expected to fly out of his knee and into the face of the defender. There is no explanation for the manner in which the upper half of his body charges along in one direction while the lower half whirls off in another. “Sander's body seems to change form when needed -- solid to liquid, liquid to gas.”
Gale Sayers, who played for the Chicago Bears and who is consider by some to be the best running back of all time was asked to compare Sanders with Smith. "I wish Barry had a better line to run behind. I'd like to see what would happen then. Many times when you see him, he's making moves behind the line of scrimmage, trying to get away. A lot of times Emmitt isn't touched until he's five yards past the line. When Barry's five yards into the secondary, he's gone. People talk about whether Barry can gain 2,000 yards in a season. Well, if he had Dallas' line, we'd be asking how many years he'd be gaining 2,000 yards. Look at his stats now: He's gaining 1,500 or 1,600 yards anyway. I think Emmitt is a good second-effort runner, a strong runner, but I go with Barry."
Emmitt Smith had an all pro offensive line with 2 potential Hall of Famers. Payton had one of the best as well in 1984. Barry Sanders had none. Emmitt Smith played with a hall of fame QB and WR Barry Sanders did not. Emmitt Smith didn’t have to carry his team’s burden. Barry Sanders did. He was all Detroit had. The fact that Sanders accomplished all that he did with the minimal support that he had is absolutely astonishing.
Every time Barry Sanders touched the ball, he was a threat to score. That cannot be said of Emmitt Smith. Smith benefited more from his surroundings than any of the all time rushers. Put him in a Lions uniform and you get very little. Put Sanders in a Cowboys' uniform and it’s scary. This is how I always compare great players. If they switched teams would they still be as dominate? Emmitt Smith would not. Barry Sanders would.
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders3.jpghttp://i154.***BLOCKED***/albums/s264/TankerGuy4/Barry.jpg
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/Sanders_Barry_Mural1.jpg http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders2.jpg
__________________
http://s219.***BLOCKED***/albums/cc244/Tom-Tom82/th_c484c7bd.jpghttp://s219.***BLOCKED***/albums/cc244/Tom-Tom82/th_Emmitt-Smith.jpg
Oct 10, 2007 | 8:17AM | report this After a short hiatus, He Said She Said returns with a request from one of our fellow bloggers. Hoit suggested Bluegrass and I tackle the age-old question of who was the better overall, NFL running back, Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of the breaking of one of the NFL’s most hallowed records. On October 27, 2002, Emmitt Smith surpassed Walter Payton as the league’s leading rusher. His record of 18,355 career yards stands to this day and is in no danger of being broken any time soon. Yet despite holding this and several other league records, many often claim Barry Sanders was a better, overall running back. Proponents of Sanders claim Smith had the good fortune of playing with a better team and behind a better offensive line and was thus granted more of an opportunity to thrive. A closer look at Emmitt’s numbers, however, tells an astonishing story of consistency, durability and unrivaled post-season accolades that give him the nod as the better career back.
After leaving the University of Florida as their leading rusher at the time, Smith was drafted in 1990 by the Dallas Cowboys. Emmitt was an integral part of Dallas’ turnaround. The year prior to his arrival, Dallas was 1-15. Within years they were Super Bowl Champions. His presence and consistency in the backfield fueled the Cowboys’ success. Beginning his second year in the league, Emmitt ran off a string of eleven consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons, becoming the first back to ever do so. Emmitt Smith tied Jim Brown’s record by starting his career with seven consecutive ten-touchdown seasons. He was Dallas’ workhorse. Accordingly, he is also the league leader in career rushing attempts.
http://i154.***BLOCKED***/albums/s264/TankerGuy4/Emmitt.jpg
But it was Emmitt Smith’s ability to find the end zone and his post-season play that defined him and solidified his legacy in NFL history. While Sanders racked up rushing yards at a robotic pace, his ability to score lagged well behind Emmitt’s. Within the 1992-95 seasons, Barry Sanders had 30 rushing touchdowns; Emmitt had 74. Within that same period, he also led his team to three Super Bowls, while the Lions lost three consecutive playoff games. Smith ended his career with 175 touchdowns compared to Sanders’ 109. Smith is second in career touchdowns only to the immortal Jerry Rice.
Emmitt’s most impressive season was undoubtedly 1993. Although his numbers that season were not as gaudy as in others, that year Smith became the only back to win a Super Bowl, the NFL MVP, the rushing title and the Super Bowl MVP. The beginning of that season was a contract year for Emmitt. He held out the first two games, both of which Dallas lost, until eventually signing a four-year, $13.6 million deal, making him the highest-paid back in the league at the time. That turned out to be money well spent as the Dallas franchise, with Emmitt back in their lineup, rallied to win 15 of their next 17 games on their way to consecutive Super Bowl victories. While Emmitt was an essential part of Dallas’ success over the years, Detroit may very likely have been just as mediocre without Barry Sanders.
For all his flash and dazzle, Barry Sanders’ post-season career was A-Rodesque at best. In six career playoff games, his Lions were 1-5. Sanders rushed for 386 yards and scored only one post-season touchdown in those six games. Conversely, Emmitt Smith played in 19 post-season games, going 14-5, while scoring 21 touchdowns. Emmitt has scored more Super Bowl touchdowns (5) than any other player in history. Barry also only had one 100-yard rushing game in his post-season career, while Emmitt had seven. Consider that between 1991 and 1996, Emmitt essentially played a whole extra season, by playing in fifteen post-season games, and amassing nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards. Within that time frame, he only missed four games, two of them due to the aforementioned holdout. He was a model of consistency and the driving force behind the 1990s Dallas dynasty.
While Sanders is unquestionably one of the best running backs of all-time, his numbers simply do not live up to those of Emmitt Smith. Sanders was famous for chewing up huge tracks of yardage, but his scoring numbers clearly pale in comparison. While many argue that Emmitt Smith had better players surrounding him, one can also argue that Sanders’ career rushing numbers are inflated as the Lions had no other offensive outlet. What cannot be debated, however, is the difference between these two backs when it mattered most. Year after year, Smith rose to the occasion after the regular season, while Sanders post-season career fluttered. Any such comparison between these two Hall of Fame backs must take those numbers into perspective when determining the better overall back.
SHE SAID: Jim Brown says - I'd Take Barry
Oct 10, 2007 | 2:54PM | report this It seems in sports we are always comparing players and debating the “best”. Whither it is Bird or Magic, Chamberlain or Russell, Koufax or Gibson or, in this HSSS debate, Smith or Sanders. In my opinion, Jim Brown was the best overall running back so I guess this argument will be who the best was during the 90’s or who the was best between the two; Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders. Rev, being very biased, mistakenly chose Emmitt Smith. I, on the other hand, actually chose the best RB of the two and that is Barry Sanders. Special thanks to Hoit for this HSSS suggestion.! Let us know if you have any for us and we will look into it!!
"I was always someone who led by actions, not words," Barry Sanders
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders.jpgBarry Sanders was never a man that gave good quotes. He was a man of very few words. He was a man that never showed much emotion. You would never see Barry Sanders spike the ball after a touchdown. His actions spoke for themselves.
Sanders was one of the most electrifying runners to ever play the game. He spent his entire pro career with the Detroit Lions (1989-1998.) Each season with the Lions, Sanders rushed for more than 1,000 yards; the first running back to do so. Sanders best year came in 1997 when he rushed for over 2,000 yards. He became only the 3rd player to reach this plateau in a single season and the first since O. J. Simpson to rush for 2,000 yards in a span of 14 consecutive games.
Barry Sanders played for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1986 to 1988. He backed up All-American Thurman Thomas during his first 2 years but became the Cowboys starter his junior year once Thomas moved on to the NFL. That season has been called the greatest ever in college football history. Highlights of Sanders’ collegiate career:
*Set 34 NCAA records during his Heisman Campaign.
*Holds the college single-season rushing record with 2,628 rushing yards in 1988.
*In 1988, Sanders won the Heisman Trophy.
Sanders left for the NFL draft after his junior year and was selected by the Detroit Lions with their 1st-round pick (3rd overall) in 1989. Barry’s size while a concern was deceptive. He was too quick for defenders to hit consistently and way too strong to be brought down with arm tackles. His explosiveness and ability to reverse direction seemingly at will, often left defensive players tackling nothing but air. Sanders finished his first season 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns, and won the Rookie of the Year Award. Listed are highlights of Sanders pro career:
*15,269 career rushing yards
*109 career touchdowns (99 rushing, 10 receiving)
*76 100-yard rushing games
*10 consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons (1989-1998)
*Tied NFL record for total 1,000-yard rushing seasons
*NFC Rookie of Year (1989)
*2-time NFL Player of Year (1991,97)
*10-time Pro Bowl selection (1989-1998)
* Five-time NFC rushing leader (1989,90,94,96,97)
* Four-time NFL rushing leader (1990,94,96,97)
*Set NFL single-season records for most 100-yard rushing games and most consecutive 100-yard games (14 in 1997)
*Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2004)
At the age of 30, Sanders astonished fans when he announced his retirement from pro football. Barry left football still in his prime, having gained 15,269 rushing http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders4.jpgyards, 2,921 receiving yards, 118 kickoff return yards, and 109 touchdowns (99 rushing and 10 receiving). Upon retirement, he was so close to Walter Payton's career rushing mark of 16,726 yards. Only Payton and Emmitt Smith, who broke the record in 2002, have rushed for more yards than Sanders.
His retirement was unexpected and controversial. Just two years earlier, Sanders had renewed his contract with the Lions for $35.4 million over six years with a signing bonus of $11 million. The Lions demanded he return $7.3 million of the bonus. When Sanders refused the franchise sued, eventually winning and Sanders was ordered to pay $5.5 million plus interest over the next 3 years.
At the time of his retirement Sanders owned almost every Lions’ rushing record along with numerous all-time NFL records. However, in the argument of who is the best between Sanders and Smith, numbers are really pointless. For example, Smith gained 10,160 yards in seven years with the Cowboys, an average of 1,451 yards per season. Sanders, over eight years, gained 11,725 yards, an average of 1,466 per season. See my point? Numbers don’t show the moves and stamina. They don’t record plays that start wide right and end up on the left side with every guy in the secondary scrambling to save his job.
Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith have similarities. They both have the strong, thick legs which defied logic when they moved up and down and sideways all at the same time. Their legs changed the thinking of NFL personnel directors about RB with short stumpy bodies. Sanders and Smith proved that it is okay to be short; it just might be preferred.
"Here's what I see," Jim Brown says. "Emmitt is a great player in a great system, a system that suits him perfectly. He is a hell of a warrior, and he fits into the Dallas scheme better than anybody.” "I don't think Barry's ever been used properly, but that's a different story. If I had my pick of anybody in the league, and I was picking in terms of talent -- maybe not even winning and losing games, but just pure talent -- I'd take Barry. He's the most talented running back in the NFL."
Sanders' rare abilities go well beyond cerebral explanation. The human form just wasn’t meant to cope with endless runs on artificial turf, with stops so hard and fast the skin tears from underneath his toenails, turns so quick tendons and cartilage are expected to fly out of his knee and into the face of the defender. There is no explanation for the manner in which the upper half of his body charges along in one direction while the lower half whirls off in another. “Sander's body seems to change form when needed -- solid to liquid, liquid to gas.”
Gale Sayers, who played for the Chicago Bears and who is consider by some to be the best running back of all time was asked to compare Sanders with Smith. "I wish Barry had a better line to run behind. I'd like to see what would happen then. Many times when you see him, he's making moves behind the line of scrimmage, trying to get away. A lot of times Emmitt isn't touched until he's five yards past the line. When Barry's five yards into the secondary, he's gone. People talk about whether Barry can gain 2,000 yards in a season. Well, if he had Dallas' line, we'd be asking how many years he'd be gaining 2,000 yards. Look at his stats now: He's gaining 1,500 or 1,600 yards anyway. I think Emmitt is a good second-effort runner, a strong runner, but I go with Barry."
Emmitt Smith had an all pro offensive line with 2 potential Hall of Famers. Payton had one of the best as well in 1984. Barry Sanders had none. Emmitt Smith played with a hall of fame QB and WR Barry Sanders did not. Emmitt Smith didn’t have to carry his team’s burden. Barry Sanders did. He was all Detroit had. The fact that Sanders accomplished all that he did with the minimal support that he had is absolutely astonishing.
Every time Barry Sanders touched the ball, he was a threat to score. That cannot be said of Emmitt Smith. Smith benefited more from his surroundings than any of the all time rushers. Put him in a Lions uniform and you get very little. Put Sanders in a Cowboys' uniform and it’s scary. This is how I always compare great players. If they switched teams would they still be as dominate? Emmitt Smith would not. Barry Sanders would.
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders3.jpghttp://i154.***BLOCKED***/albums/s264/TankerGuy4/Barry.jpg
http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/Sanders_Barry_Mural1.jpg http://i161.***BLOCKED***/albums/t215/bluegrasslady/sanders2.jpg
__________________
http://s219.***BLOCKED***/albums/cc244/Tom-Tom82/th_c484c7bd.jpghttp://s219.***BLOCKED***/albums/cc244/Tom-Tom82/th_Emmitt-Smith.jpg
