It's A Shame That Emmitt Doesn't Get The Respect He Deserves

[MarionBarberThe4th]

That guy was a warrior and I don't think anyone has ever said a bad word about him

 

[Direwolf63]

Not sure how he's disrespected. He's was a slam dunk Hall of Famer. He is recognized as player with the mosr rushing yards in NFL history.

Perhaps you mean that people think he wasn't the greatest RB ever. Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith. You can make a case for any of these guys. But if somebody thinks Jim Brown was the greatest ever, it not disrespecting Emmitt, IMO.

 

[CATCH17]

What I find weird is how people judge players at other positions vs how they judge Emmitt.

Jerry Rice always comes to mind.. He's the Emmitt Smith of WR's.

I think there has been a lot of WR's that were more gifted than Jerry Rice but Rice always gets the mainstream nod as the best WR ever because of all of his accolades but Emmitt doesn't get the same nod even though he is just as accomplished.

Emmitt's OL always gets credit but for some reason we dismiss Jerry playing with 2 HOF QB's in a offense that was ahead of it's time.

 

[Doomsday101]

In my eyes he was the best all around RB to play the game. There are a lot of yeah but if's when it comes to other RB but there is no if with Emmitt Smith 4 time season rushing title. MVP, Rookie of the year and 3 SB rings and all time leading rusher.

 

[Bullflop]

That guy was a warrior and I don't think anyone has ever said a bad word about him

He was definitely a warrior and if I owned a football team, he'd have been one of the 1st players on my team. Having said that, the most negative thing I've heard about him was that he oftentimes was anything but accommodating when it came to signing autographs. As famous as he was, though, it's probably understandable to some extent, since the requests from fans were very likely coming in by the hundreds.

I also think Michael Irvin got extremely upset with him when he refused to make an appearance at his cocaine trial that Aikman attended. Emmitt Smith's agent advised against it and he followed his advice. Word went out that Irvin avoided him for a long time after that, but I don't really know if they ever buried the hatchet or not in time but they weren't speaking for a long time, according to Irvin.

 

[Zekeats]

My favorite player of all-time and I am one of few who believe he is the greatest Cowboy of all-time. With respect I don't even think it's that close as far as Staubach, Aikman, Lilly, Laundry, ect. The 93-94 season speaks for itself just how important he was to us winning.

 

[xwalker]

That guy was a warrior and I don't think anyone has ever said a bad word about him

Not sure what you're referencing. Many people around here didn't live through that era (at least not as adults).

Much of the sport media is concentrated in the NorthEast so their never going to give Cowboys players the benefit of the doubt in rankings.

Barry Sanders was in the same era and was much flashier which is what a lot of fans think makes a great RB.

If a GM was building a team and could go back and pick any RB in history in their prime, I think Emmitt would be at the top of the list for many of the GMs. For a GM it's all about winning, not about flash.

Emmitt was a tough as any football player that I've watched.
His vision and balance were probably as good as anybody and maybe the very best.
He was an excellent blocker.
One of the Cowboys LBs back then (I think it was Darrin Smith) said that covering Emmitt as a receiver in practice was more difficult than any RB he had to cover from other teams.
He was money on short yardage.
He ran away from people way more often than you would think considering that people obsessed about his slow-ish forty time.

I guess that if you have a bad OLine, then maybe the Barry Sanders style RB would be better because he could dance around indefinitely looking for an opening; however, for a championship team, give me Emmitt all day and twice on Sundays.

 

[xwalker]

In my eyes he was the best all around RB to play the game. There are a lot of yeah but if's when it comes to other RB but there is no if with Emmitt Smith 4 time season rushing title. MVP, Rookie of the year and 3 SB rings and all time leading rusher.

Totally agree.

 

[links18]

Emmitt gets plenty of respect. He's the league's all time leading rusher--a record that is going to be difficult to break given how modern teams tend to throw running backs on the trash heap after their first contract is up.

 

[Vanilla2]

The GOAT!

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

That guy was a warrior and I don't think anyone has ever said a bad word about him

Non respect by who? The media? Non Cowboy fans?

 

[CATCH17]

Emmitt gets plenty of respect. He's the league's all time leading rusher--a record that is going to be difficult to break given how modern teams tend to throw running backs on the trash heap after their first contract is up.

Ezekiel Elliot could have 10 straight seasons of 1,400 yards and he would still need over 4,000 yards to pass Emmitt.

Nobody is touching that record without a lot of luck.

You gotta be healthy and have elite production for over a decade.

 

[LandryFan]

He was definitely a warrior and if I owned a football team, he'd have been one of the 1st players on my team. Having said that, the most negative thing I've heard about him was that he oftentimes was anything but accommodating when it came to signing autographs. As famous as he was, though, it's probably understandable to some extent, since the requests from fans were very likely coming in by the hundreds.

I also think Michael Irvin got extremely upset with him when he refused to make an appearance at his cocaine trial that Aikman attended. Emmitt Smith's agent advised against it and he followed his advice. Word went out that Irvin avoided him for a long time after that, but I don't really know if they ever buried the hatchet or not in time but they weren't speaking for a long time, according to Irvin.

I think the autograph thing came from him not wanting the market flooded with them. His family owned a sports card store in Pensacola, and his autographs/memorabilia were big sellers. The more of them there were in the market, the less they were worth. He was just protecting his product, IMO.

 

[lkelly]

I assume that you are talking about the disrespect he gets as a broadcaster.

He was practically debacled at ESPN.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I think the only reason he doesn't get quite the respect, as what I'm guessing was the OPs point, is there are people to this day who still try and ding him for his great O-line and who will always point out that Barry Sanders retired early otherwise he'd likely have the record and Emmitt wouldn't have caught him.

That's the biggest reasons I believe.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Not sure how he's disrespected. He's was a slam dunk Hall of Famer. He is recognized as player with the mosr rushing yards in NFL history.

Perhaps you mean that people think he wasn't the greatest RB ever. Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith. You can make a case for any of these guys. But if somebody thinks Jim Brown was the greatest ever, it not disrespecting Emmitt, IMO.

it was more the oh Sanders was better, he could have had 25000 behind that line, Emmitt was product of the line etc

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Best RB I ever saw. I rather have had him than Barry Sanders.

 

[jaybird]

Not sure how he's disrespected. He's was a slam dunk Hall of Famer. He is recognized as player with the mosr rushing yards in NFL history.

Perhaps you mean that people think he wasn't the greatest RB ever. Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith. You can make a case for any of these guys. But if somebody thinks Jim Brown was the greatest ever, it not disrespecting Emmitt, IMO.

If you judge RBs like Qbs he is the GOAT. Cowboy haters insist he was overrated because of the team and OL. IMO Barry sanders was the most dynamic and Jim Brown was the most talented-gifted but also was a quitter. Emmit was the GOAT.

 

[KJJ]

Most credit the OL for Emmitt's success. For some to say he was a product of the OL is a big slap in his face. The Great Wall of Dallas was featured on "A Football Life" while Emmitt has yet to be featured. He was a great back who made a lot of plays on his own, due to his great balance and ability to slither through holes and bounce off defenders. He was incredibly durable and no RB in NFL history had a a nose for the endzone like Emmitt Smith. He had the heart of a lion.

 

[landroverking]

Greatest running back of all time begins and ends with Jim Brown.
Greatest running back of the Super Bowl Era. Hands down Emit Smith.
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