Lawrence Taylor top 3 NFL greatest RBs

fivetwos said:
To each his own, but that debate for me was always silly. One refused to be denied greatness, the other seemed as if he was there for the paycheck until it didn’t suit him any longer. The idea that Emmitt’s line was so great is a weak argument. Not that you made it….just in general.
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Lol. His final season was nearly 1,500 yards and 1 year removed from a 2,000 yard season averaging 6 ypc. If he wanted more paychecks he had another few years to collect if he wanted to (and would have easily had the record if he wanted to). As I said, I get the defensiveness every time this topic comes up but let's not have it lead to slander.
 
MarcusRock said:
Lol. His final season was nearly 1,500 yards and 1 year removed from a 2,000 yard season averaging 6 ypc. If he wanted more paychecks he had another few years to collect if he wanted to (and would have easily had the record if he wanted to). As I said, I get the defensiveness every time this topic comes up but let's not have it lead to slander.
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Yeah, that's why I mostly stay out of it. Can't talk NFL football in general w/ most Cowboys fans.

For a while, there was a big argument over who was better between Emmit Smith and that Commanders RB. Can't remember his name, but he was big and powerful and effective.
 
big dog cowboy said:
1. Walter Payton
2. Barry Sanders
3. Emmitt Smith

Really going out on a limb. SMH.
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Barry Sanders and its not even a Competition.

Guy was on another level. Everybody else was elite in the NFL. But Barry belonged in a different league.
 
TheMarathonContinues said:
A lot of people omit Emmitt these days…..he’s getting the “he played with hall of famers” argument.
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Emmit played on a very high level for a long time. He broke records and was a great RB.

There is alsways the problem when you compare the greatest with each other you have to find things one did better where the other one was not so good at. Some people then understand that as if "not so good at" means he was a bad player. But thats not the case.

Emmit was great. But you have to acknolwedge what Sanders did. He outperformed Emmit in essentially every season he played and that with a way worse offense. The Lions offense for his career was essentially Sanders and some JAGs compared to Dallas'.

Whats more he was on pace to break the rushing record way earlier hadnt he stepped away from the game. And that not because he was obviously declining. No just because he couldnt perform on a level he demanded from himself.

Sanders is by far the greatest back to ever play the game. He was on another level. Grown up man playing with kids.

I watched dominating backs. But they all dimished after some time. Some because the offense lost talent, some lost a step after 3 or 4 years. Sanders not so. He performed on an elite level for 10 years as if it was a breeze.
 
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Greatest RBs of all time should always include Emmitt and Jim Brown, no exceptions. Greatest implies career recognition.

Best? Way more subjective. People put different weights into peaks, longevity, ability, etc.

Like personally I think LaDainian was a better running back than Emmitt. Was he greater? Not really even close.
 
Nova said:
Greatest RBs of all time should always include Emmitt and Jim Brown, no exceptions. Greatest implies career recognition.

Best? Way more subjective. People put different weights into peaks, longevity, ability, etc.

Like personally I think LaDainian was a better running back than Emmitt. Was he greater? Not really even close.
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Good way to put it.

And when you say best, are you talking about career or peak? OJ is top 5 easy. Earl Campbell was the best RB I've ever seen for 5 years. How about Henry?
 
kskboys said:
Earl Campbell, Tony Dorsett, LT, Marcus Allen, Curtis Martin. Many great RBs. Narrowing it down to 3 is pretty much impossible w/o leaving out someone who belongs.
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Any list leaving off Earl Campbell is suspect. And, if Ditka didn't overuse him, he'd have lasted longer.

Frankly, I couldn't narrow down just three and would feel better arguing over the top 6-8
 
kskboys said:
Yeah, that's why I mostly stay out of it. Can't talk NFL football in general w/ most Cowboys fans.

For a while, there was a big argument over who was better between Emmit Smith and that Commanders RB. Can't remember his name, but he was big and powerful and effective.
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Riggins?
 
TwentyOne said:
Whats more he was on pace to break the rushing record way earlier hadnt he stepped away from the game. And that not because he was obviously declining. No just because he couldnt perform on a level he demanded from himself.

Sanders is by far the greatest back to ever play the game. He was on another level. Grown up man playing with kids.

I watched dominating backs. But they all dimished after some time. Some because the offense lost talent, some lost a step after 3 or 4 years. Sanders not so. He performed on an elite level for 10 years as if it was a breeze.
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Bold statement 1.
You can't say that for sure. Adrian Peterson at one time was said to be on pace to break Emmitt's record. Look how that turned out.
Some even thought Frank Gore would push for the record. Since he player for what seems like half the teams in the NFL and for like 25 years. Yes, I know that was not the case, but sure seemed like it. No one is saying how great of a RB he was for all those years and accusation of yards.

Bold statement 2.
Proves what I just said about statement 1. Being on pace means nothing. They can go down hill pretty quick. Who are we to say Barry would have kept up that high level of play.
Randy Moss was said to be he could break Jerry Rice records. No, did not happen.
 
And how about Stephen Jackson? Complete beast.

Seachickens won a super bowl on the back of the super effective Marshawn Lynch.
 
kskboys said:
Good way to put it.

And when you say best, are you talking about career or peak? OJ is top 5 easy. Earl Campbell was the best RB I've ever seen for 5 years. How about Henry?
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Yeah so many factors. I personally focus on ability/peak.

Peak can't be too short or isolated. 6 years is of solid production is my expectation, because I've seen that be a consistent time frame among many RBs before a drop-off.

Ability should be rooted in all around capability. Like can they run, block, & catch? Yards and TDs are also both important because an imbalance between the two implies holes in the game... like low TDs might mean they're not strong goal line backs.

I'm 38, so the best running backs I've seen are Sanders, Tomlinson, and AP. I think Henry's phenomenal, but for some reason, I just don't put him up there with those guys. Can't pinpoint it, not an exact science.
 
Kwyn said:
it frustrates me when I see so many fans round the league leave Emmitt out of their top five!

They’ll usually do Barry, Sweetness, Brown, LT and AP

They make Emmitt a creation of his offensive line and durability and that’s it.
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People underrate durability. I think Barry was great but think about this his career tackled for loss yardage is almost 1000 yards
 
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