Yahoo: Smith holds record but not regarded No. 1

[Future]

Emmitt did have one trait important to RBs that you could argue he was the best ever at and that is vision. He also was as good or better than any RB ever at staying healthy and keeping his body in shape and ready for battle.

I don't really get upset to hear someone say he wasn't the best RB ever because there are good arguements for 3-4 other guys but my main arguement for him being considered the best ever is simply that Jerry Rice is almost unanimously considered the best WR of all time. Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are the same exact player just at different positions. They hold basically the same exact records for their respective positions and every single knock on Emmitt can be said about Rice. Emmitt wasn't the fastest but neither was Rice. Emmitt had a huge OL but Rice had Montana and Young. If Rice is the best WR of all time, then Emmitt is the best RB of all time. I think what hurts Emmitt is that there are more historical RBs that stick out as great players than there are WRs.

Great post...agree totally with almost all of it. Especially the Rice comparison. I was going to post the same thing.

But, Barry Sanders had UNREAL vision. I know he made his living with quick feet, but for one thing you have to be able to see where those cuts can be made and where defenders are coming from. And he set up his blockers better than anybody by far. I will never forget a run he had against GB on Thanksgiving one year. He was inside the 15 or 10 and looked like he was in a footrace to the corner of the endzone with a defender. Instead of trying to beat him with speed, he stopped, let a WR block that defender, cut inside of another defender, and scored easily. That's a move that nobody makes.
Love the second

 

[Venger]

Faulk is such a punk b%%ch tool. Absolutely hate the guy. Thought he was going to catch Emmitt, and when he didn't, he just rolls our the whine and cheese factor.

Dorsett needs to creep up on that list.

Gale Sayers was amazing, but injuries took him out. Wonderful runner though, I think he'd have made top 5 without the injuries...

 

[The Emperor]

LOL @ Earl Campbell being in the top 5.

I'm laughing at Jim Brown being #1.

 

[theogt]

I'm laughing at Jim Brown being #1.

Brown's stats are pretty shocking, and I have no problem with someone arguing he's the best.

Take his best season in which he rushed for 1863 yards in 14 games. This is a point where the "era" argument works in his favor. And to emphasize that, you can look at him in comparison to other players that year. The top 10 rushers in the league that year, excluding Jim Brown, rushed for an average of 744 yards. That's less than half of Brown's yardage.

Then, in his 2nd best season, he rushed for 1527 yards. The top 10 rushing that year, excluding Brown, averaged 652 yards.

Think about that. The best in the business are averaging about 600-750 yards in a season and Brown is out there putting up 1863 and 1527 yards. It's just so far above and beyond his peers, that he must be in the picture for best ever.

Even in the worst season of his career he rushed for 942 yards, which was 35% more yards than the #2 rusher that season (700 yards).

He led the NFL in rushing ever year of his career but one.

 

[BAT]

When talking about the best ever runningbacks, only Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith belong in the same sentence.

Jim Brown's dominance is clear. Yet, Emmitt surpassed him in more than just numbers (TD and total yards), Emmitt surpassed Brown where it matters most:

Championships AND love of the game.


Emmitt Smith was clearly the most valuable player on a team with multiple Hall of Famers. Emmitt was the engine that drove the championship dynasty of the 90's. Being the first league leading rusher to WIN a championship, not just once but several times, simply punctuates that point.

The fact that Emmitt is also the ONLY RB to win the league MVP and superbowl MVP in the same season clearly places him in the stratosphere of the GAME's best ever, not just within the position group of runningback.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Brown is tough to compare with for anybody. He played in a much smaller league, not only in the amount of teams, but in the size of players.

When you hear the 'next Jim Brown', then he would need to be a tailback who is about 280 pounds and probably the fastest and strongest guy on the field along with one of the quickest.

I just don't see us seeing a true 'next Jim Brown' anytime soon.

That being said, you wonder if Brown could survive in today's NFL because he simply would not pass protect his QB. He felt it was beneath him to do so. In today's game, you can't have that.

I think it's really insulting our intelligence to mention Barry with Emmitt. I really do. One guy has the all time rushing yards, all time rushing TD's and probably one of the lowest rates of carries for a loss in league history and the other guy...BY FAR AND AWAY...has the most carries for a loss in league history and doesn't have anywhere near the TD's that Emmitt had.

I think those are gigantic parts of the argument.

Even still, most of it is people really don't know when a truly great RB makes his O-Linemen better. Emmitt made the O-Line better (which just about all of them have admitted as such) by using his patience, allowing the blockers to get out in front of him and then having the vision to find the best opening in the defense. You really don't see a lot of that, especially now with more zone blocking schemes. I saw in 2004 with Curtis Martin and to a lesser extent LT2 in 2006. It's funny because I remember in '04 everybody raving about the Jets O-Line, but it was Martin clearly putting on a masterpiece that year when you watched games over again on tape.

But, this is expected for me. Any other great player on a team going to the HOF and this discussion probably doesn't happen. Instead, the media in particular is quick to cut our legs off at the thought of any Cowboys success and are really just hoping that they can make the Cowboys the punchline to their jokes agai.

But if a guy is taking Barry Sanders over Emmitt, the joke is really on them.





YAKUZA

 

[ZeroClub]

It is amazing that Smith managed to be so productive over so many years. A downside to Smith's longevity, though, is that it is easy to forget just how extra special he was at the peak of his prime.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Whenever this discussion comes up, you often hear people downgrade Emmitt because of the talent of his offensive line. So if his line was so talented, why are none of these linemen being mentioned in the Hall of Fame talk? I would think that most of these guys, except for Larry Allen, would be eligible for nomination by now. Surely, if this line was as good as the Emmitt critics claim, then it should eventually produce multiple Hall of Famers.

Yep, that is a head scratcher.

 

[ThreeandOut]

When talking about the best ever runningbacks, only Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith belong in the same sentence.

Jim Brown's dominance is clear. Yet, Emmitt surpassed him in more than just numbers (TD and total yards), Emmitt surpassed Brown where it matters most:

Championships AND love of the game.


Emmitt Smith was clearly the most valuable player on a team with multiple Hall of Famers. Emmitt was the engine that drove the championship dynasty of the 90's. Being the first league leading rusher to WIN a championship, not just once but several times, simply punctuates that point.

The fact that Emmitt is also the ONLY RB to win the league MVP and superbowl MVP in the same season clearly places him in the stratosphere of the GAME's best ever, not just within the position group of runningback.

An often overlooked part of this debate is that Emmitt played his best in the big games. We judge quarterbacks by their Super Bowls and how they perform in the playoff, so why not the same for the great running backs?

Also, these arguments are often beauty contests based on perceived attributes like size, speed, power, vision, etc. While Emmitt may not have been the most skilled running back of all time, I believe he had the greatest career of any running back with the possible exception of Jim Brown. If you were Emmitt, would you trade your accomplishments for those of the other running backs...probably not.

 

[rynochop]

An often overlooked part of this debate is that Emmitt played his best in the big games. We judge quarterbacks by their Super Bowls and how they perform in the playoff, so why not the same for the great running backs?.

Exactly. In 6 playoff games Barry had 1 TD. He had one 100+ rushing game. And then had one playoff game where he rushed for negative 1 yard.

Another thing about Emmitt, thats not in his stats obviously, but he played another 17 games in the playoffs and SB's...rushing for almost 1600 yds w/ another 19 TD's.

The Barry/Emmitt comparison has just always bothered me.

 

[AmishCowboy]

I always say, you can have Barry and his highlights, I'll just take Emmitt and his Super Bowls.





YAKUZA

 

[AmishCowboy]

I'm laughing at Jim Brown being #1.

No problem with that, however no way was Franco Harris a top 10 all time RB, I have seen many backs that were better, he's just hyped because he's a Steeler.

 

[Brooksey]

Emmitt hit the hole and ran between the tackles better then anyone on that list. The O-line thing is not valid. All of those backs had good o-lines. Some better then others but all pretty good.

Barry Sanders would take a 32 dive play and swing it to the outside, stop and come all the way back around and pick up 5-15 yds or more. The problem is there were a lot of negative plays that killed drives with that style, Emmitt did not do that. He had great vision north and south.

 

[Americas_Team]

I could care less about what yahoo or others think. IMO Emmitt is the best of all times. If Barry Sanders had played in Dallas instead of Emmitt he would own the rushing title but the cowboys would probably have 3 SB wins instead of 5. There is no way the cowboys would have been the team of the 90s without Emmitt and probably Aikman and Irvin don't make the HOF either.

The OL was awesome, but IMO, Emmitt made it better with his ability to always pick up positive yards and to pick up the blitz. Congrats Emmitt...

 

[Juke99]

A couple of thoughts...

Emmitt reminds me of a good waiter at a restaurant.

You've got the waiter who constantly is running back and forth to the kitchen,the bar, the table...attracts lots of attention...looks very busy...

Then you've got the calm waiter, comes to the table, gets the order right the first time...done.

That's Emmitt. He wasn't flashy...he just got the job done in a very professional way.

About Jim Brown, don't forget, he accomplished what he did playing half his career with 12 game seasons...and the other half with 14 game seasons....he quit at the top of his game...and never missed a game due to injury.

 

[Chief]

It's interesting that the guy who accomplished more at his craft than anyone else ever, is actually underrated.

Emmitt had a lot of subtle ability. Slight head movement, a shoulder dip .... He had tremendously strong legs, and just a knack for making the exact right move at the right time. These were moves that not everyone saw. Everyone saw Barry Sanders' moves, but Emmitt's style of play better suited the fan who really, really watched and studied the game. He made it look so easy, that a lot of us didn't appreciate what he could do. He didn't run over people, but would-be tackles had a way of sliding off of him.

 

[Venger]

I think the "next Jim Brown" was probably Bo Jackson - big guy who could fly like the wind. But he wasn't as good a running back as Emmitt.

Emmitt was vision and results - the hole is there, he finds it, and exploits it, and if you get a hand on him, that's not enough, if he gets you flat footed, you are going to likely miss, and he'll do it 25 times a game.

Sanders had amazing gifts, but the guy was just as likely to get stopped for a two yard loss as he was to spring it the other way for a TD. And if you stacked the line, he didn't have that much. Sanders was great against mixed and even run formations, but short yardage, guy had nothing. And far too many minus yards for critical situations.

Franco Harris gets Steelers affirmative action - quality back no doubt, but top 10? Come on... oh look, he just fumbled his ranking... hell, he is arguably not even the best STEELER running back. Jerome Bettis anyone?

 

[DallasEast]

It's gotten to the point where I can only say, "Who cares?" The vast majority of Barry Sanders fans' argument rests with offensive line comparisons. Take that argument away and it crumbles beneath it's own weight.

Emmitt Smith's quickness and vision in the open field cannot be dismissed. His accomplishments on the field cannot be dismissed. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest running backs which the NFL has ever seen.

If there are those who wish to knock him down a peg or two, be my guest. After nearly a hundred years of American pro football played, there are only a few running backs who own the greatness label. Emmitt Smith belongs firmly within that upper echelon. No one can debate that, and if some wish to...

Father always said, "You can't beat crazy, son. Just let them have their say."

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

A couple of thoughts...

Emmitt reminds me of a good waiter at a restaurant.

You've got the waiter who constantly is running back and forth to the kitchen,the bar, the table...attracts lots of attention...looks very busy...

Then you've got the calm waiter, comes to the table, gets the order right the first time...done.

That's Emmitt. He wasn't flashy...he just got the job done in a very professional way.

About Jim Brown, don't forget, he accomplished what he did playing half his career with 12 game seasons...and the other half with 14 game seasons....he quit at the top of his game...and never missed a game due to injury.

That's why I say Mr. Brown is the greatest NFL player of all time not just running back... I love Emmitt and think he's right behind Mr. Brown.

 

[trickblue]

About Jim Brown, don't forget, he accomplished what he did playing half his career with 12 game seasons...and the other half with 14 game seasons....he quit at the top of his game...and never missed a game due to injury.

True... he was very talented...

He may very well be the greatest ever, but you do have to remember that he played at 230 pounds which was the same almost the same size as a DL in those days and certainly a good bit bigger than most LB's. Our own Leroy Jordan played at 205.

His speed and talent, coupled with that size made him unstoppable...