Yards per season as a Cowboy - rushing

[Sinister]

Detroit Offensive Linemen: 89 65 Eric Andolsek G ('Andolsek was working in the yard of his Thibodaux, La home when the driver of a semi-trailer truck ran off the highway in front of his house and struck and killed him' : drafted by Detriot 5th round '88 saw some action his rookie year; started three years until his death) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 67 Ken Dallafior G (constantly hurt journeyman Plan B free agent played 11 games this year) 70 Chris Gambol G (journeyman out of the league 1991) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 61 Trevor Matich C (jouneyman played one year in Detroit) 74 Joe Milinichik G/T(only started one game back-up out of Detroit by 1990) 64 Eric Sanders T/Ls (journeyman back up player started 7 games) 90 65 Eric Andolsek G (started 16 games) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 67 Ken Dallafior G (played 15 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 62 Dennis McKnight G (backup; left for philadelphia in 91 back in 92) 73 Harvey Salem T (started 14 games out of Detroit by 91 out of the NFL by 93) 64 Eric Sanders T/LS (backup started 2 games) 60 Mike Utley G (started 5 games as a rookie before being injured) 91 65 Eric Andolsek G (started 16 games) 66 Shawn Bouwens G (rookie backup did not start any games; out of Detroit by 1995 out of the NFL by 1996) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 76 Scott Conover T (backup rookie right tackle started 3 games) 67 Ken Dallafior G (started 5 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 77 Bubba Paris T (journeyman did not start any games for Detroit) 60 Mike Utley G (started in the 6th game, due to injury only came off the bench to play in the second half of games) 92 66 Shawn Bouwens G (started 16 games) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 76 Scott Conover T (started 15 games, never started more than seven after this year) 61 Brad Leggett C (never played for Detroit) 72 Jack Linn G (journeyman started 4 games) 63 Dennis McKnight C (back for his second stint with Detroit started 2 games) 71 Larry Tharpe T (6th round pick did not start but played in 11 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (Injured Reserve, played 7 games before injury sidelined him for the rest of the season) 60 Mike Utley (severe spinal cord injury left him paralyzed after only 11 games that season) Ken Dallafior G (started twelve games before getting injured went on IR retired at the beginning of the 93 season) Detroit did have some good teams, but their offensive line was never overly talented, for most of Barry Sanders time in Detroit it was mediocre to good, even though it had some good players it was often filled with journeyman and/or Rookies that never developed. Some of the Journeyman like Dallafior I do remember as being some tough sons of guns, but overall they lacked talent and that more than anything hurt Barry Sanders over the course of his career. They did have a couple of good teams in fact in 1991 they beat the Cowboys in the playoffs 38 - 6; but the next year Kevin Glover and Dallafior were hurt and Andolsek passed away; they went 5 - 11, I could keep going, but it is more of the same for Detroit, Lomas Brown was still a force up until he left in 1996, but the offensive line could just never overcome their lack of talent. I was looking over some old film and just remembering guys like Dallafior and Andolsek, was funny. They were tough and I remember respecting them. So I looked up what happened to Andolsek and found that he was killed, holy that was a shock. I honestly didn't remember him until watching the old film from the 1991 playoff loss then I remembered I 'hated' him and Dallafior, when I say hate I don't mean that literally just that they played very well that game and stoned the Cowboys Defensive Line. Their best offensive line was probably that 1991 line that helped the Lions beat the Cowboys, other than that their Olines they were at best adequate at worst mediocre. The year after they beat the Cowboys in 1992, Andolsek died in the offseason, Utley suffered that horrific injury, Dallafior got hurt again and ended up retiring, Glover also got hurt. Anyway, anyone who says that Detroit had great offensives is just wrong they had some great players like Brown and Glover, even Andolsek. Once Glover and Brown had left basically Detroit never was able to find dominant lineman in the draft. They did find some good lineman, but none were up to Brown or Glovers standard, I remember Mike Compton was pretty good for them, but I struggle to remember anything else about those Detroit Olines.

 

[visionary]

LOL............a typical biased Cowboys viewpoint.

Sanders would have mopped up here with our Oline.

A couple 1 yard losses here and there to get a few 40 and 70 yard gains is nothing.

The reason that Sanders didnt win any SB's is because he wasnt surrounded by what the Cowboys had at the time.

“Would have”

Your signature phrase in defending mediocrity for years

 

[visionary]

Sanders ran behind some of the worst lines, played with some of the worst QB's.

Emmitt played with HOFers on the line at QB at WR, no one can name 1 OL from those Sanders years.

This is the ultimate team game please don't reduce it to single player heroics.

What happened when Emmitt missed games to start the 1993 season with the same HOFers on the OL and the rest of rge team?

Please show us more ignorance by defending your previous comment

 

[visionary]

Detroit Offensive Linemen: 89 65 Eric Andolsek G ('Andolsek was working in the yard of his Thibodaux, La home when the driver of a semi-trailer truck ran off the highway in front of his house and struck and killed him' : drafted by Detriot 5th round '88 saw some action his rookie year; started three years until his death) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 67 Ken Dallafior G (constantly hurt journeyman Plan B free agent played 11 games this year) 70 Chris Gambol G (journeyman out of the league 1991) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 61 Trevor Matich C (jouneyman played one year in Detroit) 74 Joe Milinichik G/T(only started one game back-up out of Detroit by 1990) 64 Eric Sanders T/Ls (journeyman back up player started 7 games) 90 65 Eric Andolsek G (started 16 games) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 67 Ken Dallafior G (played 15 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 62 Dennis McKnight G (backup; left for philadelphia in 91 back in 92) 73 Harvey Salem T (started 14 games out of Detroit by 91 out of the NFL by 93) 64 Eric Sanders T/LS (backup started 2 games) 60 Mike Utley G (started 5 games as a rookie before being injured) 91 65 Eric Andolsek G (started 16 games) 66 Shawn Bouwens G (rookie backup did not start any games; out of Detroit by 1995 out of the NFL by 1996) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 76 Scott Conover T (backup rookie right tackle started 3 games) 67 Ken Dallafior G (started 5 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (probowler great player) 77 Bubba Paris T (journeyman did not start any games for Detroit) 60 Mike Utley G (started in the 6th game, due to injury only came off the bench to play in the second half of games) 92 66 Shawn Bouwens G (started 16 games) 75 Lomas Brown T (probowler great player) 76 Scott Conover T (started 15 games, never started more than seven after this year) 61 Brad Leggett C (never played for Detroit) 72 Jack Linn G (journeyman started 4 games) 63 Dennis McKnight C (back for his second stint with Detroit started 2 games) 71 Larry Tharpe T (6th round pick did not start but played in 11 games) 53 Kevin Glover C (Injured Reserve, played 7 games before injury sidelined him for the rest of the season) 60 Mike Utley (severe spinal cord injury left him paralyzed after only 11 games that season) Ken Dallafior G (started twelve games before getting injured went on IR retired at the beginning of the 93 season) Detroit did have some good teams, but their offensive line was never overly talented, for most of Barry Sanders time in Detroit it was mediocre to good, even though it had some good players it was often filled with journeyman and/or Rookies that never developed. Some of the Journeyman like Dallafior I do remember as being some tough sons of guns, but overall they lacked talent and that more than anything hurt Barry Sanders over the course of his career. They did have a couple of good teams in fact in 1991 they beat the Cowboys in the playoffs 38 - 6; but the next year Kevin Glover and Dallafior were hurt and Andolsek passed away; they went 5 - 11, I could keep going, but it is more of the same for Detroit, Lomas Brown was still a force up until he left in 1996, but the offensive line could just never overcome their lack of talent. I was looking over some old film and just remembering guys like Dallafior and Andolsek, was funny. They were tough and I remember respecting them. So I looked up what happened to Andolsek and found that he was killed, holy that was a shock. I honestly didn't remember him until watching the old film from the 1991 playoff loss then I remembered I 'hated' him and Dallafior, when I say hate I don't mean that literally just that they played very well that game and stoned the Cowboys Defensive Line. Their best offensive line was probably that 1991 line that helped the Lions beat the Cowboys, other than that their Olines they were at best adequate at worst mediocre. The year after they beat the Cowboys in 1992, Andolsek died in the offseason, Utley suffered that horrific injury, Dallafior got hurt again and ended up retiring, Glover also got hurt. Anyway, anyone who says that Detroit had great offensives is just wrong they had some great players like Brown and Glover, even Andolsek. Once Glover and Brown had left basically Detroit never was able to find dominant lineman in the draft. They did find some good lineman, but none were up to Brown or Glovers standard, I remember Mike Compton was pretty good for them, but I struggle to remember anything else about those Detroit Olines.

Dont make this about Detroit to muddy the waters, focus on the same “great” Cowboys team with and without Emmitt

What happened when Emmitt missed games to start the 1993 season with the same HOFers on the OL and the rest of rge team?

 

[visionary]

Eh.
Sanders never won a SB because he played for the dumpster fire Lions. Put Sanders on that Dallas team with the stacked O-line, he gets at least 1 if not more imo

Again

What happened when Emmitt missed games to start the 1993 season with the same HOFers on the OL and the rest of the “stacked” team?

 

[visionary]

lol typical dismissive response, I didnt even finish reading your post the way you began it. Its a "for what its worth chart" "visionary"

Of course you didn’t because it clarified why your chart is worth nothing

 

[Havic]

While the Lions were never as stacked as those Dallas teams Emmitt played on, the narrative that he played for a dumpster fire of a team is just a convenient excuse for the failures. The fact of the matter is Sanders played behind more top 100 pick linemen in his career than Emmitt did by a fair margin. No matter how you slice it, Barry's running style made his linemen look bad because he all too often refused to hit it up in there and take a 3 yard gain choosing instead to bounce it outside looking for the home run. The net result was nearly 3000 yards of negative carries over the course of his career. If you don't think all those 2nd and 17s after Barry danced around and got tackled for a loss didn't help his teams lose games then I can't really hold a football discussion with you. You don't think that unwillingness to get tough yards (or block) didn't factor into most of his coaches taking him out on the goal line and in most passing situations?

Again, I have to ask if you think that didn't hurt his teams' chances of winning? It's okay to lionize (pun intended) Barry's abilities.. He was an absolute joy to watch and clear a massive talent. But Emmitt did more things that helped his teams win games which is why when they polled coaches and GMs about who they would rather have Emmitt came out on top 55% to 45% while when they polled fans it was the other way around and when they polled players I think Barry came out slightly ahead. In other words, the more dependent your job was on winning actual games, the more likely you were to favor Emmitt. I cannot fault anybody for loving Barry. Hell I loved Barry.. I just loved Emmitt a little more.. mostly because he was the more complete football player by a sizeable margin. That and he had a heart the size of Texas..

I’m not knocking smith at all. Barry was the bigger talent and far more explosive while smith was the jack of all trades type back. Barry was allowed to run the way he did because he was the offense. Never had a qb, legit wrs, or te.

Had he decided to keep playing he would be the leading all time rusher, even with all of the negative plays

 

[Jarv]

career yards as a Cowboy divided by seasons played as a Cowboy to come up with avg yds per season with the star.
1 Emmitt Smith 1,320
2 Ezekiel Elliott 1,180
3 DeMarco Murray 1,132
4 Tony Dorsett 1,094
5 Julius Jones 871
6 Calvin Hill 835
7 Duane Thomas 798
8 Don Perkins 777
9 Marion Barber III 726
10 Tony Pollard 654
11 Felix Jones 546
12 Amos Marsh 516
13 Troy Hambrick 474
14 Paul Palmer 446
15 Eddie George 432
16 Walt Garrison 432
17 Robert Newhouse 399
18 Alfred Morris 395
19 Darren McFadden 391
20 Ron Springs 363

Great work, although some of those older guys on the list played 14 game seasons, so that may skew those numbers a bit.

 

[RonnieT24]

I’m not knocking smith at all. Barry was the bigger talent and far more explosive while smith was the jack of all trades type back. Barry was allowed to run the way he did because he was the offense. Never had a qb, legit wrs, or te.

Had he decided to keep playing he would be the leading all time rusher, even with all of the negative plays

I disagree with this and for one very simple reason. Emmitt was obsessed with owning that record. No matter how many yards Sanders ran for, Emmitt was going to keep playing until he had more. We know that Barry's running style was going to cause him to drop off a cliff the instant he lost a step. Hell he may have already lost that step and that as much as anything made up his mind to retire. Barry averaged LESS THAN THREE YARDS PER CARRY in 3 of his last 5 starts in the NFL. He scored ONE touchdown over his last 13 games. ONE! I think his body had started to feel the wall and he could sense the end was near. But let's say he plays 3 more seasons and averages 1200 yards per season at age 31, 32 and 33. I think he retired before his age 31 season. So he puts up 3600 more yards. Actually I find that highly unlikely but let's say for the sake of argument he does. That puts him at roughly 18,800 yards for his career. Emmitt called it a career with 18,355 yards. Does anybody here think Emmitt would not have come back for one more season to surpass that total? The Cardinals asked him back but he declined and if I am not mistaken there was at least one other team that offered him a contract for the 2005 season. Emmitt said at the time he didn't take that offer because he did not want to move or disrupt his family again. But if that record was within 500 yards there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Emmitt would have played another year. He put up almost a thousand yards in 2004 behind a pretty bad line and with one of the McCown brothers at QB. I think he could have come close to that again.. maybe more once they signed Kurt Warner!

Drive and competitive spirit was the biggest difference between Barry and Emmitt. Barry's YPC average went down .75 yards per attempt (4.99 to 4.24) in the playoff. Emmitt's yards per attempt went UP .38 YPC (4.16 to 4.54) in the playoffs. I know I know.. Emmitt was on better teams.. which is true.. but make no mistake about it, Emmitt was a big reason why his teams were better.

 

[khiladi]

Back on topic - here's what this list tells me.

The Dak stans are constantly beating their chests over Dak's stats and some are repeatedly telling everyone how much better Dak is compared to Aikman. This list tells you exactly why Aikman didn't have the flashy stats; he had an unstoppable force for a running game. Aikman rarely had to put the games in his hands. Dallas was very well known for their use of the run game to run out the clock to close out games.

And another thing. I'm sure a Zeke fan will chime in and tell us 'OMG! Look how close to Emmitt Zeke was". Hey losers, Emmitt averaged 1320 yards a season FOR 15 YEARS. Over the next few years Zeke's average will drop down below 1k a season, and if we're being honest, he won't last 15 seasons..

Please don’t entertain the stupidity of comparing Aikman to Dak. It is an insult to Aikman, who is a legend. Dak would be out of the league in 1 year with the 90s rules, throwing in offenses that were primarily 2 WR. None of that spread crap worked in the NFL in that era, unless you were in the AFC and that you’d get completely annihilated when you played in the SB.

Manning’s record setting Denver offense got absolutely annihilated by the Seahawks, who softies used to say were allowed to be more physical and aggressive as a defense. Manning would suck regularly in the playoffs against the early Patriots defenses whose DBs were still allowed to play more aggressive per the pre 2006 rules.

 

[khiladi]

Remember also, Sanders ran in a closed stadium on turf, which also helped his yardage. Emmitt was running on grass and the playoffs, he was playing in open air grass stadiums and winning. Barry would have probably suffered more negative yardage plays if not for that fact.

Barry would probably run for 2000 yards every year in todays game though with these modern stadiums.

 

[MarcusRock]

Dont make this about Detroit to muddy the waters, focus on the same “great” Cowboys team with and without Emmitt

What happened when Emmitt missed games to start the 1993 season with the same HOFers on the OL and the rest of rge team?

You literally brought up Barry Sanders in Post #2 of a thread about Cowboys running backs but now want others to not make this about Detroit to "muddy the waters?" Shut up, Francis. Lol.

 

[visionary]

You literally brought up Barry Sanders in Post #2 of a thread about Cowboys running backs but now want others to not make this about Detroit to "muddy the waters?" Shut up, Francis. Lol.

So name calling when you dont have a leg to stand on

Nothing new for you

Address my question about the same team without Emmitt for 2 and then with Emmitt or beat it (like i know you will)

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Eh.
Sanders never won a SB because he played for the dumpster fire Lions. Put Sanders on that Dallas team with the stacked O-line, he gets at least 1 if not more imo

That team wasnt as bad as some say.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Lomas Brown & Kevin Glover

You beat me to it. Good job!

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

While the Lions were never as stacked as those Dallas teams Emmitt played on, the narrative that he played for a dumpster fire of a team is just a convenient excuse for the failures. The fact of the matter is Sanders played behind more top 100 pick linemen in his career than Emmitt did by a fair margin. No matter how you slice it, Barry's running style made his linemen look bad because he all too often refused to hit it up in there and take a 3 yard gain choosing instead to bounce it outside looking for the home run. The net result was nearly 3000 yards of negative carries over the course of his career. If you don't think all those 2nd and 17s after Barry danced around and got tackled for a loss didn't help his teams lose games then I can't really hold a football discussion with you. You don't think that unwillingness to get tough yards (or block) didn't factor into most of his coaches taking him out on the goal line and in most passing situations?

Again, I have to ask if you think that didn't hurt his teams' chances of winning? It's okay to lionize (pun intended) Barry's abilities.. He was an absolute joy to watch and clear a massive talent. But Emmitt did more things that helped his teams win games which is why when they polled coaches and GMs about who they would rather have Emmitt came out on top 55% to 45% while when they polled fans it was the other way around and when they polled players I think Barry came out slightly ahead. In other words, the more dependent your job was on winning actual games, the more likely you were to favor Emmitt. I cannot fault anybody for loving Barry. Hell I loved Barry.. I just loved Emmitt a little more.. mostly because he was the more complete football player by a sizeable margin. That and he had a heart the size of Texas..

Perfectly said. Facts!
Someone mentioned barry being here. Lets reverse that snd (gasp!) put emmitt on barrys team. His work ethic, durability, commitment.
Things might have went different for lions.

 

[MarcusRock]

So name calling when you dont have a leg to stand on

Nothing new for you

Address my question about the same team without Emmitt for 2 and then with Emmitt or beat it (like i know you will)

Yeah, didn't think you wanted to talk about actions YOU brought about here but nothing new for you, lol.

And where was the name calling? I didn't say hypocrite outright, I merely illustrated how you made it so.

It's just funny to me how people show their insecurity with the NFL's All-Time Leading Rusher by bringing up Barry Sanders when his name wasn't in the mix anywhere. When that happens, it's all but an admission that Barry was a better runner, which he was. But Emmitt was tough, durable, dependable and lasted long enough to grab the golden crown of running backs. When that's not enough for people, there's something to that. Thanks for showing it.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Wow. Excel magic! You must work in tech.

I laughed

 

[CowboyRoy]

“Would have”

Your signature phrase in defending mediocrity for years

So now Sanders was mediocre?

 

[Angus12]

Sanders ran behind some of the worst lines, played with some of the worst QB's.

Emmitt played with HOFers on the line at QB at WR, no one can name 1 OL from those Sanders years.

This is the ultimate team game please don't reduce it to single player heroics.

This couldn't be more wrong. Go take a look at those Olines in Detroit. If somebody can't name at least one of those Olinemen, they either are very young or don't know a damn thing. Also, go look at the WRs that Sanders played with that took pressure off the running game. Guys like Scott Mitchell might not have been Troy Aikman, but he was far from being the worst.

But you're right about one thing. This is a team game. And Sanders played with some pretty damn good offensive teammates.