Yards per season as a Cowboy - rushing

[Angus12]

The Cowboys lines were more talented overall during the time that Emmitt Smith played it just something that has to be admitted and anyone who watched football during this time understands this.

Guys like Mark Tuinei, Nate Newton, etc.. are legendary names in Dallas. And rightfully so.

And they can thank Emmitt Smith for that. How were they looked at before Emmitt came to town? Go look at Newton's career before Emmitt. It might surprise you.

 

[Angus12]

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

Wait, what? Barry never played with legit WRs?



Wow. Tell us you know nothing about this discussion without actually telling us you know nothing about this discussion.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Wait, what? Barry never played with legit WRs?



Wow. Tell us you know nothing about this discussion without actually telling us you know nothing about this discussion.

The Herman Moore disrespect continues lol

 

[CWR]

Lomas Brown & Kevin Glover

He actually had a good line with some quality players. He didn't have a team like Emmitt, but the poor line stuff isn't accurate. He had probowlers blocking for him.

 

[CWR]

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

Herman Moore was absolutely legit.

 

[McMicah]

Now do yards per rushing attempt and get stoked about TP

 

[Big_D]

The issue here is you had a superstar RB on the roster and Pollard took a backseat. It was blatantly obvious the offense went through 21 according to the owner even when Pollard looked better and more explosive. Doesn't look good when your 16 million dollar back is playing second fiddle.

 

[Big_D]

Emmitt was a beast. Those just crediting the Oline weren't really watching and forget to mention double the TDs and a whole extra season in the playoffs. He ran people over, probably had the best stiff arm in football, the spin move. and the blocking. Legit at every level and the team showed they couldn't win without him. Crazy with the "Great Wall" I don't remember seeing Derrick Lassic or Lincoln Coleman lighting it up?

 

[visionary]

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.

Hey, way to once again run from the question

And i didnt call you an ignorant douchbag moron outright either so i guess thats fair

 

[MarcusRock]

Hey, way to once again run from the question

And i didnt call you an ignorant douchbag moron outright either so i guess thats fair

My involvement here had nothing to do with your question at all, only to point out your hypocrisy for starting an unrelated argument due to your insecurity that you then wanted to quell. You tried to pawn off your question to another poster on me to cover up that fact, bitter man. You're always so mad at everyone. Cheer up, buttercup. Football's back. Lol.

 

[WarDaddy]

The Lions offensive line was way better than the Cowboys before either RB showed up. Nate Newton has admitted that he was just a fat guy until Emmitt was drafted. The Cowboys OL was Mark Tuinei an undrafted free agent DT that they moved to multiple OL positions and ended up at LT. Nate Newton was an undrafted free agent that started out with Washington and then played in the USFL who also moved all around the OL until he ended up at LG. Stepnoski was 3rd round pick, a 269 pound college guard that they moved to center (had to teach him to snap). They had all kinds of guys play the other G spot like plan b free agent Alan Veingrad and John Gesek who was a low draft pick trade from the Raiders. RT was their best player Erik Williams who was a 3rd round pick. Great player until his auto accident. Larry Allen didn't show up until the 3rd Super Bowl run and filled in for Williams. Kevin Gogan was originally a RT who sucked. They eventually moved him to RG and he played great replacing Gesek but then left in free agency for the Raiders.

Yes sir. Thanks for the perspective that is so very often lost when talking about Emmitt’s career. People love to romanticize the offensive lines in Dallas in the 90’s like it was littered with Hall of Famers. They were just dudes until Emmitt and Jimmy got here. So many good things had to happen in order to have the success they had.

Emmitt gets short changed a lot and it’s not fair. He was a truly great player in so many ways. He only lacked flash.

 

[visionary]

My involvement here had nothing to do with your question at all, only to point out your hypocrisy for starting an unrelated argument due to your insecurity that you then wanted to quell. You tried to pawn off your question to another poster on me to cover up that fact, bitter man. You're always so mad at everyone. Cheer up, buttercup. Football's back. Lol.

Exactly, as usual you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong to show your ignorance

Now get your panties out of your very extensive butt crack

 

[blueblood70]

That’s a shame someone comes in here and try to use Barry sanders in the Lions team we’re just trying to talk down ES2 and the Cowboys, there’s always some troll

 

[blueblood70]

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

This really shows is how good or shall I say great till I say generational possibly Ezekiel Elliott was underappreciated around here I mean when he’s getting has numbers that stack up and are actually slightly better than Terrell Davis‘s career and yet this place you seem to want to get rid of them that’s a shame

 

[RonnieT24]

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.

I don't know how this would have even been possible. Barry lost over 2500 yards as it was in his career. But your first point is an interesting one.. but some would say Emmitt playing in Texas Stadium was pretty much playing on turf too most of his career. During his time in Dallas the Ratscums were the only team in the division to have grass. The G-men, Cards and Eagles all had turf too. More to the point however IMHO is the fact that Barry played a lot of his career against some SORRY arse defenses in his division. After Buddy and Ditka were gone the Bears fell off their defense became middling at best. The Packers defense was below average until they signed Reggie but Emmitt regularly punked them when he faced them with or without him. Same with the Vikings. They were mostly middle of the pack too except for a couple of good seasons. And do I even need to mention the Bucs defenses before Dungy showed up? Yes young people, the Bucs used to be in the NFC North division before realignment.

People often crow about what Barry might have done if he had played in Dallas. I counter with what might Emmitt have done playing in that run and shoot offense when a lot of times there would only be 2 or 3 down linemen on the field. I think because he didn't make a lot of sudden explosive cuts (he didn't have to) people forget how shifty and elusive and just plain hard to tackle Emmitt could be. But his overall running style was more efficient and generated fewer highlights.. but a LOT fewer 2nd and 15s.

All in all it's a fun debate to have.. and frankly there is no wrong answer. These guys were both all time greats and either would have done big thangs in any situation. But I laugh at people who claim Emmitt lucked into going to the better team.. when the team he went to had won a combined 3 games the two seasons before he was drafted. At some point you might want to just give the guy his due. But that seems to be hard for some people. I can't for the life of me figure out how any fan of the Cowboys could struggle to recognize the greatness of one of our own. But I am not supposed to understand EVERYTHING I guess.

 

[plasticman]

Springs, Newhouse, Newsome, Garrison, and Duane Thomas spent a significant time of their careers as FB's which was more of a supporting role. Yes, they ran occasionally and shared the carries with someone else on the field. They were also used more for short yardage plays.

If we were to look at their average yards per attempt during their Cowboys career (minimum 300 carries):

1 Roger Staubach 5.5
2 Tony Pollard 5.1
3 Duane Thomas 4.9
4 DeMarco Murray 4.8
5 Amos Marsh 4.8
6 Felix Jones 4.8
7 Dak Prescott 4.7
8 Ezekiel Elliott 4.4
9 Tony Dorsett 4.4
10 Walt Garrison 4.3
11 Calvin Hill 4.3
12 Herschel Walker 4.3
13 Emmitt Smith 4.2
14 Marion Barber III 4.2
15 Don Perkins 4.1
16 Robert Newhouse 4.1
17 Troy Hambrick 4
18 Julius Jones 3.9
19 Sherman Williams 3.8
20 Dan Reeves 3.7
21 Preston Pearson 3.7
22 Doug Dennison 3.6
23 Ron Springs 3.6
24 Timmy Newsome 3.6
25 Troy Aikman 3.1

Of course, rating players depends on context. Both Emmitt Smith and Marion Barber averaged 4.2 yards a carry. However, Emmitt's career was both longer and more consistent than Barber during a time in which the Cowboys were constantly defending championships. You could say the same thing about Dorsett.

Another measurement that should be taken into consideration is a general scoring efficiency. After all, the object of the game is to score more than the opponents. The following stat measure the number of carries per TD scored. The less carries per score, the more efficient.

1 Dak Prescott 13.5
2 Doug Dennison 16.1
3 Timmy Newsome 18.0
4 Duane Thomas 20.4
5 Roger Staubach 20.5
6 Dan Reeves 21.4
7 Ron Springs 21.6
8 Marion Barber III 22.2
9 Emmitt Smith 26.5
10 Ezekiel Elliott 27.7
11 Calvin Hill 29.9
12 Walt Garrison 30.0
13 Tony Pollard 30.0
14 Herschel Walker 30.3
15 Amos Marsh 30.5
16 DeMarco Murray 33.4
17 Don Perkins 35.7
18 Troy Aikman 36.3
19 Robert Newhouse 37.4
20 Tony Dorsett 38.3
21 Julius Jones 49.2
22 Felix Jones 51.7
23 Troy Hambrick 59.1
24 Preston Pearson 65.0
25 Sherman Williams 75.5

Here, you will notice that the short yardage backs, i.e. fullbacks or "powerbacks" jump to the top of the list. These were the guys you depended on in goal to goal situations or 3rd and 2, etc.

When you combine all lists in determining the value of a back you get a much better picture of what made them so important to their offense. The franchise backs were the ones that you can see at the top of a list while close to the top or in the middle of other lists.

However, what sticks out to me are the ranks of RB Duane Thomas. This was a guy who averaged almost 5 yards a carry while scoring every 20 times he carried the ball. He was an integral part of the Cowboys very first SB championship. The controversial back was considered for SB 6 MVP but they were scared of how he might react. They gave the trophy to Roger Staubach. It was Duane, by the way, who referred to Tom Landry as a "plasticman".

Notice Pollard at the top of the list for average yards per carry and in the middle of the list for carries per TD, sandwiched between Walt Garrison and Herschel Walker. This is a good sign of versatility.

Another measurement for evaluating backs must include their abilities as receivers, especially in today's NFL. How do you measure their importance in this respect? I would maintain that one of the best ways to look at this number is the percentage of yardage that came from the passing game.

1 Preston Pearson 65.3%
2 Timmy Newsome 61.6%
3 Ron Springs 48.2%
4 Dan Reeves 46.0%
5 Herschel Walker 42.3%
6 Amos Marsh 32.9%
7 Walt Garrison 31.6%
8 Felix Jones 28.0%
9 Tony Pollard 27.8%
10 Marion Barber III 22.7%
11 Sherman Williams 22.2%
12 Tony Dorsett 22.2%
13 Ezekiel Elliott 22.0%
14 Calvin Hill 21.3%
15 DeMarco Murray 21.0%
16 Don Perkins 17.4%
17 Robert Newhouse 16.7%
18 Julius Jones 16.2%
19 Emmitt Smith 14.9%
20 Duane Thomas 12.4%
21 Troy Hambrick 12.1%
22 Doug Dennison 9.0%

Dan Reeves, former HC of the Giants and Falcons, former OC for Tom Landry was the Cowboy's all purpose back in the 60's and early 70's. He carried the ball, he caught the ball, he even passed the ball on occasion.

Tony Dorsett was a great back but he was always protected from having to do most of the dirty work. That was left up to guys like Timmy Newsome and Ron Springs.

Notice, again, where Pollard appears on the list. All evidence indicates that Pollard is, indeed, a legit NFL back.

 

[Bagman]

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..

Can I like this post 10 times ?!!

 

[khiladi]

I don't know how this would have even been possible. Barry lost over 2500 yards as it was in his career. But your first point is an interesting one.. but some would say Emmitt playing in Texas Stadium was pretty much playing on turf too most of his career. During his time in Dallas the Ratscums were the only team in the division to have grass. The G-men, Cards and Eagles all had turf too. More to the point however IMHO is the fact that Barry played a lot of his career against some SORRY arse defenses in his division. After Buddy and Ditka were gone the Bears fell off their defense became middling at best. The Packers defense was below average until they signed Reggie but Emmitt regularly punked them when he faced them with or without him. Same with the Vikings. They were mostly middle of the pack too except for a couple of good seasons. And do I even need to mention the Bucs defenses before Dungy showed up? Yes young people, the Bucs used to be in the NFC North division before realignment.

People often crow about what Barry might have done if he had played in Dallas. I counter with what might Emmitt have done playing in that run and shoot offense when a lot of times there would only be 2 or 3 down linemen on the field. I think because he didn't make a lot of sudden explosive cuts (he didn't have to) people forget how shifty and elusive and just plain hard to tackle Emmitt could be. But his overall running style was more efficient and generated fewer highlights.. but a LOT fewer 2nd and 15s.

All in all it's a fun debate to have.. and frankly there is no wrong answer. These guys were both all time greats and either would have done big thangs in any situation. But I laugh at people who claim Emmitt lucked into going to the better team.. when the team he went to had won a combined 3 games the two seasons before he was drafted. At some point you might want to just give the guy his due. But that seems to be hard for some people. I can't for the life of me figure out how any fan of the Cowboys could struggle to recognize the greatness of one of our own. But I am not supposed to understand EVERYTHING I guess.

The key things I remember about prime Emmitt were his huge thighs and low center of gravity, coupled with his Vision to see the hold before it opened and his acceleration out of the gate to hit that first hole. His top flight speed wasn’t there, otherwise he’d have more long TDs.

 

[Blast From The Past]

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

Remember when Troy Hambrick was the second coming? Lol...good times those days

 

[Thomas82]

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.

Not that this matters, but here's one other fact that debunks the myths that float around the media and in cyberspace: For a good portion of Barry Sanders' tenure with the Lions they had the highest paid offensive line in the NFL. He had at least 1 lineman in the Pro Bowl in 8 of his 10 seasons. The problem was that at some point the organization apparently stopped valuing cohesion on that unit and let some good linemen walk. Even with the revolving door at 3 of the 5 O-line positions, there were still no noticeable weaknesses to exploit in that unit. Here's a closer look at Barry's most notable O-linemen:

Lomas Brown: Drafted No. 6 overall in 1985 by the Lions. He became the starting left tackle immediately and was entrenched there for 11 years. He was a 7-time Pro Bowler and 6-time All-Pro (including his first year with the Cardinals). He signed with the Cardinals as a free agent after the 1995 season. He was a 2022 Pro Football Hall Of Fame nominee and is in the College Football Hall Of Fame.

Kevin Glover: A 2nd round pick by the Lions in 1985. He was a backup guard for most of his first 3 seasons and started at right guard in 1988. He moved to center in 1989 and eventually became one of the better ones in the NFL, earning 3 Pro Bowl and 4 All-Pro selections. He also was a key blocker for Barry Sanders' 2000-yard season. He signed with the Seahawks as a free agent after the 1997 season. He was a 2022 Pro Football Hall Of Fame nominee.

Harvey Salem: Drafted by the Oilers in the 2nd round in 1983. He was traded to the Lions early in the 1986 season and started 13 games at left guard. He moved to right tackle in 1987, where he would stay for the rest of his tenure with the Lions. He helped Barry Sanders win NFL Offensive Rookie Of The Year in 1989 and his first rushing title in 1990. After the 1990 season, he was traded to the Broncos.

Eric Andolsek: Was a 5th round selection of the Lions in 1988. He saw some action in 13 games as a rookie. He became the starter at left guard in 1989 and stayed there until 1991, his last season. He was gradually becoming one of the best guards in the NFL and projected to be the best player on the Lions' offensive line. He, along with LB and Glove, made up the best left side of the modern era for the Lions. He passed away tragically during the summer of 1992.

Mike Utley: A 3rd round draft choice of the Lions in 1989. He originally was a Day 1 starter, but got injured in Week 5 and was lost for the rest of the season. After an injury-riddled 2nd season, he was reinserted as the full-time right guard in 1991 and started every game until he was paralyzed in Week 12, ending his career. He is in the College Football Hall Of Fame.

Bill Fralic: Was the No. 2 overall pick by the Falcons in the 1985 NFL Draft. After 8 seasons with them, he signed with the Lions as a free agent. He retired after the 1993 season. He started 131 of 132 games in his career. He was a 4-time Pro Bowler, 4-time All-Pro, a selection of the NFL 1980's All-Decade Team, and is in the College Football Hall Of Fame.

Dave Lutz: A 2nd round pick of the Chiefs in 1983. He started every game he played in except for one in his 2nd season. After 10 seasons with the Chiefs, he signed with the Lions as a free agent in 1993. He was the starting right guard for the NFL's No. 1 offense in 1995. He retired after that season.

Mike Compton: Drafted in the 3rd round by the Lions in 1993. He displayed versatility along the offensive line by playing multiple positions in any given season. After being a backup at 3 position is his first 3 seasons, he became the starting left guard in 1996. He was a starter on the O-line that blocked for Barry Sanders' 2,000-yard season. He signed with the Patriots as a free agent in 2001, where he went on to win 2 Super Bowls.

Doug Widell: Drafted by the Broncos in the 2nd round in 1989. He was part of their losing Super Bowl XXIV team. He played right guard for the Lions in 1994 and left guard in 1995, starting in every game he played for the team. After 2 solid seasons with the Lions, he signed with the Colts as a free agent in 1996.

Ray Roberts: Drafted No. 10 overall in 1992 by the Seahawks. He signed with the Lions in 1996 and replaced Lomas Brown at left tackle. He started in all 70 games he played for the team. He was also a big part of the offensive line that helped Barry Sanders run for over 2,000 yards and win MVP in 1997. He retired after the 2001 season.

Jeff Hartings: Drafted No. 23 overall by the Lions in 1996. He started at right guard for the Lions and helped Barry Sanders rush for over 2,000 yards and win MVP in 1997. He signed with the Steelers as a free agent in 2001 and was moved to center. He went on to become a 2-time Pro Bowl selection, 2-time All-Pro, and a Super Bowl champion.

Again, NONE of these guys were exactly scrubs. I know some of them had their best years with other teams, but I won't pretend that they played like trash when they were blocking for Barry Sanders. So many people that don't understand football will have a hard time seeing that these guys had some talent. As amazing as Barry was, it's also a credit to that O-line that he was able to average 5 yards per carry for his career despite losing more yards than any other running back in history. On paper, the Lions had a better O-line than the Cowboys, especially when you factor in where they were drafted and what they accomplished before/after blocking for Barry.