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How about Gale Sayers. He only played like 6 or 7 years I believe, however he was a dominant player during that time. A great back...The best ever? He may have not played long enough to be included, but since the original post was simply for the best back ever, rather than career accomplishments, I think he should at least be brought into the conversation.
Of course we could add O.J. Simpson as well. I realize his football career has been completely over shadowed, however he was a heck of a running back, and played on a team that had few weapons. Everybody knew he would be getting the ball 30 times a game. He still had great stats despite that.
I agree that Barry Sanders is the best ever. If he wouldn't have retired he would have obliterated the yardage record. Smith is nowhere near in his league.
If you think Emmitt Smith is No WHERE NEAR Barry Sanders league then you never watched them play football.
They had two different styles of running. It wouldn't have matter if Barry Sanders had All Pro Lineman or not, he was still going to run around the end.. that was his style.. Emmitt was gonna run up the middle, that was his style. Every fan is going to have their favorite and I get that but to claim that one (emmitt or barry) is sooo much better than the other is absurd. Fans of the Cowboys will say Emmitt was better and fans of the Lions will say Barry was better. Fans of other teams will say Barry was better but lets face it, if you don't love the Cowboys you hate them.. so take that for what its worth.
The Bottom line is, they are both on the list of top RBs of all time. To try and decipher who was better than who is a fools game, played by; you guessed it; fools! Which I guess I am one (see below).
who then??? don't say smith. did you see his line.... 2 all pro at all times.....
I love this silly argument. So you think Barry Sanders would have gained 3,000 yards a season if he had Emmitt Smith's OLine?? NO, of course not. I suspect Barry's numbers would have been about what they are now regardless of who was blocking for him. He didn't run between the tackles, he ran around the end. It is possible that Barry might have had some All Pro Lineman had he run between the tackles more. If he had gained his 1500 yards between the tackles, I suspect his O Lineman would have gotten more accolades.
If you watched very many of Emmitt Smith's games you would have noticed that Emmitt had a knack for getting through holes that didn't seem to be there. He seemed to be able to squeeze through, almost get sideways, into smallest crease for a big gain. Emmitt also took what was there.. 1 yard, 2 yards, 30 yards.. he took what was there.. Barry never did that.. he always tried to make something out of nothing and often did.. Barry always had those crazy 20, 30, 50 yard runs when he should have lost 5. That makes his runs more exciting to watch, they remain in your memory banks long after Emmitt's pedestrian 4 yard runs. Emmitt probably got half his touchdowns inside the 5 yard line. Barry was always taken out of the game when the Lions got that close. HUM? That's a head scratcher for sure but it is really simple. The worst case scenario with Emmitt in the game in that situation would be no gain.. the worst case for Barry would be -5 yards.
There is that one morsel that folks often over look (on purpose) when comparing Emmitt to Barry. Postseason.. It's not really Fair to compare Emmitt's postseason to Barry's simply because Emmitt was on a far superior team. But you can't ignore the fact that Emmitt led his team to 3 Championships. He was NOT just a player on a team that won a Championship, he was THE KEY contributor on 3 Super Bowl Champions. If you take Emmitt away from the Cowboys in the early 90s, they don't win a single Super Bowl. Barry doesn't have that on his resume. I don't blame Barry solely for that.. it wasn't his fault and I certainly do NOT think that Emmitt would have made the Lions Super Bowl Champions if the roles were reversed but you can't simply sweep aside the fact that Emmitt was the MAIN reason the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls. PERIOD!
Barry and the Lions had a few chances and they did not get the job done for better or worse. In the Playoffs, the best player on your team has to be at his best if you have any chance of winning. For the Cowboys and Emmitt, that was the case.. for Barry and the Lions, it was not. Barry played in 6 playoff games. The Lions won only 1 of those games and ironically it was against the Cowboys yet he was out rushed by Emmitt in that game 80-69. He averaged 65 yards a game in the playoffs. He even had a -1 yard game vs the Packers in '94. Of course that -1 yard game was an anomaly and if you threw that game out, his average comes up to 75. Emmitt had an entire season of playoff games (17). He averaged 93 yards per game with his lowest total being 40 yards vs the Packers in a game the Cowboys won yet Emmitt was injured and only had 7 carries.
When it matter most, Emmitt was at his best, Barry was not. You can't argue that. I don't want to disparage Barry Sanders, I loved watching him play. He was what I want all NFL players to be, humble! It simply has to be pointed out to those that are simply blinded by hate for the Cowboys and Emmitt Smith that Emmitt was one of if not the greatest RB of all time. You can argue that Barry was a better RB than Emmitt, but you cannot argue that Emmitt Smith was not one of the greatest RBs of ALL TIME and you certainly cannot say that Emmitt was not in Barry's league. In fact, you can't have the argument without Emmitt Smith, PERIOD!
I love this silly argument. So you think Barry Sanders would have gained 3,000 yards a season if he had Emmitt Smith's OLine?? NO, of course not. I suspect Barry's numbers would have been about what they are now regardless of who was blocking for him. He didn't run between the tackles, he ran around the end. It is possible that Barry might have had some All Pro Lineman had he run between the tackles more. If he had gained his 1500 yards between the tackles, I suspect his O Lineman would have gotten more accolades.
If you watched very many of Emmitt Smith's games you would have noticed that Emmitt had a knack for getting through holes that didn't seem to be there. He seemed to be able to squeeze through, almost get sideways, into smallest crease for a big gain. Emmitt also took what was there.. 1 yard, 2 yards, 30 yards.. he took what was there.. Barry never did that.. he always tried to make something out of nothing and often did.. Barry always had those crazy 20, 30, 50 yard runs when he should have lost 5. That makes his runs more exciting to watch, they remain in your memory banks long after Emmitt's pedestrian 4 yard runs. Emmitt probably got half his touchdowns inside the 5 yard line. Barry was always taken out of the game when the Lions got that close. HUM? That's a head scratcher for sure but it is really simple. The worst case scenario with Emmitt in the game in that situation would be no gain.. the worst case for Barry would be -5 yards.
There is that one morsel that folks often over look (on purpose) when comparing Emmitt to Barry. Postseason.. It's not really Fair to compare Emmitt's postseason to Barry's simply because Emmitt was on a far superior team. But you can't ignore the fact that Emmitt led his team to 3 Championships. He was NOT just a player on a team that won a Championship, he was THE KEY contributor on 3 Super Bowl Champions. If you take Emmitt away from the Cowboys in the early 90s, they don't win a single Super Bowl. Barry doesn't have that on his resume. I don't blame Barry solely for that.. it wasn't his fault and I certainly do NOT think that Emmitt would have made the Lions Super Bowl Champions if the roles were reversed but you can't simply sweep aside the fact that Emmitt was the MAIN reason the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls. PERIOD!
Barry and the Lions had a few chances and they did not get the job done for better or worse. In the Playoffs, the best player on your team has to be at his best if you have any chance of winning. For the Cowboys and Emmitt, that was the case.. for Barry and the Lions, it was not. Barry played in 6 playoff games. The Lions won only 1 of those games and ironically it was against the Cowboys yet he was out rushed by Emmitt in that game 80-69. He averaged 65 yards a game in the playoffs. He even had a -1 yard game vs the Packers in '94. Of course that -1 yard game was an anomaly and if you threw that game out, his average comes up to 75. Emmitt had an entire season of playoff games (17). He averaged 93 yards per game with his lowest total being 40 yards vs the Packers in a game the Cowboys won yet Emmitt was injured and only had 7 carries.
When it matter most, Emmitt was at his best, Barry was not. You can't argue that. I don't want to disparage Barry Sanders, I loved watching him play. He was what I want all NFL players to be, humble! It simply has to be pointed out to those that are simply blinded by hate for the Cowboys and Emmitt Smith that Emmitt was one of if not the greatest RB of all time. You can argue that Barry was a better RB than Emmitt, but you cannot argue that Emmitt Smith was not one of the greatest RBs of ALL TIME and you certainly cannot say that Emmitt was not in Barry's league. In fact, you can't have the argument without Emmitt Smith, PERIOD!
Emmitt was definitely a solid running back but HE WAS NO BARRY SANDERS!!! Emmitt had a QB. Because of this, the Cowboys could fake the other team out because the defense guarded against the pass and the run. When teams faced the Lions they mostly just had to guard against the run, but Barry was still able to attain his numbers.
Let me make a little easier. Dan Marino in his career BARELY had a running game. So any defense knew that all they had to do was guard against the pass, yet he still was one of the top 5 ever.
That was the same for Barry. Defenses set up for the run but Barry still did what he did. Would Emmitt have had the same numbers if they knew he was going to run almost every down? No way!!!
i don't understand - the main part on 3 champion teams - give me a break!!!!
lets see all pro line man at least 2, allpro wide reciever, all star tight end and o silly me - all pro qb. and don't forget his all star half back.(they even made a movie about him)
barry just had barry..........its hard to gain a single yard when the whole team is looking at u, just u, on a 11 man team.
emmit and the cowboys had other weapons.
he was better dude..... cause he did not need all the all-stars to have his team in the game.
you were scared of sanders, before, during and after games cause you knew he was gone to end zone soon. **** some defenses still speak of him.
i thought this was about who was the best not our favorite. in that case my favorite was freeman mcneil from the jets -80-85. i love that guy......... jets fan to the end
Agreed, I have my favorite and you have yours. I never argue that Barry was not one of the greatest of All Time, yet I am always defending Emmitt as one of the greatest. Absurd to have the argument without Emmitt..
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. i love that guy......... jets fan to the end
