Barry Sanders

[Kez]

Shit, just let Barry have put up with the Lions management for a few more years and I'd say he would have hit 20k yards.

[Ham n Cheese]

He's top 5 but I don't think he's without a doubt the best. Like someone said he just wasn't as consistent as the other great backs. He has some absolutely WTFAMAZING runs though. He's probably my favorite back of all time, but I think it's impossible to list an actual greatest RB like you can at the WR with Rice, because the Top 5-6 backs are all so amazing.

[Bottle]

If running for a 1000+ yards every season and only missing five games to injury isn't consistent. I don't know what is.

[Rush]

He was "less consistent" than other backs because his offensive line was attrocious. They would give up penetration badly and he would often times make something out of nothing, other times the defense would make a great play and tackle him for a loss. So his "inconsistency" I would attribute more to his offensive line and less to him.

[Ham n Cheese]

Originally Posted by Bottle

If running for a 1000+ yards every season and only missing five games to injury isn't consistent. I don't know what is.

Obviously I'm not talking about consistent from a normal RB POV, I'm talking about All-Time Great. Sanders could have a 200 yard game then a 40 yard game, his O-Line was to blame for that a lot. He's kind of like Clinton Portis where his burst of speed net him long runs that balance out his running average, but still with a lot of 2 yard runs. His YPC went down almost 2 yards his last year. I mean Curtis Martin ran for over 1000 yards 10 years in a row too, but I'm not ready to call him the best of all time based off that stat alone.

[Vekruul Shuth]

Barry Sanders IMO was the greatest RB of all time. Flip flop teams with Emmit and Barry. Now imagine what this guy could do. Those comparing Sayers and Brown to Sanders? You cant be serious. Like comparing Shaq with Kareem or some shit. Yeah they were good in their time. But now? They would have a hard time even making a roster.

[Jadaki]

You know the whole Emmitt vs Barry argument is retarded. Especially people saying that Barry would have been better on the Cowboys than Emmitt was.

One of the huge facts everyone leaves out, is that Barry was racking up huge yardage against the softest division in football, the NFC north was horrible when Barry was playing. Barry also never really produced in the postseason, even the year they were 12-4 (how is that a bad team?) he only had one good playoff showing.

The NFC East was arguably the best division in foot ball top to bottom during Emmitt's peak years. He was facing the best defenses, and putting up huge numbers. You can also go back and look at what happened when Emmitt was out of the lineup, the Cowboys winning % dropped considerably. If any talented back could step in and do what Emmitt did then why would that happen? He was the most vital part of the Aikman/Irvin/Smith trio AINEC.

[Sunder]

Here's the problem with your line of thinking: We aren't talking about just "any back" steping into Emmitt's shoes. We're talking about the most elusive back I've ever seen run the football. Sanders made people go to their knees without ever touching them. The man changes directions faster than some running backs run a straight line. Maybe in a few years Bush will do some similar things that Barry did, but I doubt Bush will be quite as fast. So, yes, it is retarded to debate Barry vs. Emmitt. Barry was simply better.

[Vekruul Shuth]

Originally Posted by Jadaki

You know the whole Emmitt vs Barry argument is retarded. Especially people saying that Barry would have been better on the Cowboys than Emmitt was.

One of the huge facts everyone leaves out, is that Barry was racking up huge yardage against the softest division in football, the NFC north was horrible when Barry was playing. Barry also never really produced in the postseason, even the year they were 12-4 (how is that a bad team?) he only had one good playoff showing.

The NFC East was arguably the best division in foot ball top to bottom during Emmitt's peak years. He was facing the best defenses, and putting up huge numbers. You can also go back and look at what happened when Emmitt was out of the lineup, the Cowboys winning % dropped considerably. If any talented back could step in and do what Emmitt did then why would that happen? He was the most vital part of the Aikman/Irvin/Smith trio AINEC.

Emmit had holes so huge you could literally drive a car thru there untouched. We aren't saying Emmit sucked. We are saying that Barry was just better.

Arguably the best offensive line in history thru their dynasty years, vs a mediocre line at BEST thru barry's best years. There was no historical defenses at that time if I remember correctly that even came close to giving that line a run for their money.

[Jadaki]

Originally Posted by Sunder

Here's the problem with your line of thinking: We aren't talking about just "any back" steping into Emmitt's shoes. We're talking about the most elusive back I've ever seen run the football. Sanders made people go to their knees without ever touching them. The man changes directions faster than some running backs run a straight line. Maybe in a few years Bush will do some similar things that Barry did, but I doubt Bush will be quite as fast. So, yes, it is retarded to debate Barry vs. Emmitt. Barry was simply better.

Yea, and because Barry spent so much time trying to juke people instead of running as fast as possible from A to B he never would have worked at Dallas. Barry made highlight films and didn't show up in big games.

Emmitt also didn't have the greatest line in the world at Florida, so care to explain how he did there?

It's apples and oranges, Emmitt and Barry are two different types of runners, but do yourself a favor before saying Emmitt ran behind the greatest O-line ever and look up highlight reals on you tube and start counting yards he made after first contact.

[Sunder]

Son, please. I watched Emmitt run live. (I live in Dallas). The offensive line the Cowboys had in the '90's is better than any line ever assembled in the history of the league. Emmitt was running after first contact IN THE SECONDARY. Barry would run after first contact AT THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. And before you start telling us how great Emmitt was, maybe you need to remember two other guys on that defenses had to defend against with more than token scrubs: Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

Anyone who honestly believes Emmitt was the superior back is football retarded. Next thing you know, you'll be telling us how the Pats will go 16-0 this year too...

[Vekruul Shuth]

Yea, and because Barry spent so much time trying to juke people instead of running as fast as possible from A to B he never would have worked at Dallas. Barry made highlight films and didn't show up in big games.

You are kidding right?

[Kaxmax]

Amazing how many times he gets horse-collared in that video, I guess that's the only way to bring him down reliably. Can't believe he didn't have a TO type injury.

As for Barry vs. Emmit, If I had to choose one back I'd take Barry any day of the week. Not taking anything away from Emmit, Barry was a freak of nature.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by Kaxmax

Amazing how many times he gets horse-collared in that video, I guess that's the only way to bring him down reliably. Can't believe he didn't have a TO type injury.

As for Barry vs. Emmit, If I had to choose one back I'd take Barry any day of the week. Not taking anything away from Emmit, Barry was a freak of nature.

The horse collar tackle thing is bullshit. They need to get that shitty ass rule out of the fucking NFL and football period.

Originally Posted by Jadaki

Yea, and because Barry spent so much time trying to juke people instead of running as fast as possible from A to B he never would have worked at Dallas. Barry made highlight films and didn't show up in big games.

Man are you talking out of your ass there. Barry spent that time juking because he had to. You let him run untouched to the secondary and he will score 80% of the time. He was fast in full run and amazingly, inhumanly fast out of his cuts.

PS. Emmit was still a HELLUVA back. TD machine.

[Akileese]

Quick thing about Curtis Martin. He may not go down as an all time back, but he may be one of the most consistent backs in NFL history. He was on some terrible New England teams and some horrible Jets teams (both in team wise and offensive line wise). He really was something else and it's sad to see him go.

As far as Smith vs Sanders, there's no way to settle it, but Emmitt definitely benefited from the greatest offensive line in the history of football. You'd have to be an idiot to think otherwise. Barry made a living out of breaking ankles in the backfield, but for every run where you see him bust some fat lineman's ankles, there would be 4 or 5 instances where he got caught for a loss. Definitely a product of his offensive line so you can't hold him entirely at fault for it. Is he the greatest back of all time? Not sure. I think the call is too tough. I will say he's the greatest back in the open field and at making people miss. If you had a one on one between Barry and safety, he's gonna make that safety his bitch 99 times out of 100 (great open field safeties and corners could take him down on rare occasions).

I'd say in order to break down who's the greatest back of all time, you'd have to take that category and break it down into different types of categories and backs. Using stats really won't be useful due to parody (or lack their of in the 80s and 90s) in the league.