Best RB in football history

[vonkaar]

sent this thread to a mega cowboys buddy, this was his reply:

You guys are fucking stupid. The only stats that matter are rushing yards and Super-bowl rings. Who has the most? Emmitt. He is the best running back of all time. You cannot argue that fact. There is no argument in history that can prove that maybe another back is as good as Emmitt. Tell me another RB that had a 10-play touchdown scoring drive in the Super-bowl? Oh wait…YOU CAN’T!! That’s right…10 plays in a row…all to Emmitt. 80 fucking yards to the end zone. IN THE SUPER BOWL of all places…he did that to the Bills. You would think that the Bills would be pissed by the time they met up with the Cowboys, seeing as this was their 3rd Super-bowl in row and having lost the previous two AND having lost them to NFC East teams (Giants, Redskins) well…here comes ANOTHER NFC East team…the fucking Cowboys. And what did the Bills do? NOTHING! They were NFC East bitches for FOUR years and Emmits fuck-toy for 2 years.



Jim Brown…pussy. He’s a quitter. He played a pansy 8 or 10 years…I don’t know…but it doesn’t matter, HE QUIT!

Barry Sanders…same thing. PUSSY! Cry baby. “My team sucks, so I’m going to quit!” Faggot.



The Cowboys told Emmitt…hey we need to look to the future, we think your washed up. What did Emmitt say? “FUCK YOU! I am not ready to quit I still want to play!” So he marched his happy ass to the desert and played another two years!! Where he proceeded to keep running…after he ran his size 12’s all over the NFL’s ass for 15 years and 18,355 yards he proceeded to dance the shit out of Mario Lopez. NO OTHER RUNNING BACK COMES EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT HE DID THE POST SEASON. There are way too many post season records to list here…look them up.



If your list doesn’t doesn’t put Emmitt at number 1…then you are too stupid to be alive. Go shoot yourself now.

[Tacks]

Wow, you're friend sounds more fanboyish for the Cowgirls than some of the 12 year old kids are about their nintendos.

Jim Brown's 1.0 more yards per carry laughs at the dancing queen.

[Phlegm]

Franco Harris has more rings then Smith. Does that mean he is better?

[Tacks]

Also he's talking about 1 game where they gave emmitt the ball every play...if we want to go that route. One year Jim Brown averaged 6.4 yards a carry FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR.

If your list puts Emmitt at number 1…then you are too stupid to be alive. Go shoot yourself now.

[Tikker]

ps, phlegm's list has darrell green and deion sanders ranker higher than rod woodson

last I checked, Rod Woodson was voted to the all time NFL team, and neither of those guys were~


(ps if you had sanders/woodson side by side be hard to complain)

[Arlos]

As for your Bettis comments: how many times did he win the rushing title in the NFL? Did he have enough speed to outrun cornerbacks in a straight away run, like Campbell did? Did Bettis once run for 1944 yards in a single season, while facing 8-9 men in the box every week, like Campbell did?

I'd be willing to bet that if Campbell were to have come into the league today, his career would've lasted FAR longer, as sports medicine is so much further advanced today. Besides, length of career isn't the be-all and end-all means of judgement for a player. Dick Butkus only played for 8 years, and is STILL widely regarded as one of the finest linebackers to have ever played.

As for Vonk's friend, do you know how many more yards than Emmit Sanders would have if he hadn't have retired? Emmitt also benefitted from being on a MUCH MUCH better team than Sanders EVER had. He had Aikman and Irvin and Johnston and Johnston around him, so faced nowhere near the stacking of defenses that Sanders faced, and as a result had a much eaier time gaining yards. Don't get me wrong, Smith was a great running back, but in terms of pure talent, he doesn't begin to match up with Sanders or Brown.

-Arlos

[Xaiveir]

When i posted this, i didnt have time to post my opinion in the last week. So here it is.

Vonkaar your friend is an absolute fucking idiot. Not taking away from Emmitt, but his argument was horrible. He could have easily argued for him though and not sound like such a douche


When you are talking about complete back, you imediatly take jerome Bettis out of the Top 5. He accomplished so many different things, and was a true gamer. But you need all aspects to be a top 5 back on my list.

1. Jim Brown
2. Walter Payton
3. Emmit Smith
4. Barry Sanders
5. Ladanien Tomlinson

Start at the bottom here. I actually stuck LT in the top 5 of COMPLETE backs in the history. He could very easily be the best of all time by the end of his career. He edged out Sayers in my top 5, because Sayers only played 7 years, and averaged only 10 games per season. My backs have to in the backfield every game. LT does this. He catches touchdowns, he throws touchdowns and we all know he runs for touchdowns. The guy is a scoring machine, 85 yard runs or 1 yard runs. You dont need a 3rd down back (short yardage, long yardage) when you have LT, despite his size. He can power run, and finess run. Starting a team right now...give me LT.

If he stays healthy he has the potential to break Jerry Rice's touchdown record. If the Chargers do not have him, they are a .500 team at best. He makes not only your offense better but your defense better by keeping them on the sideline.

1--- Jim Brown.

Not much you can say about this guy that hasnt been said already. Power Football. This would be a guy that you could change your entire defensive scheme around, and not stop him. He made the pro bowl EVERY year he played, wich is incredable. Oh yeah, he never missed a game in his career...WOW.

"He told me, 'Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts.' He lived by that philosophy and I always followed that advice." --John Mackey


2---Walter Payton

He could do it all. Block deffinatly, recieve oh yeah, punter yeah in a pinch, and QB if needed. Did i mention this guy could run? He had it all in the complete package. It was so hard to not put him at the top, currently LT reminds me most of Walter Payton out of any back. I never saw someone of his size, deliver such a punishing hit to unsuspecting safties and Linebackers.

3---Emmit Smith

He is the only running back to win the Quadruple crown in one year. SB champ, NFL MVP, NFL Rushing leader, and SB MVP. 3 rings also gives him the edge over Barry for the number 3 spot. The main reason he is not number 1 all time, is because his supporting cast was so great (yeah weird to be penalized for it). You cannot focus solely on Emmit, Dallas had too many other weapons. Therefore he was running on 7 man fronts instead of 8 man or even 9 man fronts like Barry Sanders. Even from a 49ers fan, Emmit is one of the single most scary players in NFL history. Man that hurt me to say that.

4--- Barry Sanders.

This really should be 3A, because Barry and Emmit its tough to pick between. Barry was buried on sub par and just flat out horrible teams in Detroit. He never did play with a good QB, or even an average NFL line. However he has managed to come close to breaking the all time rushing yards for a RB. The only reason we didnt get to see it was because he retired (most liekly because of management). Put Barry Behind the Dallas Cowboys line of their Superbowl years, and Barry would have Obliterated the rushing record. Instead we are now left with what ifs, and what could be. A knock on Barry was his constant negative runs. Although true, when you are facing 4 lineman that penetrate the line of scrimmage as you are recieving a hand off, would damper anyones rushing totals. This is why he was such an amazing RB, he could still get possitive yardage...with that line.

[Tikker]

ps, I didn't have Bettis in my top5 either


for the most part, everyone is picking the same 4 or 5 guys for the top 4 slots




pps

campbell never rushed for 1944 yards in a season

bettis out rushed him, out received him, out passed him, but Campbell managed to out fumble him, grats!

[Arlos]

From: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... mpEa00.htm

The stats in order: Games Played, Rushing Attempts, yards, YPA, TDs.

| 1980 hou | 15 | 373 1934 5.2 13


OK, so I was off by 10 yards, it was 1934, not 1944.


Campbell was far better a back than Bettis, it's just Bettis played nearly twice as many games as Campbell did, largely because nutrition/training/sports-medicine/etc is so much better now than it was 30 years ago.

-Arlos

[Tikker]

go back even to season by season, bettis outdid him pretty much every season but the 1

[Phlegm]

Fox's The Sports List top ten:


1. Jim Brown
2. Walter Payton
3. Barry Sanders
4. Emmitt Smith
5. OJ Simpson
6. Gale Sayers
7. Eric Dickerson
8. Marcus Allen
9. Tony Dorsett
10. Earl Campbell

[Harrison]

Barry Sanders