54 replies to this topic

[Froggy]

ggs5008, on 17 December 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

AP is better than Emmit. I don't even want to hear that.

He's also better than Marcus Allen and Van Buren....but you chose to pick on Smith alone, says a lot about the motives behind your observation.

[Stephen1]

dragon_mikal, on 17 December 2012 - 10:03 PM, said:

Maybe Emmitt Smith helped the line as much as they helped him? Seriously this crap is tired and old. Every player that is considered to be the best had talent around him...many of them had HoF talent around them. Yet only Emmitt Smith gets thrown under the bus, lol. It really doesn't matter because his accomplishments speak for themselves. He was the best in the league quite a while and when his team needed him to be great he was fantastic. Can't say that about other running backs of that era.

Special player from high school to the pros. Period. He is in the same conversation as any of the great running backs to play the game.

the whole thing about the Dallas OL is bs, 4 of the 5 starters when Dallas won their SB were 30 or older and had played in the league for 6-7 years, and had a total of 0 pro bowls between them, they insert Smith and all of a sudden the OL is great? The one hall of famer he had was Larry Allen who came along in 1995 after Emmitt had led the NFL in rushing and established himself and won 2 rings. Barry also had a good OL as well, people who think Barry played with garbage just saw the last 2 years or so of his career, those early to mid 90's Lions were perennial playoff teams with pro bowl talent on offense.

AP is a beast, great combination of size and speed, almost in the league of Bo Jackson, those guys, along with Barry were more gifted than Emmitt, Emmitt has said himself that Barry was a better runner than he was, but Emmit was a better all around back than Barry or AP, AP has to be pulled on passing downs because he can't block, meanwhile Emmitt was regarded as the best at it at the time he played, Barry had to be pulled on the goal line, meanwhile Emmitt was one of the best goal line backs ever. Barry had a lot of negative runs while trying to make big plays...that hurts your offense, Emmitt would get those 2-3 yards to make 3rd down manageable. Those little things made Dallas harder to defend, which is why I always laugh when people say Dallas would have won x amount of Super Bowls with Barry or AP. You keep the highlight reel guys, I'll take the guy with a impressive highlight reel and is just the better all around player that makes your team harder to defend.

[Eagles3785]

well half this board wants to trade Lesean or Bryce Brown, let's see if we can trade for Peterson... throw in a draft pick and we can get it done...

[Happyfoosball]

dragon_mikal, on 17 December 2012 - 10:03 PM, said:

Maybe Emmitt Smith helped the line as much as they helped him? Seriously this crap is tired and old. Every player that is considered to be the best had talent around him...many of them had HoF talent around them. Yet only Emmitt Smith gets thrown under the bus, lol. It really doesn't matter because his accomplishments speak for themselves. He was the best in the league quite a while and when his team needed him to be great he was fantastic. Can't say that about other running backs of that era.

Special player from high school to the pros. Period. He is in the same conversation as any of the great running backs to play the game.

They were all special players in high school and college.  I think you are reaching, or you just didn't watch back then.  That line was ridiculous.

[ggs5008]

Froggy, on 17 December 2012 - 10:12 PM, said:

He's also better than Marcus Allen and Van Buren....but you chose to pick on Smith alone, says a lot about the motives behind your observation.

I do not know much about those players so I chose not to comment on them.

[bumpy93]

AP is just to special IMO. Emmitt was good, but he had the most dominate OL at the time he was in Dallas. Everone agreed that if Barry Sanders ran behind that same line, he would have shattered the rushing record IMO.

AP is better the Emmitt IMO and no Im not trying to start a war with cowboy fans on here either about this either

[Froggy]

bumpy93, on 18 December 2012 - 10:18 AM, said:

AP is just to special IMO. Emmitt was good, but he had the most dominate OL at the time he was in Dallas. Everone agreed that if Barry Sanders ran behind that same line, he would have shattered the rushing record IMO.

AP is better the Emmitt IMO and no Im not trying to start a war with cowboy fans on here either about this either

There's no shame in saying AP is better than Smith, AP is probably the most gifted runner of all time with his combination of size and speed...a modern day Jim Brown. Smith is and will always be a boss though...the all time rushing king who just happens to own 3 rings too...

[Stephen1]

Froggy, on 18 December 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

There's no shame in saying AP is better than Smith, AP is probably the most gifted runner of all time with his combination of size and speed...a modern day Jim Brown. Smith is and will always be a boss though...the all time rushing king who just happens to own 3 rings too...

I don't even care about the all time rushing title, Emmitt has said numerous times that had Barry stuck around he'd be the all time leading rusher, and again, there are a few guys that were more gifted runners than Emmitt, Barry and AP being two of them but I'd still take Emmitt because he was just the more complete back.

Though those guys are more gifted runners, but go look at Emmitts highlight reel, he wasn't just running through gaping holes all day, he had a lot of great runs where he made moves I'd put up against any RB, the only thing he lacked was that elite speed where he outruns the whole defense going away. I'd take Walter Payton #1 out of all the back iv'e seen play and he wasn't as gifted a runner as AP and Barry either, but he was just a better all around back.

[Froggy]

Stephen1, on 18 December 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

I don't even care about the all time rushing title, Emmitt has said numerous times that had Barry stuck around he'd be the all time leading rusher, and again, there are a few guys that were more gifted runners than Emmitt, Barry and AP being two of them but I'd still take Emmitt because he was just the more complete back.

Though those guys are more gifted runners, but go look at Emmitts highlight reel, he wasn't just running through gaping holes all day, he had a lot of great runs where he made moves I'd put up against any RB, the only thing he lacked was that elite speed where he outruns the whole defense going away. I'd take Walter Payton #1 out of all the back iv'e seen play and he wasn't as gifted a runner as AP and Barry either, but he was just a better all around back.

Smith played a long freakin time in the NFL...hard to believe Dallas' offensive line was "great" past the 1995 season...still didn't stop Smith from dishing out thousand yard after thousand yard seasons all the way to the mid 2000's.

[bumpy93]

Froggy, on 18 December 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

There's no shame in saying AP is better than Smith, AP is probably the most gifted runner of all time with his combination of size and speed...a modern day Jim Brown. Smith is and will always be a boss though...the all time rushing king who just happens to own 3 rings too...

Theres no shame in it at all, but you know all the CowBoys fans on here will debate otherwise

[dragon_mikal]

Happyfoosball, on 18 December 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

They were all special players in high school and college.  I think you are reaching, or you just didn't watch back then.  That line was ridiculous.

That was my point. Debunking the myth that Emmitt was only great because of what he had in front of him in Dallas. He was great everywhere.

I didn't say the other running backs weren't great, either.

And let's stop with the myth that Barry didn't have an offensive line. His line wasn't as bad as people think. And Barry wouldn't have been as effective as Emmitt in Dallas, either. Barry's style of running wouldn't have fit in Dallas because he wasn't very good running out of the I formation. He needed space to be effective which is the reason the Lions ran out of the spread most of the time.

[needwideouts]

It is very easy to hit the hole hard and know that 80% of the time that hole will be wide open......Emmitt
Its another to second guess if that hole is going to be there because your line is only opening up a hole 30% of the time.... Barry

[Footballman175]

dragon_mikal, on 18 December 2012 - 11:55 AM, said:

That was my point. Debunking the myth that Emmitt was only great because of what he had in front of him in Dallas. He was great everywhere.

I didn't say the other running backs weren't great, either.

And let's stop with the myth that Barry didn't have an offensive line. His line wasn't as bad as people think. And Barry wouldn't have been as effective as Emmitt in Dallas, either. Barry's style of running wouldn't have fit in Dallas because he wasn't very good running out of the I formation. He needed space to be effective which is the reason the Lions ran out of the spread most of the time.

[hpowner]

IMO, AP is the best RB in the history of the NFL.

Dude is just simply amazing.He does what no other running back can.

First ballot HOF.

Oh,and he better win MVP.

[PolkaDotPants]

cmart102, on 16 December 2012 - 08:32 PM, said:

Less than a year off a torn ACL nonetheless. Guy is unbelievable, it's amazing we're even the same species as him

Good post cmart. Whenever my friends and I are talking about AP that's the 1st point I bring up. I tore my ACL in HS (played WR) and my knee has never felt the same. It blows my mind that he's 12 months removed from tearing his and he can make cuts and run the way that he does. He should be MVP hands down IMO.

[lb7]

Simvastatin, on 16 December 2012 - 04:22 PM, said:

Eric Dickerson currently has the NFL single season rushing record with 2105 yards. Can AP beat it? Needs to average 147 yards in the final two games to beat it.

I know this thread is about Peterson but man I use to love watching Eric Dickerson run, silk, pure silk.

[dragon_mikal]

Footballman175, on 18 December 2012 - 03:35 PM, said:

That wasn't a knock on Barry...as a pure runner he was hands down better than Emmitt but Emmitt was the better running back. Better short yardage back, better receiver out of the backfield and far better blocker.

Barry is praised for being a great and rightfully so...but he isn't above Emmitt by any means.

[skippyx]

Barry Sanders was regular season greatness personified.
He is top 10 as far as rushing TDs and yards per carry. (99 and 5.0)
He was probably the biggest home run threat on any given running play than anyone else I have ever watched.
His 99.8 rushing yards per game is second only to Jim Brown.

He was 1-5 in the playoffs and outside of 1 good game (167 rushing vs GB), he was a non-factor.
(His only score was a 47 yard TD run to make a 31-6 blowout a 38-6 blowout)
He had a 16 touch 3 yard day in a 4 point playoff loss to the Packers.

Everyone's greatness is judged in the playoffs (unless you are Jim Kelly, Barry Sanders or Tony Gonzalez)
I will take Kurt Warner, Terrell Davis, and Dallas Clark over those guys any day.
Don't even mention Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, and Shannon Sharpe.

[CaptainCutlery]

Earl Campbell anyone?





Please note, I am not calling him the best of all time. Just one of my favorites to watch.

[LaxPlayerX3]

Imagine if he was playing this way all year. He would've probably gotten almost 3000 yards.

[Stephen1]

skippyx, on 18 December 2012 - 07:42 PM, said:

Barry Sanders was regular season greatness personified.
He is top 10 as far as rushing TDs and yards per carry. (99 and 5.0)
He was probably the biggest home run threat on any given running play than anyone else I have ever watched.
His 99.8 rushing yards per game is second only to Jim Brown.

He was 1-5 in the playoffs and outside of 1 good game (167 rushing vs GB), he was a non-factor.
(His only score was a 47 yard TD run to make a 31-6 blowout a 38-6 blowout)
He had a 16 touch 3 yard day in a 4 point playoff loss to the Packers.

Everyone's greatness is judged in the playoffs (unless you are Jim Kelly, Barry Sanders or Tony Gonzalez)
I will take Kurt Warner, Terrell Davis, and Dallas Clark over those guys any day.
Don't even mention Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, and Shannon Sharpe.

Exactly, and it bears mentioning that Barry's ypc dropped in the playoffs from about 5ypc to 4, now you might say "big deal, they were playing better teams" but then it would stand to reason that Emmitt's should drop in the playoffs too, because regardless of how good you think the Dallas OL, it's all relative, better competition should mean a lower ypc, instead Emmitts went from 4.5 up to almost 5ypc...

i'm also thinking that 1/2 these people never say the Lions on the mid 90's, up until Barry's last year or so they had one of the better O lines in the NFL year in year out and had weapons at WR and ran a run and shoot which means Barry saw very few 8...9 man fronts.

Again, Barry was the better pure runner, but when taking into account all the things you need your RB to do, Emmitt was the better running back

[bumpy93]

I think Peyton will win the NFL MVP award,

BUT I DO AGREE

the Adrian Peterson should win the award if he indeed does break the all-time season rushing record and on top of if pushes the Vikings into the postseason I do beleive he deserves to win the MVP award IMO..

OH BTW, if the playoffs started today (12-19-2012) the Vikings are the #6 seed and projected to goto Green Bay in the Wild Card weekend

[Footballman175]

If the giants and vikings win out im pretty sure the giants make it

[dawkins4prez]

AP really is amazing, reminds me the most of Herschael Walker.  Walker had a little more power, AP has a little more juke.

But yeah he's up there with greatest talents to ever play RB, though I still think Bo Jackson is the most talented RB to ever wear pads.  Bo was basically AP with the speed of Chris Johnson, a freak among freaks.

[D-Shiznit]

Other than Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, I would take AP over any RB in NFL history. His combination of work ethic, heart and physical talent is unprecedented.