I respected both he and Aiken. Not so much that coke head receiver. Nice talking to you KOF.
I too respect Aiken. =-)
bucky said:
Even though I disagree with where you put Sanders and Smith, I think you're on of the best sports guys on VSN.
Ditto my good man...ditto.
I'm talking about Aikman and Irvin's decline and the domino effect on Emmitt. After 1995 neither Aikman or Irvin had as good seasons as they did between 91 and 95 and because of that neither did Emmitt.
Irvin may have had a couple good seasons but they weren't good by Irvins standards and Emmitt may have had a couple good seasons in 98 and 99 but again, it wasn't nearly what he did between 91 and 95. That's a point you can't argue.
Never argued there was a decline. Just your insinuation that it was severe or his decline was a direct result of theres. He had an ankle injury in 96 and looked slow as balls. Once healthy he had back to back very good seasons.
Neat.
So if you aren't an overly physical back then you're style isn't conducive to winning. Barry Sanders' biggest asset may have been his biggest weakness, how he didn't hit the correct hole all the time. If he did do that I think he could play in the offense that coach Bobby Ross wanted him to play in 97 and 98 but thats speculation
No.
Faulk , T.Thomas,Alexander and numerous others have shown the last 2 years you can carry a team to the SB without being a bruiser.
I bring up Alexander because in his case there were some shining moments were avoiding the tough yards to avoid contact or try for a bigger gain clearly hurt his team despite remarkable numbers at the end of the game.
My honest feeling is if you take Barry as a rookie and force him into a power I he would eventually excel. But im not into hypotheticals. W.O Emmitts wk 17 performance against the Giants they dont win a SB. Do you really see Barry taking carry after carry up the gut against that Giants defense ? I dont.
The same amount of rushing titles with quite a bit less carries and 5 less seasons... Four times Emmitt Smith had more carries in a season than what Barry Sanders career high for carries in a season was. It's not overall less production. It's about 4 less touchdowns per year for a lot higher yards per carry. He outrushed him the same amount of times because he had a lot more carries. This seems like it's something you don't comprehend.
This isn't fantasy football. That doesn't help your argument one bit.
All of Emmits accomplishments were done in the same span of Barrys career total. Only the all time rushing yardage was accomplished after the period I posted.
It took Emmitt half the time it took Payton to get the TD title and Sanders would have needed 4 more seasons to catch up had Emmitt retired at the same point BS did.
You guys were comparing it and bringing up stats not me.
Because RB's don't play well unless they have a good offensive line... or unless you're Barry Sanders. This past season Benson had a very good offensive line and averaged 4.2 ypc, this is the difference between a great back and a back like Cedric Benson.
There are no exceptions. Not Barry , Not Corey Dillon ,Not LT none. Barrys system and Oline was good enough to make the playoffs 5 times and get him his yardage. Failing to do it in the playoffs is a failure. Its not another dimension its just a game with more pressure. The best perform under pressure plain and simple.
Media people don't pay a whole lot of attention to offensive lineman. Lineman only make the Pro Bowl when players around them do well unless they REALLY stand out. By the time Nate Newton became a starter the Cowboys sucked. This is pretty much the same for all the guys you named.
Because they couldn't perform well under anyones O-line all of a sudden proves your point? No. If a teams offensive line is great doesn't mean you can pick up Joe Nobody off the street and average 4 ypc.
Because Emmitt Smith is a HOF back and the other RB's were scrubbs.
Because their offense was centered around the run and when they couldn't do just that they sucked. Jimmy Johnson even said he always prepared his team leading up to that season as if Emmitt would start and he didn't for the first two games.
Media people didnt ignore Ray Donaldson in Seattle. He was in the probowl. He failed to get there for 6 seasons then has his best season since with #22 running behind him.
If you cant see the correlation between An oline blocking for 5-6 other backs none of which had the success a single player did than I cant help ya.
Oline success is reciprocal. A QB who holds the ball too long or a RB who hesitates will make them look bad. They are just as affected by the guys behind them as the other way around. Noone has success with the other failing.
Lions had a good line. 5 playoff teams , 2 guys who made probowls says as much.
I havent even brought up the benefit of playing in a dome 12 games a season. Playing against one of the weakest defensive divisions in the league. Meanwhile Emmitt was facing LT &Reggie White 4 times a year , a division with 2 SB winners , and 3 teams with consistently top 5-10 defenses most of his career. The surrounding team was better but so was the level of competition.
Wait a minute, these guys did have good teams.
And I always did like Archie Manning. He did play on some horrible teams. He was NFL MVP once. But if you look at his stats, he only had one very good season. Stats don't tell the entire story.
Now I'm done.
lol..Never said they do.
Ive seen and have personally argued Barry being the best without touching a stat . It boggles my mind none of these others can.
I was merely pointing out Big Bucs massive hypocrisy. That first list of players all had a wealth of talent there careers and should be stricken from any top list.
The second list should all graduate to top ever status based on Big Bucs non logic.
To him.
John Elway 83-95 GOAT
John Elway 96-98 overrated and no longer top 5.
