Story of the Greatest RB ever.

I've always been a big fan of Sanders, and I would rank him no.1 simply because I never saw Jim Brown or OJ play. Payton was awesome too, he would be my no. 2.

Bo Jackson would've been the greatest if he would've stayed healthy and stuck with football.

I love Bo Jackson, arguably one of my favorite players of all time. It was a sad day for me when he messed up his knee... I dont know if he would have been better than Sanders, but he would have had a great career either way.

I saw Jim Brown play on TV and in person. He is the best football player I ever saw. Period.

That takes nothing away from Payton and Sanders and Smith and lots of other great running backs I've seen. It's just that I think Jim Brown was better than all of them.

In his nine or ten year career, Jim Brown AVERAGED 105 yards per game. In today's 16 game season that means he would AVERAGE 1680 yards per season rushing. Oh, he was also a very reliable pass receiver too.

When Brown started playing in the NFL, the standard defense was 5 defensive linemen and 2 linebackers. That is what Brown ran against for much of his career and he ran a lot of times between the tackles and he still AVERAGED 105 yards per game.

One other thing, he never missed a start...

My top 5 RB's:
1) Walter Payton (CHI)
2) J. Brown (Browns)
3) O.J. Simpson (Bills
4) Earl Campbell (Hou)
5) Gale Sayers (CHI)


I think is Barry Snders is great and is one of the top 10 best RB's in the history of the NFL. But he does not crack my not top 5. I know you guys say Barry Sanders played on some awful teams, but his awful teams made the playoffs five years (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997), so they could not have that bad. Walter Payton's Bears only made the playoff six times in his long career.
Barry Sanders post season rushing stats (see below) are awful.
Most noteworthy the 1994 playoff game against Greenbay he had -1 yard on 13 carries. Another against our 1991 Joe Gibbs' Redskins had 44 yards on 11 carries.

Year Opp Result | RSH YD TD | REC YD TD
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
1991 dal W,38-6 | 12 69 1 | 5 30 0
1991 was L,10-41 | 11 44 0 | 4 15 0
1993 gnb L,24-28 | 27 169 0 | 2 0 0
1994 gnb L,12-16 | 13 -1 0 | 3 4 0
1995 phi L,37-58 | 10 40 0 | 2 19 0
1997 tam L,10-20 | 18 65 0 | 5 43 0
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
TOTAL | 91 386 1 | 21 111 0

that's definately impressive... i'm a younger guy, so i haven't had a to chance to see an of these guys play :( pathetic, i know.

My top 5 RB's:
1) Walter Payton (CHI)
2) J. Brown (Browns)
3) O.J. Simpson (Bills
4) Earl Campbell (Hou)
5) Gale Sayers (CHI)


I think is Barry Snders is great and is one of the top 10 best RB's in the history of the NFL. But he does not crack my not top 5. I know you guys say Barry Sanders played on some awful teams, but his awful teams made the playoffs five years (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997), so they could not have that bad. Walter Payton's Bears only made the playoff six times in his long career.
Barry Sanders post season rushing stats (see below) are awful.
Most noteworthy the 1994 playoff game against Greenbay he had -1 yard on 13 carries. Another against our 1991 Joe Gibbs' Redskins had 44 yards on 11 carries.

Year Opp Result | RSH YD TD | REC YD TD
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
1991 dal W,38-6 | 12 69 1 | 5 30 0
1991 was L,10-41 | 11 44 0 | 4 15 0
1993 gnb L,24-28 | 27 169 0 | 2 0 0
1994 gnb L,12-16 | 13 -1 0 | 3 4 0
1995 phi L,37-58 | 10 40 0 | 2 19 0
1997 tam L,10-20 | 18 65 0 | 5 43 0
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
TOTAL | 91 386 1 | 21 111 0

while I agree that his postseason performances weren't great, a couple of those r misleading since the team fell behind so far they had to give up the run but in both of those games he average around 4 yards per carry.

and on a side note, r we ranking rbs as far as actual stats or just who we think were the 5 best rbs?

It would have to be John Riggins!!! :joke:
No I would have to go with
1,Barry Sanders,The best ankle breaker I can remember!
2,Eric Dickerson,His speed and grace are unmatched
3,Walter Payton,His nick name says it all. "SWEETNESS"!
4,Bo Jackson, if he would have played longer he might be #1
5,Emmit Smith, He might have played for the wrong team,but you have to give it to him.
:httr:

I love Bo Jackson, arguably one of my favorite players of all time. It was a sad day for me when he messed up his knee... I dont know if he would have been better than Sanders, but he would have had a great career either way.


It was his hip, and I hate to tell you this, but the player that did it was a good friend of mine, we played ball together since we were little kid's, Kevin Walker, from West Milford N.J., the same town our own lenny friedman is from.

Offiss, it's interesting you talk about longevity. I had a hard time deciding where to rank Campbell, Sayers and to some extent even Bo Jackson because of their relative lack of longevity. Do you think the longer Emmitt stays in the game, and if he plays like last year, the more his legacy might diminish?

Also, where would you rank Bettis and Thurman Thomas?

I don't believe so, when Emmitt set the record I didn't really look at him as a hanger on, he was still a good back on a bad team, I have to rate longevity as a big part of a back's rating, reason, if your going to chose a back to build a franchise around, you want him to last at least 10 year's, the reason I like peyton at #1 is 2 reason's he played every game but 1, and there was nothing he couldn't do as back, Brown played every game and maybe a better pure runner, but he wasen't in peyton's class when it came to recieving, or throwing the ball, I like Peyton's over all diversity, so I believe longevity is an attribute to an NFL RB.

Now if we are looking for a back for just 1 game, who would that be? Essentially you are going to pick the most gifted back that ever played, and longevity doesn't factor in, that is I believe an even more interesting topic, I think I would go with Earl Cambell for 1 game, but there will be a real difference of opinion on this one.

Thanksgiving isn’t the same anymore without Barry Sanders.