I keep seeing people say that Sanders kept getting runs for a loss constantly. He's still 3rd on the all-time rushing list and averaged 5 yards per carry despite this. Any team would take a back that could put up those numbers despite being tackled for a loss. Simply adds to his greatness if you ask me.
I can agree with this. He clearly never learned to run inside, and therefore he almost always still tries to bounce everything outside. The Saints should just go ahead and turn his into a slot receiver. Hester seems to be imrpoving by leaps and bounds and Bush has good hands. With Pierre Thomas proving he was not a fluke (plus Mike Bell looked good and is about to return from injury), Bush is best suited with that move. I definitely think it would extend his career. RB's are lucky to have 7 good years, and Bush is already injury prone. On a side note, people really put you on ignore because they disagreed with you opinion on a draft pick? That's pretty immature in my opinion on their part. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want us to pick Bush, but I'm certainly glad we didn't. Mario is a beast.
I would bet anything that 99% of the people saying that never watched a Lions game unless it was nationally televised or against their favorite team. My guess is they saw him play every Thanksgiving and that's about it.
Fatty as usual comes into a thread to try and dispel the popular opinion and offers up terrible evidence. "Go-to" back in crunch time? Ok. I'm not even sure I understand what you mean by that, or if I even need to. Sanders' style of running was brilliant. He could switch directions on a dime. The biggest testament to his career is probably his first 3-4 seasons when the Lions were truly an awful team. For me, the list is Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders top 3. The rest of the list is debatable, but Thurman Thomas is always severely underrated on these lists just because he played at the same time as Emmitt / Barry. Gale Sayers and Bo Jackson were 2 of the greatest athletes of all time, but had shorter careers so not a lot of stats.
Barry and Walter are on my top two and I'll agree with Ima about Earl. Imagine an 7-year old kid in the late 70's trying to run like an adult black man. The neighborhood kids thought I was wierd. I love that man.
Many people put Barry at 1 because they grew up watching him. He is one of the greatest, no doubt. But Jim Brown smashed people. He didn't need a good O-line either. Many times it would take 2 or more people to tackle him. He literally ran over linebackers. I don't want to overshadow his speed or agility though. He was exceptional in those departments too. Granted Barry Sanders is in a league of his own in those respects, but Jim Brown did more than his share of out maneuvering people. And if you watch those NFL films where people reminisce about playing against him, many said they were scared to tackle him because they knew they could get hurt. He had it all.
Being a life long Bears fan Payton will always be the best but I'm biased. Once I remove the bias Sanders was the best I've ever seen, I hated it when the Bears played the Lions even when the Lions were terrible. I always thought he was a worthy successor to Payton and deserved the rushing title much more than E. Smith.
Seen plenty of tape on Jim Brown, the dude was ridiculous. Just unlimited truck sticks over and over again. Leaving fools in the dust. The Wilt Chamberlain of football. To me, Walter Payton was the guy who had it all, sweet moves and crushing power at the same time. He'd juke a linebacker and then knock over a safety. Just awesome.
I love it when LIBRARIANS tell me football stuff. Are you freakin' kidding me? Could Marshall Faulk run over people like Earl could? Could Jim Brown? That last answer is a YES. Earl should be #2 or #3, not anywhere ranked below Faulk. Earl did it without a fantastic offensive line like Faulk had. That's what she SAID!
Yeah I know. All he did was prove how little he knew about Barry Sanders game. It's ok though as I've witnessed him do this on many occasions. Typically I just choose to ignore it, but after all the sufferering as a Lions fan, I had to draw the line somewhere. Good call on Sayers by the way. I find it hard to leave him out of the top 10 when making lists. Unreal breakaway speed. Once he hit daylight he was gone.
Brown should be close to the top of any list. Talk about a beast? Brown could have coined the term. Several greats, including Sanders, but my favorite will always be the Tyler Rose. His performance on Monday Night Football against a great Miami team will always be one of the most incredible games by a running back ever. God, that was a fun game to watch!
I'm glad Barry retired before his body started to break. He will live a long, healthy life now and never has to worry about money. Good for him.
The Wilt Chamberlain comparison is fitting. Some may not realize how athletically dominant he was. He was in a league of his own. Now, I know you can grab a highlight reel of anyone and make them look good. But here's a clip just to show people who may not be familiar with his repertoire. It's almost comical. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/H95tbtXBOIQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/H95tbtXBOIQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> EDIT: I'll also mention my obvious bias, although I think some people here already knew that. Let's just say there haven't many good things to watch since the Browns became the birds, so I've done my fair share of NFL Films watching.
Wow, that last run is the most ludicrous thing ever. gets smashed between 2 defenders and bounces right off of them. amazing.
I admit my Barry bias is because I watched him play every sunday and totally fell in love with his style. If I had seen Jim Brown in person, I'd probably say the same thing. However, I have to think that if you're building a team today and you want me to choose JB or BS, I'm taking BS. I think that Jim was a beneficiary of his era, where he was so much bigger and stronger than his opponents, it was like playing with kids. You put JB in the NFL today and he would get rocked. Granted if you adjusted for inflation (height, weight, speed of the average player) that would make JB 5 inches taller and probably 50lbs heavier, lol. But Barry's skill set was timeless and unmatched. You could *not* touch him, and if you did, you were given the gameball. Plus Barry's Lions teams were god awful, whereas the Browns were actually good back then. In my opinion, Barry did more with less than any other running back in NFL history.
Of course I am biased, but I would NOT want to try and tackle THIS guy. Some of those angles where he's coming right at you (like at 2:02 or 2:36)....I mean, can you imagine what's going through a DB's mind when you see THAT coming your way? You have no idea whether he's going to juke you out of your shoes, or run you over like a freight train. Take your pick. <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UV4hQJelXBQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UV4hQJelXBQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>
I find this humorous, especially because you watched Barry play around the same age I was when I watched Earl. That said, were you in Detroit? I'm guessing you probably saw actual games with Barry as much as I did, if not. Look, guys. He's in my top 10, probably around 6-7, so I'm by no means saying he sucked. I guess I just like a back that powers through a line. Probably because I grew up watching Earl.
Nice find. And to those who weren't aware, Earl had 32 inch thighs. I wonder how many people on this board have smaller waistlines?
