The Greatest Running Back of All-Time

[Mark Priors Calves]

this thread is ridiculous.

[rawaction]

Let's give everyone an award! I'm completely biased toward Payton, so I would say he's the best. But I would say:

 

Barry Sanders is the best RUNNER of all time. He did the most with his touches of the ball.

 

Jim Brown is the most complete running back of all time. Power, speed, vision, agility, best combo.

 

Walter Payton was a better football player than both. Probably did nothing the best, but was right up there in everything. Not the best runner, but in the top 3. Not the strongest, but for his size was as powerful as any. Not the fastest, but had breakaway ability. Not the most agile, but made people miss with the best of them. Plus, he's the best receiver, blocker, and passer of the top RBs. Only led the league in rushing 1 time, despite easily the best back for most of his years. Horrible offensive teams he played on.

 

Emmitt does deserve mention for his longevity, but I fully believe that offensive line helped him more than any other player can claim. That doesn't take away that he was still a great back.

 

Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker were the most talented players I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. There may never be another athlete like Bo. Period.

 

Brown, Sanders, and Payton to me are on the top tier.

2nd tier is Emmitt, Marcus Allen, OJ, Sayers, Dickerson, Dorsett

3rd tier is guys like Campbell, Jackson, Walker, Bettis, Faulk, Riggins, etc.

 

 

BTW, do you guys realize that Edge and Tiki will go over 10,000 yards this year? Edge has played like 5 years.

[rawaction]

this thread pains me

because i know

if terrell davis had not had that injury

we would be talking about him in the same breath as these guys.

oh well.

 

Not for me. To me, he's on the same boat as Emmitt. Great offensive line helped him a ton. Great QB took a ton of pressure off. And he's a step down talent-wise from Emmitt. He's in the Franco Harris boat for me. Bottom of the 3rd tier.

[AI]

Let's give everyone an award! I'm completely biased toward Payton, so I would say he's the best. But I would say:

 

Barry Sanders is the best RUNNER of all time. He did the most with his touches of the ball.

 

Jim Brown is the most complete running back of all time. Power, speed, vision, agility, best combo.

 

Walter Payton was a better football player than both. Probably did nothing the best, but was right up there in everything. Not the best runner, but in the top 3. Not the strongest, but for his size was as powerful as any. Not the fastest, but had breakaway ability. Not the most agile, but made people miss with the best of them. Plus, he's the best receiver, blocker, and passer of the top RBs. Only led the league in rushing 1 time, despite easily the best back for most of his years. Horrible offensive teams he played on.

 

Emmitt does deserve mention for his longevity, but I fully believe that offensive line helped him more than any other player can claim. That doesn't take away that he was still a great back.

 

Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker were the most talented players I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. There may never be another athlete like Bo. Period.

 

Brown, Sanders, and Payton to me are on the top tier.

2nd tier is Emmitt, Marcus Allen, OJ, Sayers, Dickerson, Dorsett

3rd tier is guys like Campbell, Jackson, Walker, Bettis, Faulk, Riggins, etc.

 

 

BTW, do you guys realize that Edge and Tiki will go over 10,000 yards this year? Edge has played like 5 years.

 

raw>vance

[fromthestretch]

Actually, my argument here is consistent with my baseball arguments. I prefer to look at the stats rather than subjectivitis, what-if's, or personal opinions of what someone thinks they saw.

 

In baseball, we have a wealth of stats and therefore some are better than others at determining who is the best. That's why I gravitate toward those. If someone produced some in football and made a rational discourse as to why they are better than the common stats used by laypeople, I'd definitely consider them, and likely embrace them.

 

As it is, I'll still take the raw data stats over your subjectiveness.

 

Are you certain it isn't you who is being the homer in declaring Payton the best back? Other than your subjective opinion, can you offer any metric in which he is the best?

 

You may not like them, but I can offer three metrics in which Smith tops all running backs.

 

I'm going to have to call you out on this, considering one of your arguments earlier in this thread was that he played with guts. I know that's not the foundation of your argument, but it certainly has nothing to do with stats.

[Guest]

IThe same is true if we're discussing the best HR hitters of all time.

I can't believe I'm jumping into a football discussion, but I don't see how the two are comparable at all. Baseball statistics are unique (and consequently very useful) because they are very individual in nature. The HR that Aaron and Ruth hit were largely independent of their teammates; it wouldn't have had much of a difference if A-Rod was playing short on their teams or if Neifi was filling up space.

 

Other team sports, particularly football, have a far greater degree of team interaction. Babe Ruth probably would have hit 700 HR whether he was part of Murderer's Row or the 2006 Cubs, but would Smith's numbers have been nearly as gaudy if he spent his entire career playing for the Bengals or Cardinals? Would Jerry Rice have shattered so many receiving records if he didn't have Joe Montana and Steve Young throwing to him for 90% of his career? It would be hard to argue that they would, I think.

 

A more fitting analogy would be an argument where you try to say Mickey Welch was a better pitcher than Lefty Grove, or Tommy John was better than Randy Johnson because the former pitchers' win totals were higher. Few people would try to make those arguments, however, because a pitcher's win total is heavily dependent on the talent of his teammates. The same could be said about any football stat I'm aware of, and is certainly true of all the categories in which Smith holds a record.

[bhogg]

Curtis Martin

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Vance, no offense, but you come off as a big time homer on this one.

 

Emmit's records based on longetivity are great, but when you look at his YPC, etc. stats, they don't hold up with some of the other greats. And those other greats (Sanders, Payton especially) never played with the linemen that Emmitt got to.

 

And it's really tough to compare guys from different eras because of the size, strength, athletic ability, schemes, etc. that were so different between eras.

[Jazz]

this thread pains me

because i know

if terrell davis had not had that injury

we would be talking about him in the same breath as these guys.

oh well.

 

Not for me. To me, he's on the same boat as Emmitt. Great offensive line helped him a ton. Great QB took a ton of pressure off. And he's a step down talent-wise from Emmitt. He's in the Franco Harris boat for me. Bottom of the 3rd tier.

 

However, given that if he was playing his last season right now, he'd project in the top 5 in all time yards, which would land him in this thread wouldnt it?

[Outshined_One]

However, given that if he was playing his last season right now, he'd project in the top 5 in all time yards, which would land him in this thread wouldnt it?

 

Nah, he'd likely end up lumped in the Smith/Martin/Bettis group of guys who were consistent and healthy for a long period of time.

 

If I need four yards to get a first down, give me Payton or Brown.

 

If I need a guy who's a threat to score every time he touches the ball, give me Barry or Bo.

 

If I need a guy to catch a pass out of the backfield, give me Brown, Faulk, or Payton.

 

If I need a guy to block, give me Payton.

 

If I need to run a gadget play, give me Payton or Tomlinson.

[bhogg]

Freeman McNeil

[shnsajax]

As a life long Cowboy fan I would put Smith probably as the 4th or 5th best RB of all-time. The offensive line excuse is also probably used a little too much, especially considered how much he was used. He was one of the most productive and durable backs of all-time. The reason you could argue he is the greatest is that I don't think there was ever a more clutch RB in history. I haven't seen another RB carry his entire team as many times as Smith did.

 

Earl Campbell is without question my favorite to have ever seen tape of. The man was a flat out beast, and they still talk about the size of his legs here in Texas to this day.

[CuseCubFan69]

As a life long Cowboy fan I would put Smith probably as the 4th or 5th best RB of all-time. The offensive line excuse is also probably used a little too much, especially considered how much he was used. He was one of the most productive and durable backs of all-time. The reason you could argue he is the greatest is that I don't think there was ever a more clutch RB in history. I haven't seen another RB carry his entire team as many times as Smith did.

 

Earl Campbell is without question my favorite to have ever seen tape of. The man was a flat out beast, and they still talk about the size of his legs here in Texas to this day.

 

He was incredible and he went from that to below average so fast it was surprising. You could just see him get burned out but he was a horse even Dusty could ride in his prime.

 

I consider Hershel Walker and Bo Jackson 2 runners who I thought were fast and big. Both couldn't stay healthy enough or keep that speed and that's why I think guys like Brown, Payton and Smith to last because they had decent speed but they could always find holes and it usually takes more than 1 guy to bring them down. Sanders is like Brown in the mystery of what if he stayed.