just wanted to let everyone know

12/6/2005 12:12:00 PM

amen, brother...amen

12/6/2005 12:14:34 PM

12/6/2005 12:16:20 PM

12/6/2005 12:20:21 PM

barry sanders was the man


but I have a feeling in about 10 years we'll be adding reggie bush to that list

12/6/2005 12:22:30 PM

^or ladainian tomlinson and Shaun Alexander

12/6/2005 12:25:21 PM

I'd probably agree with Walter Payton. Very hard to say Barry Sanders. He was great, but sometimes all those moves ended up in 3-yard losses. His running style doesn't really allow him to be best ever. I mean, a lot of times they would take him out near the goal line. On 1st and 10, he might get 50 or he might get -2. On 4th and inches, he might get 50 or he might get -2.

I like Earl Campbell a lot too, but would never call him the best. Best short career perhaps. Great combo of speed/power. I like when you hear someone asked Bum Phillips how fast Campbell could run a mile. He said, I don't know...but if its 3rd and a mile, I'm not giving him the ball.

12/6/2005 12:26:54 PM

My dad always tells me Gayle Sayers was the best.

12/6/2005 12:35:41 PM

i say barry sanders was the best
he ranked 3rd alltime in yards and 7th in rushing TDs even though he only played 9 years
and he did it on a lions team that never went to anything higher than one NFC Champioship game where they lost to the Redskins

i think gayle sayers and walter payton are definately right up there too
it''s hard to make a good arguement about this cuz they all played in different eras on different teams
there are so many factors in football like offensive lines, time periods, stadiums etc that are hard to take into account

12/6/2005 12:55:45 PM

Quote :

""

/thread

12/6/2005 1:03:24 PM

Quote :

"My dad always tells me Gayle Sayers was the best."

Does your dad where an aluminum foil hat too?

12/6/2005 1:04:29 PM

Quote :

"where"

and I say SWEETNESS

12/6/2005 1:06:38 PM

GALE sayers

and it's barry all the way - if he had stayed around, even with the lions, i think he could've reached 20,000+ yards and then some

12/6/2005 1:12:07 PM

its funny that Emmitt Smith stuck around so long to break the all-time rushing record, but his name hasn't even popped up in this thread yet.

12/6/2005 1:18:50 PM

Jim Brown was the greatest running back of all time. He also ended his career after 9 seasons as well.

12/6/2005 1:22:21 PM

Yeah Emmitt only won 3 Super Bowls.

Just because he played for a good team people look down on that and say Sanders was better. Its hard to judge who the best of all time is because each had a different team and a different line blocking for them.

12/6/2005 1:30:55 PM

^^Emmitt equals most consistent running back every. Also one of the greatests, but probably only top 10, in the 7-10 range. He had a great O-line at Dallas.

Barry never had a great O-line. He was the shit. I don't care if there were several three yard losses. He turned a lot of other three yard losses and no gains into 20, 40, and 60 yard gains. He was the only player that made me watch a whole game just to watch the QB hand him the ball (now I'm saying that with Reggie Bush).

12/6/2005 1:33:50 PM

What ever happen to "the Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye for the Chiefs?

I remember watching him growing up and thinking he was an animal. The dude use to eat Linebackers and crap out safeties. Maybe not worthy to stick in a thread with Barry, but damn he was good.

12/6/2005 1:51:22 PM

^ he was good.......but he was a fullback, not a running back. During that time, Barry Word was the Chiefs starting Running Back.

I know....

I still play Tecmo Bowl.

12/6/2005 2:17:24 PM

Why is this even a discussion? The best running back ever is clearly Ray Robinson.

12/6/2005 2:46:54 PM

jim brown could step into the league today and probably kick ass. that dude was a beast and years ahead of his time.

12/6/2005 2:58:11 PM

im voting barry sanders

of course he was my childhood hero, have a huge liftesized poster of him, and about 200 different trading cards....

12/6/2005 3:01:40 PM

needs to be at least mentioned

12/6/2005 3:03:27 PM

Bo Jackson.

12/6/2005 3:04:05 PM

Ive argued this 100 times and still people hate to hear it, but...


Barry Sanders wasnt even close to the best running back ever.

They never won shit.

part of that was because his style was not conducive to winning.

As far as highlights go, he was amazing. As far as being "great" as in this guy helps you win he's behind at least ten names.... one of them being Emmitt Smith, another being Terrell Davis, etc...

He was sick, but this is like comparing Dominique Wilkens to Michael Jordan or Larry Bird...


http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=295370


And by the way. Barry Sanders essentially did the same shit T.Owens did this year (except worse because at least T.Owens played out his contract unlike Barry) so don't say another word about TO if you're one of these Barry Sanders dick riders.

Not to mention T.Owens never STOLE money like Barry attempted to do.

Quote :

"The Lions MADE THE PLAYOFFS THE YEAR AFTER BARRY'S RETIREMENT. They went from 5-11 to 8-8 even when Barry hung the Lions out to dry. Now when a dominant running back like Ricky Williams retires unexpectedly the team goes from playoff contender to doormat. They arent suppose to IMPROVE. The Lions went into that season with three running backs who had like 400 career yards COMBINED. Did you ever consider that Barry's last three seasons the Lions went 5-11, 9-7, 5-11? And the next two they went 8-8 and 9-7?"

[Edited on December 6, 2005 at 3:34 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2005 3:08:35 PM

Barry Sanders did the most with the least, kinda like Jim Mora with the late 80s-early 90s Saints


but my vote goes to...













Ottis Anderson.

12/6/2005 4:45:40 PM

T.A.

12/6/2005 4:53:03 PM

^knew that was coming...

12/6/2005 4:55:09 PM

Quote :

" And by the way. Barry Sanders essentially did the same shit T.Owens did this year (except worse because at least T.Owens played out his contract unlike Barry) so don't say another word about TO if you're one of these Barry Sanders dick riders. Not to mention T.Owens never STOLE money like Barry attempted to do. "

You aren't even CLOSE to being on base here.

12/6/2005 5:04:38 PM

ANDRE MOTHAFUCKIN BROWN

HIS SHIT IS HOT

12/6/2005 5:10:07 PM

No question, had to play behind a non-existant Bears O-Line for the first half of his career and was still the best RB in the NFL, just dealt with it by running people over like a train

12/6/2005 5:24:12 PM

Say what you will about Emmitt Smith

But homeboy nearly rushed for 1,000 yards for a 6-10 Cardinals team in his last year in the league.

He also has a 158.3 career passer rating.

That's 5 points higher than Tomlinson, for those of you keeping track at home.

[Edited on December 6, 2005 at 5:30 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2005 5:29:58 PM

Quote :

"Barry Sanders wasnt even close to the best running back ever. They never won shit. part of that was because his style was not conducive to winning. As far as highlights go, he was amazing. As far as being "great" as in this guy helps you win he's behind at least ten names.... one of them being Emmitt Smith, another being Terrell Davis, etc... "

As knowledgeable as you are about sports, sometimes you really make it look like you don't know a fucking thing about them.

Terrell Davis?? Are you fucking kidding me?? Being a big Broncos and Davis fan, I still laughed my ass off at that. Every running back Denver has put back there since he left has put up good numbers (Portis put up 1,500 for two years, Anderson 1,500 one year, Olandis Gary got like 1,200 after missing 1/4 of the damn season....OLANDIS FUCKING GARY...Droughns just broke 1,000...even Quentin Griffin was running for big yards in this offense before he started fumbling the ball).

So was Terrell Davis good?? Oh yeah, I mean, he had 2,000 yards was one year. But he would struggle to be in the top 20 and couldn't even carry Barry Sander's jock all-time. He only played 7 years and only broke 1,000 yards 4 times. Being a good running back also means that you have to be durable.

Barry Sanders dindn't help the team win...blah blah blah blah. I don't care if they won the fucking Super Bowl after he left....he still had no supporting cast. Barry's best QB while he was with the Lions??? Scott Mitchell?? Seriously?? Let's look at that competition: Rob Gagliano, Rodney Peete, NCSU's own Erik Kramer, Dave Kreig, and friggin Charlie Batch. How bout the top wide WR Barry had while he was in Detroit. Herman Moore was good...let's see what else Barry had helping him: Bretty Perriman and Johnnie Morton?? Morton was decent. Bottom line is...Barry didn't have a lot of help on the offensive side. Those quarterbacks were horrible. David Mitchell was suppose to become a star, but just made the worse decisions ever. I'm partial to Erik Kramer, but he just didn't have the tools to be a good NFL QB (despite a couple good years with the Bears).

Now I could be wrong here...but I also don't remember the Lions defense ever being dominant while he was there. The only big-time defender I can even remember that was there when he was is Chris Spielman....and he only played in a couple pro bowls.

And its not like the Lions were totall inept during Barry's career. They did make the playoffs 6 times, making the NFC Championship game in the early 90's. You make it sound like they never made the playoffs until he left.

I seriously don't see how a competent person could say that Barry Sanders didn't help his team win when he ran for that many yards. You can blame the organization and the coaches for relying on him too much and neglecting to add/improve the other parts of the team...but that's it.

12/6/2005 6:03:31 PM

Quote :

"And by the way. Barry Sanders essentially did the same shit T.Owens did this year (except worse because at least T.Owens played out his contract unlike Barry) so don't say another word about TO if you're one of these Barry Sanders dick riders."

You idiot. Barry Sanders was one of the more humble football players ever...especially given the fact that he was one of the best ever. He could score a 99-yard touchdown with 1 second left to win the Super Bowl and he would still walk to the referee and hand him the ball. I never saw him spke a ball or do an end-zone celebration. You never heard him bitching about how shitty his quarterback's were (good lord what he could have done with Donovan McNabb).

He was the exact opposite of selfish (which is what TO is). He could be the NFL's All-time leading rusher, instead he quit because he was ready to retire and tired of playing for a organization that was fucking incompetant.

12/6/2005 6:09:00 PM

i cant believe someone hasnt mentioned me fucking up the pictures to start the thread
i accidently put in two of the same pictures

12/6/2005 6:37:09 PM

AND




ITS



NOT



EVEN



CLOSE



/THREAD

12/6/2005 6:46:31 PM

Quote :

"They never won shit."

key word being







they

12/6/2005 6:46:39 PM

^oh come on. don't be ridiculous


you know the sports talk mantra when it comes to football:

"the most visible player on his team is solely responsible for his team's performance"


I couldn't name 10 people total that played in Detroit w/Barry Sanders outside of the names already mentioned

12/6/2005 7:08:23 PM

"he was good.......but he was a fullback, not a running back. During that time, Barry Word was the Chiefs starting Running Back."


Fullback is a running back. Tailback is a running back. Halfback is a running back.
Just like flanker is a wide receiver and split end is also a wide receiver.

Mike Alstott is a running back. He's a fullback which is a running back. Just some clarification.



As for Barry Sanders, I think he put Detroit in a tight spot and he should have seen the timing and played one more year. He's definitely a class act and I think he just got tired of losing. Losing eats at you. Hell, I get frustrated when I lose 2 or 3 in a row on Madden. Very frustrated. Imagine all the losing he did with the Lions.
Also, it was just a really, really weird situation. He was really close to the all time rushing record I think. Did he not want the spotlight? Did he not want to keep losing?
I totally agree that his timing was inexcusable. But, I still think of the guy as a class act and put him nowhere close to T.O.

12/6/2005 7:31:14 PM

^^ i cant even tell whether youre being serious or sarcastic

but burn in hell the first guy who used super bowls to decide which qb was the best




for the purpose of duscussions such as this you line up the best RBs in football

and pick which one you would want on your team the most



not who had the best line while they played

because thats not going to help your team

not who had the best offense, or the best WRs, or the most super bowls

because thats not going to help your team

you dont take who had the best coach or who played against the best defenses into account

because thats not going to help your team

whats going to help your team is the ability of the running back you are selecting

and how do you judge ability?

watch them fucking play...there is nothing else needed

you can see when a guy is great...its obvious

theres no need to bring 45897349572348907 variables into the discussion

its a waste of time

12/6/2005 7:47:54 PM

Brown, without a doubt.

12/6/2005 7:49:48 PM

agreed with first post

12/6/2005 8:50:14 PM

Quote :

"And by the way. Barry Sanders essentially did the same shit T.Owens did this year (except worse because at least T.Owens played out his contract unlike Barry) so don't say another word about TO if you're one of these Barry Sanders dick riders."

Barry Sanders bowed out after 9 seasons and never gave a reason why, but it was most likely a tribute to Jim Brown retiring after 9 seasons combined with Sanders being one of the humblest people to ever play the game. He didn't want to be remembered for breaking all of the rushing records, even though most of them were within reach.

Running backs in the NFL take a lot of abuse, and that abuse takes a toll on the body later on in life. early retirement isn't all that bad a thing. I think Jim Brown has to walk with a cane now because of the abuse his body took through 9 years in the league.

12/6/2005 8:57:59 PM

walter payton. emmitt is up there though. yes he had a great O-line in Dallas but if you've ever really watched emmitt play look at all the tackles he broke. emmitt was a guy who supposidly was too slow and too small to play running back in the NFL but look at all that he accomplished. emmitt's longevity, 3 super bowls, NFL rushing titles, and being the all time leading rusher definitely gets him in the top 10, i would even say the top 5

12/6/2005 9:07:21 PM

12/6/2005 9:13:44 PM

^^ What people are saying about Barry is that he left the Lions in a hell of a spot at the RB position. If he had retired in, say, Feb. or March, then the Lions would have known they needed to either draft, trade, free agency of whatever to get themselves a good RB. He retired like, what, 3 weeks before players report? Not sure exactly, but something like that.

Thats why what Ricky did was so shitty. I just give Barry the benefit of the doubt b/c for 9 years he was the epitome of class. Just think that even if he made up his mind at that point, he should have given the Lions one more year. But, shit happens and I still like Barry.

As for O-lines, coaches, and teams, etc. Overall, it is relevant. Thats why you can't give a definite answer to this or many things like this in sports. You can speculate, but it is a team game. Put Sean Alexander on the Ravens this year. He aint going nowhere. Put Jamal Lewis on the Seahawks. Who knows?

As someone once said a long time ago...."good running follows good blocking just as sure as night follows day."

12/6/2005 11:30:39 PM

12/6/2005 11:33:07 PM

Quote :

"Barry Sanders bowed out after 9 seasons and never gave a reason why, but it was most likely a tribute to Jim Brown retiring after 9 seasons combined with Sanders being one of the humblest people to ever play the game. "

Then why'd he sign a contract longer than that?

You have to think he didn't just wake up on a Tuesday and go, "I just realized Brown only played for 9 seasons, so should I! It can be a tribute!"

12/6/2005 11:36:00 PM

tremayne stephens

12/6/2005 11:39:38 PM

OKay so he wanted to retire, great.

Why'd he try to steal like $7 million dollars from the Lions?

They had to take him to court to get the money back because he was a dick about it.

Way to exude class.



He was a serious introvert, you are confusing that with being classy.



Herman Moore was jsut good? He set the single season record for most receptions in a season.... Perriman was just okay??? Um, yeah.... understatement alert.

Terrell Davis didn't have longevity on his side, but other than that he was a BAD, BAD man...

Obviously, better than Sanders.

You win more games by getting 4-5 yards every carry, not 12 on one carry, zero on the next.

IF you found the standard deviation of Barry's yards per carry it was probably double that of the true 'great' RB's

12/6/2005 11:42:57 PM