Happy birthday to the GOAT RB

[nako xl]

whatever.  at least we can agree Barry had the greatest signature shoe of any running back ever

 

[Jordan8]

Originally Posted by dharv

Originally Posted by UptownsDotNetStacky

Dudes in here talking reckless

Ni%&#$ done lost their minds. Curtis Martin?!!!

Go to sleep and get some much needed Z's son

Martin is laughable? Why because his highlight tape is boring? The 4th leading rusher and an all around back not a juke machine that wouldnt run between the tackles and consistently got shut down in the playoffs is laughable?
How many of yall ever played football yet alone runningback?

Never mind lets just use the facts Barry was NOT a 3rd down back, Dude didnt run between the tackles he bounced everytime he got a chance. Not to mention Herman Moore and Perriman spread the field for him. He was a gifted athlete but NOT a runningback.

 

[Jordan8]

"Sanders' postseason performance supports the notion that he was a product of the cozy, climate-controlled Silverdome. Nice carpet for easy, stop-on-a-dime maneuvering. Seventy-two degrees. Detroit faithful keeping the defensive line off balance with high decibel support.
In four career outdoor postseason games, Sanders averaged a paltry 2.8 yards per carry. He never scored a touchdown. And he never ran for more than 65 yards in a single game. With Sanders, the Lions went 0-4 in outdoor playoff games, losing by an average of 17 points."

"....But this picture of perfection has a nasty blemish. Once Sanders got to the big stage, and got out of the Silverdome, he was a bust.

Take the wild-card playoff game at Lambeau Field in 1994. That season, Sanders averaged 5.7 yards per carry -- the second-highest total of his career. In the first round of the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers, on Lambeau Field's frozen tundra, Sanders set an NFL postseason record for rushing futility. He had 13 carries for minus-one yard. He had four catches that day -- for four yards. Which means he had 16 touches for a total of three yards -- 2.7 yards less than he averaged per rush in the regular season."
Postscript: Of the five leading rushers in NFL history, Sanders is the only one to never reach a Super Bowl. The others -- Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Curtis Martin and Jerome Bettis -- all reached at least one Super Bowl. And all but Martin won at least one NFL championship ring.
THE GOAT?

 B

 

[ValarMorghulis]

good debate going on in here...

*JayZ* Keep Goin'

 

[Deleted member 43282]

All the RB's in Cartune's post played on better teams than any team Barry ever played on when they reached the Super Bowl. **Waits for someone to bring up the 95 Lions led by Scott Mitchell at QB**


Andre Ware
Erik Kramer
Scott Mitchell
Dave Kreig
Charlie Batch

Those are the QB's Barry played with but I am sure it would have made no difference playing with Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Big Ben, and Jim McMahon. Only on ESPN and NT does the concept of team sport disappear.

 

[statis22]

This thread sucks now

 

[IATT]

i know he won't be considered the GOAT..


but if i'm starting a team, i'm taking faulk over any other back.. easily the best receiving RB of all-time.. and as a pure runner he's up there in the rankings

 

[Deleted member 43282]

Originally Posted by itsaboutthattime

i know he won't be considered the GOAT..


but if i'm starting a team, i'm taking faulk over any other back.. easily the best receiving RB of all-time.. and as a pure runner he's up there in the rankings

Honestly I have to agree I saw him destroy my 9ers so many times as a receiver and rusher. I still wonder what would have happened if the Colts had kept him instead of trading him to the Rams after they drafted Edgerrin.

 

[5am6oody72]

Originally Posted by cartune

"
Postscript: Of the five leading rushers in NFL history, Sanders is the only one to never reach a Super Bowl. The others -- Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Curtis Martin and Jerome Bettis -- all reached at least one Super Bowl. And all but Martin won at least one NFL championship ring.
THE GOAT?




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How are you gonna ask everyone else if they've ever played football or RB because they don't think Curtis Martin is as good as Barry, then turn around and say that he can't be in the discussion because all those other guys went to Superbowls? I'm gonna assume from your comment that you played RB or football of some sort. So you should know that if your OL sucks it doesn't matter how good of a RB you are. Conversely, if you have a good OL you don't even need a good RB to make your run game work. You talked about Perriman and Moore spreading the field and helping Barry out; so what do you think of the advantage Emmit had of playing for Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, behind one of the best lines ever for many years and having Michael Irvin, Daryl Johnston and Troy Aikman to help shoulder the load? Or the 85 Bears who were one of the most stacked/dominant teams ever, coached by Mike Ditka? Or the Steelers, coached by Bill Cowher, who consistently had transcendent defenses? Or Curtis Martin being on a team coached by Bill Parcells, with Drew Bledsoe, Terry Glenn, Ben Coates, Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law, and Willie McGinest? 
You know why those RB's you mentioned appeared in Superbowls? Because they had great teams, defenses, and coaches surrounding them and were well-run franchises.  All of those teams except the Cowboys have played for Superbowls since those RB's left. The Lions haven't even sniffed the playoffs and went 0-16 recently. Those RB's played for some of the best coaches ever. Johnson and Switzer won rings in both college and the pros. Cowher went to two SB's and the year he won it Bettis ran for 368 yards. Ditka is a legend and Parcells won Superbowls with two different franchises. Quick: who were the Lions coaches?

Let's look at the defensive rankings for the Lions during Barry's career: 

19th, 26th, 11th, 20th, 15th, 19th, 14th, 22nd, 10th, 24th. Average=18.

Now let's look at the Cowboys' rankings during that same time: 

17th, 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 13th, 3rd, 5th. Average=5.4

The Cowboys had only two years where they weren't ranked in the top 5. The Lions only had 1 year where they even scratched the top 10. Guess which team won 3 superbowls and played for a fourth? 

 

[uptownsdotnetstacky]

That's why I didn't dig that deep with him because he contradicted himself...I'm not going to argue with a person who's strongest point is that Barry collapsed in the playoffs when in reality he was put in piss poor situations and had TERRIBLE OFFENSES (O-Line, Coordinator, QBs, etc)...now this is coming from someone who watched the games and was at a few, if you honestly believe that Curtis Martin is a better back than Barry Sanders then I feel sorry for your mother

 

[Betonblck]

Originally Posted by epox12

Originally Posted by cguy610

Barry is so overrated now that his career is over. He wasn't that good a blocker, had to be taken out at the goal line, wasn't that great a receiver out of the backfield either, and he had negative yardage in his only playoff game.  Not only that, Barry had more runs for negative yardage than any back in the history of the game. 

He was a great back, one of the greatest ever, but not the GOAT because of those reasons.

You youngbucks watch some NFL network highlights and think he was the best ever but nobody who actually saw Barry play would call him the best ever.  It was always a debate whether he was better than Emmitt when both were in their primes. 

Emmitt's separated shoulder game > any game in Barry's career. 

Sounds like you are a young buck, Barry played more than one playoff game and the Lions beat the Cowboys in the playoffs when Emmit was on the team. Emmit Smith's shoulder game was a great on the field performance as well as off the field. I have heard more than a few people comment about him being an actor and playing it up when guys on his own team were playing with the same injury. Emmitt was just playing for the record the last few years of his career he would run out of bounds to avoid contact and he kept holding on to pile on yards. I have more respect for players that leave too early instead of too late. Btw did you watch Emmit's "shoulder game" live?

You got me on the more than one playoff game comment.  I was wrong there.

I saw the "shoulder game" live and can say that it is the best football performance I have seen in my life.  Guys may have been playing with bad shoulders, but were they playing running back with a shoulder that was separated in the same game. 

Either way, Barry has weaknesses that cannot be ignored.  At the goal line.  Blocking.  Receiving.  If you look at his stats and compare total yards from scrimmage, his numbers are less impressive.

 

[uptownsdotnetstacky]

So Emmit was a better back because of his YFS even though he played basically 5 garbage years????

 

[gangsta207therevolution]

I dont think that Barry is the GOAT but he isnt outside the top 4 either. Before I come in here and bash certain guys opinions though what are your criteria for running backs? You cannot say in one sentence that Barry Sanders is worse than Curtis Martin and Martin is worse than Sanders in every major statistic. Same with Dickerson, same with Campbell and Sanders only played one more season than Campbell. Come on now really its really Payton, maybe Brown if you want to sit here and try and translate a completely different era, and Sanders. Thats with all of Barry's flaws too. How we gone sit here and bash Sanders for recieving and hes only behind Martin, Faulk Brown, and Payton interms of guys on the list and their averages per game.
Dickerson, Smith were worse, Martin is close to equal, and none of them can make up for the fact that Sanders averaged 5 yards per carry.
Rankings based on cartune's list YPC
Brown 5.2
Sanders 5.0
Payton 4.4
Dickerson 4.4
Campbell 4.3
Faulk 4.3
Smith 4.2 with one season above 5
Martin 4
Again im not bashing, I'm more so stating that your going to have to look at the guys you prefer more objectively and make me a list of things you want in your running backs.

 

[AZwildcats]

GOAT of all time to me is either Marshal Faulk or Emmit Smith. Probably because I wasnt old enough to see the others.

 

[dharv]

Barry Sanders holds the NFL record for most carries for a loss of yards. He had 336 carries for negative 956 yards. This is the NFL record. Link this stat with the Lions having only one offensive lineman make the Pro Bowl during Sanders' career, and him only playing until 31 years of age, still averaging 5 yards a carry-then tell me who's the GOAT.


1. Barry
2. Walter (and it's close)
3. Everyone else