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Best RBs of all time


muck
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Most seasons averaging more than 125 yards from scrimmage per game:

 

6 -- Jim Brown (1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965) ... plus two other seasons where he averaged more than 105 yards per game

 

4 -- Walter Payton (1977, 1983, 1984 and 1985) ... plus three other seasons where he averaged more than 110 yards per game

4 -- Eric Dickerson (1983, 1984, 1986 and 1988)

4 -- Marshall Faulk (1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001)

 

3 -- Ladanian Tomlinson (2002, 2003, and 2006) ... plus three other seasons where he averaged more than 110 yards per game

3 -- Tiki Barber (2004, 2005 and 2006) ... plus three other seasons where he averaged more than 105 yards per game

3 -- Edgerrin James (1999, 2000, and 2004) ... plus one other season where he averaged more than 115 yards per game

3 -- Priest Holmes (2001, 2002 and 2003)

 

2 -- Barry Sanders (1994 and 1997) ... plus six other seasons where he averaged more than 105 yards per game

2 -- Emmitt Smith (1992 and 1995) ... plus three other seasons where he averaged more than 110 yards per game

2 -- Terrell Davis (1997 and 1998) ... plus one other season where he averaged more than 115 yards per game

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Cool stat, but still doesn't say much. You still can't compare eras. Size/speed has just changed too much. You could make an argument that nobody is, was, or will ever be better than Jim Brown, and you could make an argument that he isn't elusive enough to survive in today's game.

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Good stuff. Yes, the game has changed over time, so tough to compare apples to apples based on just numbers.

 

I'll take Barry Sanders, he did it on terrible teams that usually had few weapons to distract from the fact that they were going to feed him the ball. He consistently put up Hall of Fame numbers anyway. He is also the only one listed above (other than Brown) that had eight seasons to fit these categories.

 

Not to mention, one of the true class acts to ever play the game.

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Based on my time of watching football, Barry Sanders was the best back that I've ever seen. Based on numbers, and NFL films, Jim Brown might be the best football player to ever live.

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Good stuff. Yes, the game has changed over time, so tough to compare apples to apples based on just numbers.

 

I'll take Barry Sanders, he did it on terrible teams that usually had few weapons to distract from the fact that they were going to feed him the ball. He consistently put up Hall of Fame numbers anyway. He is also the only one listed above (other than Brown) that had eight seasons to fit these categories.

 

Not to mention, one of the true class acts to ever play the game.

 

In 1989, he was the runaway NFL Rookie of the Year with 1,470 yards, a 5.3 average, and 14 touchdowns. He also could have been the NFL rushing leader. He stopped short of the achievement in the final minutes of the last game of the season, declining to play against Atlanta even though he needed only 11 yards to pass Kansas City’s Christian Okoye. "We had the game won," he said then, "and that was the only objective. There was no need for me to go back in to get a personal achievement. What difference would it have made?"

 

I also loved the way he would just simply hand the ball to the ref after scoring a TD. A class act for sure.

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My thought is Payton was the best all around back. Running, scoring, blocking, receiving, blitz pickup.

Sanders was maybe a better runner, but didn't have the power Payton did and the Lions rarely ever used him for short yardage. From memory, he wasn't on the field all that much on obvious passing downs. Payton's best QB ever was McMahon, who wasn't all that good, and didn't even come to town until Payton was past his prime. My opinion would be Payton's surrounding cast was worse than Sanders until the last few years of Payton's career.

I'd probably throw LT at 3rd.

 

 

Not old enough to have watched Brown, so can't really comment on him. In my mind though, I always compare him somewhat to Wilt Chamberlain. Superior athlete for his time, but really that's all we have to compare.

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We already went through this debate and we ended up with Emmitt being the best RB in all of history.

 

Besides, how can you compare seasons of 12 games to 16 games? The shorter the season, the easier to maintain big numbers. Not to mention great backs being on playoff teams and getting rested in seasons.

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I wasn't alive during the Jim Brown era, so all I have to go off of is stats and a few clips. In my 25 years of watching football, Barry Sanders and 2006 Tomlinson were the only 2 players where every time they got the ball, no matter where on the field, my first thought was "He's probably going to score a TD."

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If Jim Brown played now, growing up with today's dieting, conditioning and current speed of the game, he would still be considered the greatest football player of all-time. Thing is, with more quality athletes becoming defenders in this era, it could very well have been at linebacker.

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If Jim Brown played now, growing up with today's dieting, conditioning and current speed of the game, he would still be considered the greatest football player of all-time. Thing is, with more quality athletes becoming defenders in this era, it could very well have been at linebacker.

 

 

Wrong. If Jim Brown played now he would barely make a roster. Dude is in his 70's.

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We already went through this debate and we ended up with Emmitt being the best RB in all of history.

 

Besides, how can you compare seasons of 12 games to 16 games? The shorter the season, the easier to maintain big numbers. Not to mention great backs being on playoff teams and getting rested in seasons.

If Barry Sanders had run behind Emmitt Smith's O-line ...

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We already went through this debate and we ended up with Emmitt being the best RB in all of history.

 

Besides, how can you compare seasons of 12 games to 16 games? The shorter the season, the easier to maintain big numbers. Not to mention great backs being on playoff teams and getting rested in seasons.

 

 

Top five, O.K., best ever, nope. He does have the stats, and that cannot be taken away from him, but he was in an unusually good position to have accumulated those stats given the team around him.

 

I can't say who I would have at the top, though it would be between Brown and Payton. I will note that unlike many here I have memories of watching Jim Brown play. As for Walter he is the only player I ever saw block a kick from beyond the grave.

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It's disrespectful I know, but I don't put Jim Brown up at No. 1....

His opposing DLs and LBs weighed 200-210 lbs.

 

1. Walter Payton

2. Barry Sanders

3. Jim Brown

4. Emmitt Smith

5. L. Tomlinson

6. Marshall Faulk

7. O.J. Simpson

8. Eric Dickerson

9. Thurman Thomas

10. Curtis Martin

 

Bettis, Earl Campbell, Dorsett just miss the top-10.

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It's disrespectful I know, but I don't put Jim Brown up at No. 1....

His opposing DLs and LBs weighed 200-210 lbs.

 

1. Walter Payton

2. Barry Sanders

3. Jim Brown

4. Emmitt Smith

5. L. Tomlinson

6. Marshall Faulk

7. O.J. Simpson

8. Eric Dickerson

9. Thurman Thomas

10. Curtis Martin

 

Bettis, Earl Campbell, Dorsett just miss the top-10.

 

How about an honorable mention for Gayle Sayers? Doesn't have the gaudy career numbers because a knee injury shortened the career, but he dominated for several years, and one of the most fun to watch runners I've ever seen.

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Eric Dickerson was the best I ever saw. However, I'm one of those guys that say if Bo Jackson would have just Played football, it wouldn't have even been close. He was amazing!!!

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My dad swears it was Gale Sayers. I think its probably Jim Brown. Oj Simpson, Barry Sanders and Walter Payton were awesome on poor teams, mostly, when everyone knew they were getting the ball. Now THATS incredible....

 

My favorite ever is still John Riggins!

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If Barry Sanders had run behind Emmitt Smith's O-line ...

 

 

Yet when Emmitt was out injured or when he held out those 2 games his replacements never quite put up the same numbers behind that very same O line that everyone says that anybody could succeed behind

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Yet when Emmitt was out injured or when he held out those 2 games his replacements never quite put up the same numbers behind that very same O line that everyone says that anybody could succeed behind

 

2 games isn't much of a sample size

I guess this will turn into another Enmity thread :wacko:

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2 games isn't much of a sample size

I guess this will turn into another Enmity thread :wacko:

 

 

:tup: Not trying to turn it into anything. Just responding to a point that I believe isnt entirely accurate

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