Who was the better running back Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith?

Question

I say Emmitt because whenever you got inside the 10 yard line ,"Touchdown". Also you could control the clock whenever you got a lead in the second half. Many say that Emmitt pl;ayed on a better team. Thats true, but he attained all you could accomplish playing on a great team.

Answer 1

Barry Sanders

Answer 2

Barry Sanders has the best vision, speed, and agility of any backs in NFL history. He basically had nobody else on his team that the defense paid any attention to. Every defense knew that he was the only threat on the offensive side so they just focused on him and yet he still dominated, juking every defender and finally getting stopped, if not scoring a 70-yard TD. Emmitt had a different story. He had Michael Irvin, one of the game's best WR's ever, and a All-Pro QB in Troy Aikman. Also he had dominant lineman such as Larry Allen, described in wikipedia as this:

"At 6ft-3in and 340 lb, Allen may be physically the strongest man to have ever played in the NFL. His weightroom highlights include an assisted bench press of 700 lb and a partial squat of 900 lb. His strength combined with his noted on-field aggressiveness have made Allen one of the best offensive linemen in the league's history.

Allen was a member of the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl Champion team in 1995, has been named All-Pro eight times and has represented the NFC in the Pro Bowl in ten of his twelve seasons to date; at one point playing seven consecutive Pro Bowls."

Who did Barry have? Nobody. So Dallas had multiple offensive threats for the opposing D to worry about, whereas Barry had nothing and did almost all of the work by himself. His vision, spped, agility, and awareness of the defenders around him make him the better back. Emmitt is great, but Sanders is greater.

Answer 3

Ask yourself a simple question...What if their teams had been reversed? What if Barry Sanders had played with the Hall of Fame Offensive Lineman, What if Barry had Aikman, Irvin, Novachek and Johnston to take the pressure off of him? What if Emmitt had to play for Detroit, without a HOF QB, without a HOF caliber offensive line??? Would Emmitt still have the rushing record? I think not. Barry got his yards all by himself, without many of the advantages Emmitt Smith had. Sorry, but, put Barry behind the Cowboys Offensive Line, he has 22,000 rushing yards plus.

Answer 4

Barry Sanders

Answer 5

Emmitt Smith hands down. Barry Sanders wasn't a Runner he was a Dancer. at least that's what he did on the Field.

Answer 6

Well I am the biggest Cowboys fan you will ever meet. have been since the 70's. with that said I would still have to go with Barry Sanders. he did it with no line at all and no other good players around him. Emmit was good but hell, I could have looked great to if I had the line the cowboys had then. I would have been the no.1 rusher in the NFL. so again it has to be Barry which he retired way to early. I guess he was fed up with it after getting no help all them years!

Answer 7

If statistics tell the whole story then you have to go with Emmitt Smith. If statistics only give a part of the story than you'd better go with Barry Sanders. If you say: Screw the statistics" look at what you see on T.V. then you'd have to go with WALTER PAYTON!!

I am a die-hard Cowboys fan!

Answer 8

David V makes several good points..and lets not forget that Barry retired when he had a chance to have many more productive sesaons..if he played 4 more years..he would own the rushing record..and emmitt would have retired thousands of yards short of that record

Answer 9

Barry Sanders without a question....Look at everything Sanders did with such a poor OL, D, QB, etc....Sanders WAS the Lions.

Answer 10

Although both men are wonderful running back, I think EMMITT SMITH is the better running back than BARRY SANDERS.