2006-11-20 03:42:21 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Football (American)
Barry Sanders.
The whole time Barry was with Detroit I think only one offensive lineman went to one pro bowl. No quarterbacks or wide recievers went at all, besides mel gray as a return man.
When Emmit was in Dallas, the Cowboys commonly had 3 lineman in mutiple pro bowls. Troy Aikman went to several and Michael Irvin went to several.
The deal is that Barry quit while still in his prime. He could have easily gotten the rushing record himself. While I believe Emmit was the better back at the goal line, simply because he was a bigger and more straight ahead runner, over all I think Barry was better. Every opponent that Detroit played but 8 men in the box to stop him and he still ran wild. The passing game was horrible and the line was horrible everybody knew they were giving it to Barry and they still couldn't stop him. With Dallas, you couldn't sell out to stop the run because Aikman and Irvin would barbeque you if you did. Detroit couldn't pass gas man.
2006-11-20 03:50:11 · answer #1 · answered by Martin H 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Barry Sanders 10 Time Pro Bowler (89-98) - every year he was playing 6 Time First Team All Pro 1997 MVP 1989 Offensive Rookie of the Year 1991 & 1997 Bert Bell Award Averaged 5.0 yards per carry to Emmitt's 4.2 Had a 2,000 yard season, Emmitt never got even close Averaged 100 Yards per game, Smith averaged 81 Averaged 10 TD per season, Emmitt averaged 11.5 80 100+ yard rushing games 15,269 Yards in 5 fewer seasons Except for TDs, Barry eclipsed or matched everything Emmitt did on a yearly basis with a much less potent offensive line and overall weaker team.
2016-05-21 22:29:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
On top of the other reasons, Barry had a career 5.0ypc, with Emmitt only having 4.2. And Barry kept that high average despite supposedly (or so I've heard) having the record for most yards lost rushing (believable since he was a west-east runner, and not big enough to push forward for extra yardage -------but he was only 1inch 9lbs smaller than Emmitt --so it's not like Emmitt was huge either).
And Barry didn't quit because he wanted Walter to have the record. That's stupid, no player would do that. That would, in-turn, be saying Walter wasn't as good as a guy as Barry because he took it from Jim Brown. He knew he was going nowhere (in terms of a ring or general team success) with the Lions and their jerk-*** management/coaches and he felt he'd be happier to just return to a life outside of football.
Talent wise, the only person who could possible match/surpass Sanders is LT (or an injury-free TD, but not beating injuries is a strike against him). Untill recently, LT had no real run-blocking, or any offense to draw attention away from him, and yet he still produced. LT has the size advantage on Sander tho, because he is big enough to be a goal-line back too.
LT for MVP!
2006-11-20 06:18:51 · answer #3 · answered by Andy T 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Barry Sanders was indeed the best of the 2 since he accomplished more with no offensive line nor a good team. On the other hand, Smith was protected by a humongous line. Smith would not have gotten any records behind Detroit's weak O line.
2006-11-20 04:37:14 · answer #4 · answered by ramz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
barry sanders would've have put the rushing mark so far out of whack that emmitt smith would've never been able to break it if he didn't retire when he did plus he didn't even have half of the offensive line that emmitt had in dallas imagine barry sanders behind that dallas offensive line at the time huh it's a sick thought believe me man oh man the damage barry sanders would've have done with that line for his whole career
2006-11-20 03:51:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'd have to say Sanders because he did more with less around him. Emmitt was a great RB, but he had a mammoth, All Pro-caliber offensive line blocking for him, too.
I heard John Madden mention a stat one time that Emmitt averaged like 4 yards per carry (at least in that game that Madden was calling) before getting touched! It's scary to think what Sanders could've done with a line like that in front of him.
And we saw how a crappy O-line affected Emmitt when he went to Arizona (though granted that was late in his career).
2006-11-20 03:51:33 · answer #6 · answered by Lawn Jockey 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Barry Sanders. He had a far worse offensive line and offensive team and still put up unbelievable numbers just on his athletic ability. Emmitt had a great offensive line and a better all-around team. Emmitt was still great, but put Barry Sanders in his place and it would have been truly record-breaking.
2006-11-20 03:51:31 · answer #7 · answered by DJ 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
barry sanders was way better and he could have got the record but didnt want it he didn't want to take it away from W.payton that why he retired. And with the line Emmitt had i could run for the record
2006-11-20 04:07:08 · answer #8 · answered by ohiobuckndoe 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sanders. Emmitt even said so himself. There was no one like Barry. He could take it to the house on any play.
2006-11-20 04:06:22 · answer #9 · answered by Bruce Tzu 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Barry Sanders by far. Every yard he gained was on his own. He ran behind maybe the worse offensive line in recent history. Why do you think he retired so young? If he had Emmitt Smith offensive line to protect him, he would have run for 25,000 plus career yards easy!!
2006-11-20 03:44:39 · answer #10 · answered by surfergirl 1 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Barry Sanders all the way, he didn't have Half the Line Emmit had and he still had 2000 yard seasons. Not dissing Emmit but as a Kid I always wanted to be Barry Sanders.
2006-11-20 03:47:33 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋