Jonah Lomu in his prime Vs an NFL player - who would come off best?

Question

Personnally I think Lomu would trample all over any NFL player with or without all that protective gear.

Bear in mind that I said "in his prime". He may not be anywhere near that level now but he was a power house in his prime.

Answer 1

I don't think there is an NFL player who could live with any rugby player, let alone Jonah Lomu. Have you ever seen an NFL player run for 80 minutes without repeatedly having to come off the pitch for a rest? Don't make me laugh!

Answer 2

There is no doubt Shane Williams has talent but the fact remains, he is a midget. Ask yourself these simple questions, Who would you rather tackle? Who would you rather be tackled by? The true sadness around the legend that is or was Johna is that his career was cut short by a very serious illness. There is no doubt that had he been able to play to his full capacity and had an International career even half as long as Shane Williams or the likes of Howlet or Rocococo - no record would have been left unbroken. Just so you know, All Blacks currently have a young man playing on the blindside who has the explosive power, ability to step both ways and run through any current international winger - quietly going under the radar at the minute playing in number 6. Moved almost secretly into a super 14 side after demolishing all at R7WC and promoted to All black squad without any fuss, fan fare or drama, being groomed to explode in 2011. He sits on the bench for 70 mins each test and when he does come on he is only running defensive sets, once he starts playing half games and has a chance to be involved in offense movements and supported by the All Black back three, NZ will have the strongest blindside attack ever assembled, he will be a try scoring machine - In 13 months time all others will fear the rise of Victor Vito. Could this be the second coming?

Answer 3

Although I am a rugby fan dear chap, what you do not realise id that there are 25-30 Jonah Lomus in the NFL Seriously. They are really big and very fast, check there stats out. Some of there 18-19 stone guys are running sub 10.50 for 100 meteres same height and build. Lomu was awsome on a rugby pitch. No one compared. They just make Yanks very very big. Even the small ones are tall, except for Danny devito he is as tiny as this full stop .

Answer 4

Quite simply this depends on which arena they were playing in, and I think the result would be 1 all. The first issue to look at is size. At his prime, Jonah was 6'5" and just over 19 stone. The often-quoted 100m time of 10.8 seconds was actually recorded when he was still playing in the forwards at Schoolboy level. When he emerged as a winger and received the proper training, it became evident that although never timed, he was much faster.

As many people have commented, however, there are lads just as big in the NFL and just as fast. Jonah's combination of the two may have given him an edge, but it wouldn't be a "trampling".

Stage 1 - rugby field (i.e. no protective gear): An NFL player would have immense difficulty trying to tackle Jonah because he wouldn't know to get low enough. NFL players tackle by using the shoulder and arms to bear-hug and barge players to the ground, something only really successful with all the padding. Try this on a speeding Jonah and they would probably bounce off (as 18 stone Phil Vickery, England prop, once did).

Stage 2 - NFL field (with padding): unaccustomed to the extra weight of the pads, Jonah would probably have difficulty reaching full pace quickly. Also his frequent tactic of slowing down for the tackle to allow players to bounce off his legs wouldn't work with a chest high tackle. Who knows for sure, but I'd say he'd go down.

Answer 5

Jonah Lomu needed space to get up to speed, some NFL players have massive exposive speed so in a short space maybe the NFL guys but over 20 metres or more, Jonah was king!

Answer 6

Lomu was great, and would beat any body offensively. I dont really see a defender that could bring him down one on one. Remember he was playing professional rugby players, these players have much better form in tackling than most NFL players. On the contrary I dont think Jonah was a spectacular defender. I think if Jerome Bettis was running the ball in his prime and Jonah tried to tackle him, the Bus would win hands down. That is one of the reasons Jonah played wing, because his defense wasnt his best point, and to also take advantage of smaller players he would be against on the wing. Jonah would win the battle against anyone if he had the ball, but on defense, Johan would lose.

Answer 7

Yeh i agree with you, Lomu could not only do the 100m in 11 seconds flat, he was 19 stone! Some might say a combination of an NFL running back and a blocker.

Answer 8

I think Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens will tackle Lomu out of both his kidneys. Lomu was good, but I have seen Ray tackle and it is scary. Other thing is that in NFL almost all types of tackling is legal, so a nice cloths line or shoulder to the chest will put anyone on the ground.

Answer 9

One on one - no contest. Lomu wins everytime.
But Lomu used to run at people and use his strength (despite a good side-step). In NFL they get 350lb guys who can barely move to throw themselves at you, in groups. So they would find a way to neutralise him eventually. His change of pace might keep him profitable in the long term
Jason Robinson (or the like) would be a different story however. They would never see him coming, and never know where he went.

Answer 10

Well it's a sad fact that Jonah found it impossible to trample over any Celtic League player, when he was here last year..playing for Cardiff Blues.

Genuinely hope he gets back to where he was and has a brilliant career in front of him for the next 4 yrs..