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X_Factor_40
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
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 Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:32 pm Post subject: Gil Brandit ranks All Time RB's |
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NFL.com's Gil Brandt: Barry Sanders is No. 2 running back of all time
| Quote: | | NFL.com analyst Gil Brandt, who spent 28 years as the Cowboys' vice president of player personnel, revisited that question after the retirement of LaDainian Tomlinson on Monday. |
| Quote: | And he's got Lions legend Barry Sanders at No. 2, right behind Jim Brown.
"My favorite memory of Sanders came before he'd even taken a single NFL snap, at Oklahoma State's pro day back in 1989," Brandt writes. "Sanders was fresh off one of the most dominant seasons in college football history, rushing for 2,850 yards and scoring 39 touchdowns as the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner.
"Having just received another award, Sanders was late in returning to campus for the pro day. But he arrived at the field in a pair of cutoff jeans and, without warming up, blazed a 4.38 40-yard dash." |
| Quote: | Rounding out the rest of Brandt's list:
3. Walter Payton
4. Gale Sayers
5. O.J. Simpson
6. Earl Campbell
7. Eric Dickerson
8. Tony Dorsett
9. LaDainian Tomlinson
10. Emmitt Smith (the NFL's all-time leading rusher)
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Do you agree or disagree with Sanders' placement on the List? Where would you rank Barry?
What would your top 10 list look like?
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Jrugges
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| That seems about right to me honestly. If he's not in the top 3 though(I accept Walter Payton) then I do have a problem with any list. |
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tytalton
Joined: 12 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Out of all of those running backs who's ability actually changed the way the game going on around them was played? Barry and Brown are about the two that you can really say that against so this is a pretty accurate list.
People who claim Barry would lose too many yards rushing need to remember he lost all of those yards rushing because the opposing team sent 9 guys through the line and into the backfield to get him. They told the first guy that got there to hang out and wait for help. NONE of those guys - not Emmitt, LT, Tony, or even Sweetness ever got the kind of attention from opposing defenses that Barry did. And Barry beat nearly everyone on that list as far as records in spite of it. And hardly ever fumbled the ball. The guy belongs at #1 in my opinion. Jim Brown was a man among boys and he changed the way defenses had to play running backs. Barry took that to the next level. |
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IDOG_det
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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I really wish I was around to have seen Barry play live.
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Sllim Pickens
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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I think it is a very good list to be honest. I can't say much for some of the older players who I haven't seen a lot of (Sayers, Campbell) but they seem to be placed pretty well. I still have a hard time having Emmitt that high though. He was never anything special other than durable. I would easily put marshal Faulk and Adrian Peterson ahead of him. I have no issues with the top 3 in any order though.
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IDOG_det
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:09 am Post subject: |
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| Sllim Pickens wrote: | | I think it is a very good list to be honest. I can't say much for some of the older players who I haven't seen a lot of (Sayers, Campbell) but they seem to be placed pretty well. I still have a hard time having Emmitt that high though. He was never anything special other than durable. I would easily put marshal Faulk and Adrian Peterson ahead of him. I have no issues with the top 3 in any order though. |
Yeah, Faulk should be over Emmitt.
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YlionsY
Joined: 28 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:00 am Post subject: |
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As long as Barry is near the top I think its done right. Its hard for me to argue certain players not being above Sanders like Brown simply because I've never really seen them play so its a little homerish of me to say that Barry was better.
I'm okay with Smith being in the top 10 even though I didn't like him whatsoever. He was just really good for a really long time which led to the stat accumulation.
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Jrugges
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| IDOG_det wrote: | | I really wish I was around to have seen Barry play live. |
Honestly he's why I love football. I've yet to see a player like him still, Chris Johnson is the closest but still not it. |
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IDOG_det
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Jrugges wrote: | | IDOG_det wrote: | | I really wish I was around to have seen Barry play live. |
Honestly he's why I love football. I've yet to see a player like him still, Chris Johnson is the closest but still not it. |
I hope we can see another player of his caliber, I've seen a bunch of highlights and he was just crazy. It must have been amazing to see him live.
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X_Factor_40
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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| IDOG_det wrote: | | Jrugges wrote: | | IDOG_det wrote: | | I really wish I was around to have seen Barry play live. |
Honestly he's why I love football. I've yet to see a player like him still, Chris Johnson is the closest but still not it. |
I hope we can see another player of his caliber, I've seen a bunch of highlights and he was just crazy. It must have been amazing to see him live. |
I was pretty young at the time and I don't remember a ton, but my dad took me to my first game at the Silverdome. It was one of the coldest days I can ever remember as a kid. That game Barry rushed for over 200 yards. It was my first NFL experience. I'll never forget it.
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IDOG_det
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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| X_Factor_40 wrote: | | IDOG_det wrote: | | Jrugges wrote: | | IDOG_det wrote: | | I really wish I was around to have seen Barry play live. |
Honestly he's why I love football. I've yet to see a player like him still, Chris Johnson is the closest but still not it. |
I hope we can see another player of his caliber, I've seen a bunch of highlights and he was just crazy. It must have been amazing to see him live. |
I was pretty young at the time and I don't remember a ton, but my dad took me to my first game at the Silverdome. It was one of the coldest days I can ever remember as a kid. That game Barry rushed for over 200 yards. It was my first NFL experience. I'll never forget it. |
Lucky 
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EnglishLion20
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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Cant argue with putting Jim Brown ahead of him as much as I love Barry...
He made me a Lions fan and a dan of the game in general, Still dig out the old DVDs at times, his runs just never get old and only he could do them...
Doubt we'll ever see the likes of again...
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lions1957
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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Barry is #1 by far  . Brown did not have to go up against the quality of defensive players Sanders did  . Had Barry not retired early , who knows what he could have done  .
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Laimbrane
Joined: 04 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Comparing Jim Brown and Barry Sanders is almost impossible because their styles are so different. I don't have a problem with this placement at all. |
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RyanFuller003
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:27 am Post subject: |
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| Laimbrane wrote: | | Comparing Jim Brown and Barry Sanders is almost impossible because their styles are so different. I don't have a problem with this placement at all. |
This has pretty much always been my thoughts on it. Brown was 6'2" and 232 in an era where most linemen were about that size. He led the league in rushing eight times in his nine-year career (as well as yards from scrimmage 7 times) and made the All Pro team in each campaign. Sanders led the league in rushing only 4 times (YFS twice) and had that annoying habit of producing a lot of negative carries. But then again, the NFL has never seen such a scintillating playmaker, and it likely never will again.
Brown deserves the top spot for being as dominant as he was and because his game really didn't have any holes. Sanders wasn't comparably as dominant (he didn't put up the numbers Emmitt Smith did during their overlapping careers, and he wasn't quite the dual-threat back that Thurman Thomas or Marshall Faulk were) and he had that one weakness--not that he didn't make up for it, but a flaw is a flaw, and that's something Jim Brown really didn't have.
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