Tharizdun wrote:Emmitt wasn't even in the top 3 all time. Barry S, Jim B, Walter P... then we get into Emmitt territory.
You just said as much... he got lucky and had a great line with HOF QB and Receiver + a great tight end.

You could even make a case for Novacek and Moose Johnston on that prolific o-line during the 90s.  However I predict that no one from the o-line will get a nod until a veteran's committee finally looks them over in 20 years.  Meanwhile the veteran's committee will continue every year to put in a random east coast team's offensive or defensive lineman just because he was wearing the right uniform.  I'm surprised the Steeler's waterboy or the guy who told people where to park at Giant's stadium haven't gotten their induction yet.

Mike B.

Jim Brown was an offense. He was a franchise and one of the best players ever. Emmitt wasn't even the best player on his team.

Emmitt has those stats but then when you purely look at stats a bunch of tier 2 guys have really great stats. You yourself made the point that it's a team game when I splained to you how the Lakers have played in 50% of all the NBA finals so you cannot go back and have it both ways...

Tharizdun wrote:Jim Brown was an offense. He was a franchise and one of the best players ever. Emmitt wasn't even the best player on his team.

Emmitt has those stats but then when you purely look at stats a bunch of tier 2 guys have really great stats. You yourself made the point that it's a team game when I splained to you how the Lakers have played in 50% of all the NBA finals so you cannot go back and have it both ways...

True football is more a team game than basketball. But each team has to have someone that does the heavy lifting.  Emmitt was that guy.  Aikman truth to tell was an average to above average QB with great ability to play under pressure (great playoff stats, average regular season stats). Irvin was the team leader and always moved the chains when you needed it most, but never amassed gaudy stats. However I would say more than both of them if you had to put a game on a guy's shoulders to win it was Emmitt.  He did singlehandedly win one of the greatest games in football history when he ran for 168 yds in the 1993 season finale vs the Giants....with a separated shoulder.  Oh and he caught 10 passes that same game. He willed them into OT and then drove them to the game winning FG.  He had many games like this his career when they just fed the ball to him.  He was a machine that only missed 8 games his entire career with the boys (two of them were holdout games at the beginning of the 1993 season...and they went 0-2 those games, hmmmm).

I saw every single game Emmitt played and I can only guess most non-Cowboy fans only saw the Monday night games or Thanksgiving Day games.  Out of all the RBs I have ever watched only Barry Sanders could dictate a game like Emmitt could.  I saw plenty of Barry Sanders and he would have had the all-time record had he not quit (btw, another point in his favor, there was no quit in Emmitt).  Brown got dicked around by management and had the lure of Hollywood, we'll never know what he might have done because plenty of RBs start off great (LT, Terrell Davis, etc) and get injured or worn down and suddenly are through. I saw Payton a lot and honestly I feel Emmitt was a better RB (Payton did play a couple years on really bad teams that misused him).  Dickerson got screwed around by bad coaches so it's debatable what he would have done had he been on a good team without idiot coaches some of his career. OJ was a one trick pony and benefitted from a terrible team where all they did was run the ball 90% of the time. Earl likewise got run into the ground and if he had been handled correctly I think he could have played 5 more years and set a few more records.

Look how hard it is to do what Emmitt (and Sanders and Payton) did. The hot RBs of the last few years....LT, Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin...they all had really good numbers and came close but all fell back to earth.  Honestly will anyone ever break his records?  LT is still 50 TDs behind him!  No one is within any distance of the rushing record.

But once again we are with shoulda coulda woulda.  Emmitt just did it and has the stats to back him up.  Two things in his favor that most people don't take into account: His durability, and the fact he didn't fumble.  And don't forget he had 11 consecutive seasons over 1000 yds, the all time record. I know he played behind a great O-line but cmon it wasn't great for 11 years in a row...! As a matter of fact were the Cowboys teams of 1997-2001 even that great?  No playoffs and Emmitt was still pounding out 1000 yds a season.  

Mike B.

Unfortunately I didn't see the game, but my wife did (working nights!) and her comments were that Saints were worthy winners and that if Manning is rated the best QB currently, the others must be arse...  

Not that one game makes a man and all that...  

Apparently the Saints QB was on fire and she was shouting at the TV, 'run man, run' following the INT late on!

Glad I've recorded it to watch tonight now.

(Carry on with your discussions of Hall of Famers, as I can't comment on any of those, outside the Vikes team....)  

PaulKM wrote:I've only owned two professional sports jerseys:  The Chicago White Sox and the Saints.  Now I have to find two new cursed teams.

Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Vikings, and Buffalo Bills.  That should just about cover it.  

Emmitt Smith's production stats, and his induction into the Hall of Fame,  are great accomplishments of the Cowboys team from the 90's.

There is no way to separate Emmitt from the strongest team of all time....and no reason to do so.

Tharizdun wrote:49'ers were the strongest team of all time. They had a loooong ass run of greatness

No doubt the 49'ers have been a good franchise.

My point is that the Cowboys Super Bowl teams on which Emmitt Smith had the priviledge to play...particularly the first two...were the strongest NFL teams ever.

Best Super Bowl team?

I'm sure there will be a lot of people disagree with me, but if I was gonna pick one it would have to be the '79 Steelers by a hair over the '89 49ers, the '92 Cowboys, and then the '85 Bears.  Damn those guys were good.

The first Cowboys team that won the Super Bowl in the 90's would have wiped the floor with the '79 Steelers.

Not even close.