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Best RBs that never got a fair shot on a great team (1 Viewer)

R

rickyg

Footballguy
Sjax and MJD.   

Can you imagine if those 2 (as great as they were in their careers) played in Dallas or kc with those o lines and those running schemes?

they're both already regarded as amazing.  But they could both be in the conversation for best rbs to ever play the game IMO.  

Both guys suffered from being on putrid teams with no talent around them and still transcended. 

Look at gurley now.  Sjax was in a similar situation on the Rams but still was a stud.  Makes me feel like sjax > gurley 

 
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Marcus Allen. Spent some of his prime years in Al Davis' dog house. Still a mystery to me why Davis had a vendetta against Allen. 

 
Depends how you define great. There really aren't many great teams so I would say most RBs never get a chance. 

 
It's Barry Sanders by far.  No contest.  Forte at least played in a Super Bowl with the Bears.

 
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Hawkeye21 said:
It's Barry Sanders by far.  No contest.  Forte at least played in a Super Bowl with the Bears.
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Actually it is OJ. OJ played in 1 career playoff game. Barry played in 6.  Lions had a much better winning % than OJ's Bills and 49ers. Lions had a really good offense for a few of those years (Moore and Perriman). OJ  played in a game where the Bills literally did not complete a  single pass. 

 
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Ilov80s said:
Actually it is OJ. OJ played in 1 career playoff game. Barry played in 6. 
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I never watched OJ play so don't really know.  As far as I know there could be a guy even more deserving who played in the 40's but I'm not going back that far.

 
Hawkeye21 said:
I never watched OJ play so don't really know.  As far as I know there could be a guy even more deserving who played in the 40's but I'm not going back that far.
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Same. OJ was retired before I was born. I still know that OJ was a super talent (had a 2000 yard season) and looking at records, the Bills were trash. 

 
LT did marvels on some crappy teams. As great as he was, might have been even better with stronger teams.

 
Didn't sjax have a season with the Pats?  I know it was later in his career when he was past his prime--but the title of the thread says "never got a fair shot".   I'd agree with Barry Sanders sentiment. OJ was a little before my time so I'd have to rely on the expertise of others on that one.   

 
Barry 10x - the GOAT>>>> OJ 

Walter Payton was on some horrible Bear teams outside his last few years, I'd take him over OJ

MDJ - Baby Hercules is a supreme talent

 
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jvdesigns2002 said:
Didn't sjax have a season with the Pats?  I know it was later in his career when he was past his prime--but the title of the thread says "never got a fair shot".   I'd agree with Barry Sanders sentiment. OJ was a little before my time so I'd have to rely on the expertise of others on that one.   
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Yeah, last year. 

 
Sanders is part of the reason that the Lions were never any good.  You can't win games breaking a 40yd run and then getting 50 yards on 20 carries the rest of the game.  Barry's big runs were great but moving the chains wins football games.  Barry's negative runs consistantly killed drives.  That's why Emmit won Superbowls.

Ok, begin bashing.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
The answer.
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It's OJ. He ran for an NFL record 272 yards in a game where the Bills only managed to complete 4 of 21 passes for 29 yards. His 2000 yard season was in 14 games. The BIlls QBs threw for a combined 1200 yards and had a QB rating of 42 during that season. 

 
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anguskahn said:
Sanders is part of the reason that the Lions were never any good.  You can't win games breaking a 40yd run and then getting 50 yards on 20 carries the rest of the game.  Barry's big runs were great but moving the chains wins football games.  Barry's negative runs consistantly killed drives.  That's why Emmit won Superbowls.

Ok, begin bashing.
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Reasoning is beyond wrong, it's opposite of logic. Barry created from nothing his team gave hime. Smith was 5 to 8,yards down the field before he even had to create or think about adding any value to the runs his line got for him. Not to say he sucked or anything, but Barry had to start creating all on his own 5 yards behind the los. if he had the cowboys line leading for him, Barry would alread have 5 to 8 yards in his pocket BEFORE he had to start thinking about juking the secondary,  which we all know would have been no problem for him. He would have done great things for Dallas and set records that may have nevery be broken.

Lol I'm done trying to type by phone. excuse grammar errors anove.

 
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anguskahn said:
Sanders is part of the reason that the Lions were never any good.  You can't win games breaking a 40yd run and then getting 50 yards on 20 carries the rest of the game.  Barry's big runs were great but moving the chains wins football games.  Barry's negative runs consistantly killed drives.  That's why Dallas's line Emmit won Superbowls.

Ok, begin bashing.
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fixed.

Don't believe me? The Great Wall of Dallas -  possibly the best offensive lines in the history of the league

And that was before Larry Allen came in and dominated. As a 49er fan growing up during the heyday of the 80s and then, sadly the 90s, I still have visions of Larry Allen lead blocking in front of Emmitt Smith as they ran over my 9ers, with no hope of stopping them. He was one of the first 300 plus lbs guards that came into the league and changed the game so now all of these guys are 300+, but when he came in it was new and impossible to stop on defense. It was so disheartening to have my 9ers score on a drive, then watch as the defense could not stop the chain moving Cowboys who ran so much clock and rested their defense so the next time the niners got the ball if they didn't score on every drive they had no chance, then they punt and watch Larry Allen destroy them again, over and over, until the Cowboys had 2 touchdown lead that seems like a 5 touchdown lead today in that it was insurmountable because they would run so much clock. Larry Allen was not only a game changer, but a league changer in the sense that the entire league is now a formation of Larry Allen clones and Emmitt made a career running behind him.

 
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The real Super Power would have been Dallas waiting on RB..  They took Dorsett, who I knew was gonna be real good (hard to turn down)   But, man if they had waited a year for Earl Campbell?  They went 12-2 with Tony, in 77  (imho) Its like Top Tier alone..

I seen OJ play, and yeah it woulda been a kick to see him on a real team.  Its the same for Sanders, except it was criminal then..  IF Im not mistaken, it was even joked about by announcers..

Now if anyone is trully confused about "workhorse" when describing RB's..  The mans name was Payton..  The Patriots we see now with Brady?  I cant imagine any DC staying positive, gameplanning against a Brady/Payton backfield.. #Truth

I been weathered to express too much on more recent backs..  I can tell ya, if ya havnt seen H.S. clips of Sjax?  You been depriving yourself..  He literally looks like a man running through kids..

In some respects, Im sure we could be making this point for Zeke..  Dallas O is pretty good, but Defense Wins Championships!

Good post ricky!  Its a good time, anytime I can shout out Earl Campbell!

 
Dismattle said:
The real Super Power would have been Dallas waiting on RB..  They took Dorsett, who I knew was gonna be real good (hard to turn down)   But, man if they had waited a year for Earl Campbell?  They went 12-2 with Tony, in 77  (imho) Its like Top Tier alone..
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They only got Dorsett because they traded with the Seahawks. I doubt Bum Phillips would have traded his Earl pick for all the gold in the world.

 
Ilov80s said:
It's OJ. He ran for an NFL record 272 yards in a game where the Bills only managed to complete 4 of 21 passes for 29 yards. His 2000 yard season was in 14 games. The BIlls QBs threw for a combined 1200 yards and had a QB rating of 42 during that season. 
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I'll think about it. I'm well acquainted with the Juice's career. The Saints held him to 72 yards that same year IIRC.

Joe Ferguson was a suboptimal QB and the Bills never had a John Robinson, Chuck Knox or a Chuck Noll as HC.

Otoh if you're detracting for QB you should tack on points for that terrific offensive line. Simpson wasn't great out the gate either, took him and that line a while to gel.

 
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SaintsInDome2006 said:
They only got Dorsett because they traded with the Seahawks. I doubt Bum Phillips would have traded his Earl pick for all the gold in the world.
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Sadly Bum aint around to ask no more...  But if it was up to me?  I woulda been willing to trade 1st round picks for X amt of years.  I was sold on Earl seeing him in his 1st game, his freshman yr.  Every yr. after he just improved.  He went Platinum his SR yr.   You do recall Bum literally just threw that team together   I tell ya what though, Earl got to experience Winning!  It just wasnt on the same level, had he played in Dallas..

The "Ultimate Back" by NFL Network  https://youtu.be/GXT2rxSaqog

"Girl-ish for one guy to tackle me"  LMAO  Oh Yeah!

 
anguskahn said:
Sanders is part of the reason that the Lions were never any good.  You can't win games breaking a 40yd run and then getting 50 yards on 20 carries the rest of the game.  Barry's big runs were great but moving the chains wins football games.  Barry's negative runs consistantly killed drives.  That's why Emmit won Superbowls.

Ok, begin bashing.
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You are super super wrong, but generally when people are THIS wrong, there's no changing their minds.  

Sanders did things no one saw before, or since.  

I like Emmitt.  He is basically the most boring great back of all time.  He wasn't as flashy as Barry, and his line received a lot of credit, so Emmitt is underrated, for sure.  

I'll say this tho.  I am pretty sure no one can name a RB that had a better career situation than Emmitt did for personal success.  Other backs were in great situations, Franco Harris, Roger Craig, on and on.  But the 90's Cowboys were younger than everyone, bigger than everyone, and all they wanted to do was pound the ball.  He had two crazy WRs and a TE the defense had to respect, a HOF QB, and the most insane run blocking line ever in front of him.  

Watching the 90's Cowboys was demoralizing when they played your team.  Never any negative plays, never Emmitt getting stuffed on a pitch for -4 yards.  Nope, first down, right behind Larry Allen and Erik Williams for 4-6 yards.  Yawn.  They did that for years.

For real, what you are saying is like saying that the Lakers would have won more if it wasn't for Wilt Chamberlain.  

 
Dismattle said:
Sadly Bum aint around to ask no more...  But if it was up to me?  I woulda been willing to trade 1st round picks for X amt of years.  I was sold on Earl seeing him in his 1st game, his freshman yr.  Every yr. after he just improved.  He went Platinum his SR yr.   You do recall Bum literally just threw that team together   I tell ya what though, Earl got to experience Winning!  It just wasnt on the same level, had he played in Dallas..

The "Ultimate Back" by NFL Network  https://youtu.be/GXT2rxSaqog

"Girl-ish for one guy to tackle me"  LMAO  Oh Yeah!
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Great post. Thanks for the link, watching that reminds me why I love football.

Those Oiler teams were good but not great. Bum believed in motivating players and in controlling the football. He was probably just a couple years late with the advent of the passing game passing him by. Bum was no offensive genius. Yeah it is something to think of what a Landry, Staubach and that O-line would have done with Earl.

 
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mnmplayer said:
fixed.

Don't believe me? The Great Wall of Dallas -  possibly the best offensive lines in the history of the league

And that was before Leon Lett and Larry Allen came in and dominated. As a 49er fan growing up during the heyday of the 80s and then, sadly the 90s, I still have visions of Larry Allen lead blocking in front of Emmitt Smith as they ran over my 9ers, with no hope of stopping them. He was one of the first 300 plus lbs guards that came into the league and changed the game so now all of these guys are 300+, but when he came in it was new and impossible to stop on defense. It was so disheartening to have my 9ers score on a drive, then watch as the defense could not stop the chain moving Cowboys who ran so much clock and rested their defense so the next time the niners got the ball if they didn't score on every drive they had no chance, then they punt and watch Larry Allen destroy them again, over and over, until the Cowboys had 2 touchdown lead that seems like a 5 touchdown lead today in that it was insurmountable because they would run so much clock. Larry Allen was not only a game changer, but a league changer in the sense that the entire league is now a formation of Larry Allen clones and Emmitt made a career running behind him and Leon Lett.
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IMHO, Leon Lett was highly overrated as an offensive lineman. 

 
At this forum, you can learn that Marcus Allen did not play for a great team and Leon Lett was a good offensive lineman

 
massraider said:
You are super super wrong, but generally when people are THIS wrong, there's no changing their minds.  

Sanders did things no one saw before, or since.  

I like Emmitt.  He is basically the most boring great back of all time.  He wasn't as flashy as Barry, and his line received a lot of credit, so Emmitt is underrated, for sure.  

I'll say this tho.  I am pretty sure no one can name a RB that had a better career situation than Emmitt did for personal success.  Other backs were in great situations, Franco Harris, Roger Craig, on and on.  But the 90's Cowboys were younger than everyone, bigger than everyone, and all they wanted to do was pound the ball.  He had two crazy WRs and a TE the defense had to respect, a HOF QB, and the most insane run blocking line ever in front of him.  

Watching the 90's Cowboys was demoralizing when they played your team.  Never any negative plays, never Emmitt getting stuffed on a pitch for -4 yards.  Nope, first down, right behind Larry Allen and Erik Williams for 4-6 yards.  Yawn.  They did that for years.

For real, what you are saying is like saying that the Lakers would have won more if it wasn't for Wilt Chamberlain.  
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And yet they couldnt win a game without Emmitt. 

 
Maybe not a thread winning answer, but I'm pretty confident that if DeAngelo Williams wasn't in all time shares his whole career, he'd be in the discussion for one of the better RBs of his time.

 
jbz said:
Maybe not a thread winning answer, but I'm pretty confident that if DeAngelo Williams wasn't in all time shares his whole career, he'd be in the discussion for one of the better RBs of his time.
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Early in his career in Carolina they attempted to use him as a feature back and he couldn't stay on the field due to chronic ankle injuries. Thus the nickname "DeAnkelo". 

Dude is incredible in short stints but seems to always get hurt with any kind of heavy usage. 

i was high on him back then and got burned a few times. 

 
I'd say it's OJ. I'm old enough to have seen him in his prime and there wasn't anyone else with his combo of speed and power. Buffalo would have remained truly awful had Simpson not been as good as he was.

I had more fun watching Barry Sanders than any other player I've seen. But those Lions teams would make the playoffs half a dozen times and had other pretty good players. 

Payton DID play for some putrid teams and maybe he's the right answer here over OJ. But it's those two - both immortals - then everyone else

 
jbz said:
Maybe not a thread winning answer, but I'm pretty confident that if DeAngelo Williams wasn't in all time shares his whole career, he'd be in the discussion for one of the better RBs of his time.
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Different point but yeah.

 
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