Mister CIA
Footballguy
Bo Jackson vs Gale Sayers, who best
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Bo Jackson vs Gale Sayers (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mister CIA
- Start date
fruity pebbles
Footballguy
Never saw Sayers so hard to say. Can say Bo and Barry Sanders were the two most exciting backs I’ve witnessed in 40 years.
Mister CIA
Footballguy
DocHolliday
Footballguy
rockaction
Footballguy
Never saw Sayers except for on film, which is actually a lot like I've seen any athlete.
Brian's Song.
Brian's Song.
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elguapo07
Footballguy
Bo was a better baseball player. Bo was also the worst draft pick in NFL history, though that was as much Tampa's FO fault as Bo's.
Bo is the rare double what-if guy. What if he'd stayed healthy, and committed fully to football? What if he'd been committed to playing in Tampa? In 1986 the Bucs, had Bo and Steve Young, how different is history if they stick together. Its highly unlikely the Bucs get the #1 pick in 87' if Bo plays in 86'.
I think there is this misconception that Bo was an ascendant player cut down before his prime, when in reality he was a 28 year old RB, who lived on big plays, but was somewhat one dimensional. He was consistently pulled at the GL, and on 3rd downs, yes for Marcus Allen(who was past his prime by then) but also Steve Smith, who doubled as the FB. Sayers meanwhile was a complete RB, that was leading the NFL in rushing, while being an elite KR as well. He'd lead the NFL in both YPG and all-purpose yards 3 times in 4 seasons.
Honestly, I think Bo gets remembered extra fondly because of Tecmo Super Bowl. I think Bo was a better overall athlete from an physical marvel standpoint, but on field, Sayers wins in a walk.
Bo is the rare double what-if guy. What if he'd stayed healthy, and committed fully to football? What if he'd been committed to playing in Tampa? In 1986 the Bucs, had Bo and Steve Young, how different is history if they stick together. Its highly unlikely the Bucs get the #1 pick in 87' if Bo plays in 86'.
I think there is this misconception that Bo was an ascendant player cut down before his prime, when in reality he was a 28 year old RB, who lived on big plays, but was somewhat one dimensional. He was consistently pulled at the GL, and on 3rd downs, yes for Marcus Allen(who was past his prime by then) but also Steve Smith, who doubled as the FB. Sayers meanwhile was a complete RB, that was leading the NFL in rushing, while being an elite KR as well. He'd lead the NFL in both YPG and all-purpose yards 3 times in 4 seasons.
Honestly, I think Bo gets remembered extra fondly because of Tecmo Super Bowl. I think Bo was a better overall athlete from an physical marvel standpoint, but on field, Sayers wins in a walk.
barackdhouse
Footballguy
I'll take Walter Payton over all of them.
Snorkelson
Footballguy
I love Bo Jackson. I’ll take sayers.
Bo had 10 games with more than 100 total yards. He had 8 career games rushing over 100 yds.
Other miscellaneous facts- sayers had over 20 carries just 6 times in his first 4 years(56 games.) Year 5 he had 5 games over 20 carries.
If I’m taking one to start a franchise, it’s sayers, but if it for one game and I know he won’t get injured I’ll take Bo.
Bo had 10 games with more than 100 total yards. He had 8 career games rushing over 100 yds.
Other miscellaneous facts- sayers had over 20 carries just 6 times in his first 4 years(56 games.) Year 5 he had 5 games over 20 carries.
If I’m taking one to start a franchise, it’s sayers, but if it for one game and I know he won’t get injured I’ll take Bo.
-OZ-
Footballguy
Snorkelson
Footballguy
I don’t think bo or sayers are in the top 5. It’s really hard to compare some guys across decades though, especially those I didn’t get to watch. Those earlier guys also benefit, as sometimes their myth builds over time. But for me off the top of my head I’d say
Sanders
Brown
Dickerson
Earl Campbell
OJ Simpson
It’s a bit before I’d list sayers. There’s a lot of guys there.
JohnnyU
Footballguy
Marcus Allen may be the best goal line back ever. He wasn't past his prime in the Bo days and ended up going to KC and had great success. Some of the being pulled at the goal line could also be that he was a part time player and the coaching staff trusted the full time guys. I don't think that him being pulled at the goal line is as telling about Bo's ability as you are alluding to.travdogg said:
How do you quantify that he was the worst draft pick in NFL history? That really doesn't make any sense. TB blew their relationship with Bo because they told him that going for a visit wouldn't affect his ability to play baseball at Auburn his final year. Bo went on the visit then the NCAA ruled him ineligible for his last college baseball season. That is the reason he wouldn't sign with TB and went the baseball route.
Warhogs
Footballguy
I'm 52 and I never saw Gale Sayers play so I can't cast a fair vote. I'm guessing only a small minority here maybe saw enough of these guys playing. Maybe try going to the local senior citizens center and ask them? I honestly don't get why a poll is even here for this because I doubt very many reading this saw both of these guys play a lot.
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As far as football accomplishments it is definitely Sayers. As a few people said "what if" Bo committed to football full-time than I think he would have been one of the all-time greats. If Sayers didn't get injured he might be one of the greatest RBs of all-time as well.. It's too bad they didn't have the technology to fix his knee like they do today. He made the hall-of-fame and only played 4 or 5 seasons on good knees. From what I have been told, his last 2 seasons he transformed himself into a power running back and led the NFL in rushing despite averaging under 4 YPC (Too lazy to look up the exact total). I never saw Sayers play but I am a Bears fan.
I assumed you picked these 2 because their careers were shortened by injuries.
I assumed you picked these 2 because their careers were shortened by injuries.
He went #1 overall, and contributed as much to the Bucs as I did. As bad as guys like Ryan Leaf, and JaMarcus Russel etc. were, they at least took the field. I didn't say that was on Bo, just saying he contributed literally nothing. Its certainly on Tampa for not trading his rights, but I can't think of a less valuable draft pick.
That makes it doubly stupid on the Bucs part. He told them he would never play for them after the ineligibility issue because of the Bucs lying to him. Made no sense to draft him but as you said they should have done a John Elway and traded the rights away to get something out of it.
Yeah.
I don't want to go lookup stats but LJ and Priest and certainly CJ...there were plenty of dominant backs for a year or two. Eric Dickerson could be in brief and full career discussions. Didn't he open with like 4k in two seasons?
Sayers was a different era. His stats don't hold up per usual but he was elite and the kind of guy you could watch run all day.
Curtis Martin and Emmitt and Walter were longevity studs. Probably Bettis and Jamal Lewis, maybe Sanders maybe Dillon. Like 10 1000 yard seasons or 8 or...where's JWB?
I don't want to get this thread off track it's just the best ever talk for Bo.
Anyhow, I'd take Sayers. Ya can't do much with two years of productivity regardless of era.
If we're doing this like "which do you want to be your back for one game" it'd be super difficult to pick but I'd probably still take Sayers.
I am sure you saw all his games live including the Olympics.
To me this is a silly poll on this site. You could ask who was better - Eli Manning or Otto Graham on this site and most people would probably pick Eli because they never saw Graham play. Maybe Eli is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. I would say maybe 2% of the people on this site saw Sayers play in his prime because you would have to be around 70.
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TwinTurbo
Footballguy
I vote Bo. In addition to baseball, he would have dominated the NFL at RB straight out of high school if they allowed it. There are only a few players like that all time, Adrian Peterson, Jim Brown and maybe a few others.travdogg said:
I agree about the 28 years old part but I have never really seen someone else like him in his prime. And this was before all of the advanced diet and training programs we have now today. Other elite athletes take performance enhancing drugs just to get to 90% of what he had naturally.
ILUVBEER99
Footballguy
I’d go Bo, but that’s mainly because I never saw sayers play outside of highlights.
it’s hard to judge players from the past who most of us never watched.
it’s hard to judge players from the past who most of us never watched.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
Both are incredibly overrated.
