Lions waste the careers of 2 of the GOAT (1 Viewer)

[Leroy Hoard]

no idea why people act like Sanders retired so early. Sure he was still playing well but he retired at 31, which is old for a RB.

He almost ran for 1500 yards his last year and showed no noticeable signs of slippage. Eventually father time wins but not everyone is used up at 31.

and Barry wasn't like most backs. He didn't take many clean hits. He only had 1 real injury ( a knee injury at 25 that cost him 5 games). His last year, he had 1700 total yards, but his ypc did dip to 4.3 which was his lowest ypc in 6 years.

He was a smart man to literally "walk away" while he still could.

 

[sn0mm1s]

no idea why people act like Sanders retired so early. Sure he was still playing well but he retired at 31, which is old for a RB.

He almost ran for 1500 yards his last year and showed no noticeable signs of slippage. Eventually father time wins but not everyone is used up at 31.

and Barry wasn't like most backs. He didn't take many clean hits. He only had 1 real injury ( a knee injury at 25 that cost him 5 games). His last year, he had 1700 total yards, but his ypc did dip to 4.3 which was his lowest ypc in 6 years.

He played injured for the last 1/3 of the season IIRC. Dropped his YPC quite a bit.

 

[SIDA!]

Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson combine for one playoff win.

With all due respect to other bad organizations, only the lions could have done it.

Are you sure?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f0/65/63/f06563a683cd4a7f031ecd98e08b25ec.jpg

 

[SIDA!]

No Lions head coach has ever gone on to be the head coach of another team.

Who knew!

I would have never guessed that.

 

[matuski]

no idea why people act like Sanders retired so early. Sure he was still playing well but he retired at 31, which is old for a RB.

He almost ran for 1500 yards his last year and showed no noticeable signs of slippage. Eventually father time wins but not everyone is used up at 31.

and Barry wasn't like most backs. He didn't take many clean hits. He only had 1 real injury ( a knee injury at 25 that cost him 5 games). His last year, he had 1700 total yards, but his ypc did dip to 4.3 which was his lowest ypc in 6 years.

He was a smart man to literally "walk away" while he still could.

This is what I could not understand as a kid.

I guarantee Earl Campbell wishes he did the same.

 

[msudaisy26]

No Lions head coach has ever gone on to be the head coach of another team.

Who knew!

I would have never guessed that.

Technically this isn't true, **** Jaron was the Bills intern coach after the head coach got fired, but we get the point.

 

[msudaisy26]

The only reason Randy Moss has the single season receiving TD record, is because of the 1987 player's strike.

And because the Patriots decided to "pad his stats" by airing it out when games were already decided, just to break Jerry's record.

I don't think breaking that record was even on their radar, it was a bi-product of the middle finger that Bellichek was giving the league after Spygate.

 

[kegger]

no idea why people act like Sanders retired so early. Sure he was still playing well but he retired at 31, which is old for a RB.

He almost ran for 1500 yards his last year and showed no noticeable signs of slippage. Eventually father time wins but not everyone is used up at 31.

and Barry wasn't like most backs. He didn't take many clean hits. He only had 1 real injury ( a knee injury at 25 that cost him 5 games). His last year, he had 1700 total yards, but his ypc did dip to 4.3 which was his lowest ypc in 6 years.

He was a smart man to literally "walk away" while he still could.

This is what I could not understand as a kid.

I guarantee Earl Campbell wishes he did the same.

For those mention him retiring when he did an possibly "upset" with it has nothing to do with how Long he had played..

I don't think anyone would blame him for retiring after that many years of service, no it's HOW it went down in the end...

(no notice and no idea it was going to happen until after the next season was games in an then a note from his dad)

Sure he owed the Lions nothing, but it did hurt them, and the fans were crushed as well to finally here why he wasn't there...

(not to mention that let Emmit Smith have a chance at the all time rushing title) :(

But no how many seasons he played and walking away while he could was not an issue to make fans feel the way they did....

 

[Dizzy]

Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson combine for one playoff win.

With all due respect to other bad organizations, only the lions could have done it.

Maybe a point to be made that you can (arguably) have the best RB, or the best WR, but you cannot use either as a base to build a champion around.

I would say that all those concerned got their money's worth out of these two guys.

 

[spider321]

The only reason Randy Moss has the single season receiving TD record, is because of the 1987 player's strike.

And because the Patriots decided to "pad his stats" by airing it out when games were already decided, just to break Jerry's record.

I don't think breaking that record was even on their radar, it was a bi-product of the middle finger that Bellichek was giving the league after Spygate.

Both may be true, but late in the season, they were definitely throwing deep bombs to Randy well after games were over.

They're lucky I wasn't an opposing defensive coordinator when they were piling on. I would have had one player hold Brady upright, while another hit the front of his knee as hard as he could.

 

[Csonka4life]

RB

1. Barry Sanders

2. LT

3. Walter Payton

WR

1. Calvin Johnson

2. Randy Moss

3. Jerry Rice

Clueless.Jim Brown is, at least, in the top 2 RB's with Barry.

Any list of all-time great WR's that does not have Jerry Rice #1 is invalid.

Jim Brown was great for his time, but the game was different back then. The defensive players weren't nearly as big or fast back then. I don't think he would of been as effective in the 80's,90's, or 2000's with his running style.

Jerry Rice had the best career & was phenomenal but I don't think he was a freak like CJ or Moss were in their prime.

Just my opinion of course, but feel free to disagree.

I agree if Brown got bigger he probably would have gotten slower and less agile and become a more athletic Kevin Mack or Mike Alstott or even Okoye. There is only so big you can get before you become muscle bound.

As for Sanders he seemed to be the type of superstar who racked up yards against poor defenses. Against the better teams he seemed to get bottled up in the playoffs.

 

[spider321]

RB

1. Barry Sanders

2. LT

3. Walter Payton

WR

1. Calvin Johnson

2. Randy Moss

3. Jerry Rice

Clueless.Jim Brown is, at least, in the top 2 RB's with Barry.

Any list of all-time great WR's that does not have Jerry Rice #1 is invalid.

Jim Brown was great for his time, but the game was different back then. The defensive players weren't nearly as big or fast back then. I don't think he would of been as effective in the 80's,90's, or 2000's with his running style.Jerry Rice had the best career & was phenomenal but I don't think he was a freak like CJ or Moss were in their prime.

Just my opinion of course, but feel free to disagree.

I agree if Brown got bigger he probably would have gotten slower and less agile and become a more athletic Kevin Mack or Mike Alstott or even Okoye. There is only so big you can get before you become muscle bound. As for Sanders he seemed to be the type of superstar who racked up yards against poor defenses. Against the better teams he seemed to get bottled up in the playoffs.

You went full #######.

Never go full ######.

 

[matuski]

As for Sanders he seemed to be the type of superstar who racked up yards against poor defenses. Against the better teams he seemed to get bottled up in the playoffs.

Yea, most players do worse against bad defenses.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

As for Sanders he seemed to be the type of superstar who racked up yards against poor defenses. Against the better teams he seemed to get bottled up in the playoffs.

Yea, most players do worse against bad defenses.

Playoff caliber teams are usually smart enough to take away what the other team does best.

 

[Grigs Allmoon]

no idea why people act like Sanders retired so early... he retired at 31, which is old for a RB.

And also early.

 

[Grigs Allmoon]

Back to topic: It was likely one of the greatest career tragedies for Barry to muddle through the mire of Detroit his entire career. On a perennial competitive team, I imagine his accomplishments would have been to rbs what Lawrence Taylor was to the LB position.

Or what Rice was to the WR position. There's no way he wouldn't have averaged another 100-200 yards per year, and at least a couple more years on a decent team.