RunningBacks - List your top ten (1 Viewer)

[Despyzer]

Google hits

You aren't helping your argument at all. An entire internet of idiots at your disposal and all you could find was one Norwegian site, one Spanish site, and a couple of forums and blogs (where for all we know, you posted this nonsense earlier). Seriously, you are only making it worse on yourself. Just let it die and move on to something you know something about.

 

[jetpack]

Google hits

You aren't helping your argument at all. An entire internet of idiots at your disposal and all you could find was one Norwegian site, one Spanish site, and a couple of forums and blogs (where for all we know, you posted this nonsense earlier). Seriously, you are only making it worse on yourself. Just let it die and move on to something you know something about.

No thanks. I'd really like to see you argue that Campbell was never called the Pearl. I've shown you where that name is considered NFL trivia and also where people still refer to him as such. You haven't shown much capabilty to debate this outside of derision when you're cornered and, of course, use of smileys.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Google hits

:X You aren't helping your argument at all. An entire internet of idiots at your disposal and all you could find was one Norwegian site, one Spanish site, and a couple of forums and blogs (where for all we know, you posted this nonsense earlier). Seriously, you are only making it worse on yourself. Just let it die and move on to something you know something about.

No thanks. I'd really like to see you argue that Campbell was never called the Pearl. I've shown you where that name is considered NFL trivia and also where people still refer to him as such. You haven't shown much capabilty to debate this outside of derision when you're cornered and, of course, use of smileys.

jetpack's right. This really is a long winded detour that was unnecessary. Part of what makes our boards great is that we stay away from the "I know more about the NFL than you" yelling that other boards get into. Let's let this one die; I'm sure there are certain areas where he was called by that name, and just because it didn't reach national prominence doesn't mean it's cool to start ragging on other posters. Let's try and focus on adding to the conversation, not getting into pissing matches.Thanks guys.And btw, jetpack's member number is way lower than Despyzer's, anyway.

 

[crnerblitz]

Gentleman, please allow me to move this discussion forward with new material to debate.

I think it is safe to say most all of us know very little about Jim Thorpe the runningback. Lack of stats lends itself to people dismissing him from the discussion entirely. This is a huge dis-service to the history of the game.

Perhaps someone with much better internet research skills could help us get a grip on Thorpe the runningback.

While I dont know nearly enough about him, I do know he was a great runningback before there were great runningbacks.

 

[TheGreatest]

Gentleman, please allow me to move this discussion forward with new material to debate. I think it is safe to say most all of us know very little about Jim Thorpe the runningback. Lack of stats lends itself to people dismissing him from the discussion entirely. This is a huge dis-service to the history of the game.Perhaps someone with much better internet research skills could help us get a grip on Thorpe the runningback.While I dont know nearly enough about him, I do know he was a great runningback before there were great runningbacks.

I agree. Red Grange should also get some consideration as well. Both played in the same time frame (Thorpe started a few years earlier)...and both were great RB's.

 

[cobalt_27]

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/NFL-Nam...mbers-5012.html

Now you know.

Ehhh.... you could ask 1000 sports fans which athlete is nicknamed "The Pearl" and 990 of them would say Earl Monroe at first reaction.

Of course they would. I grew up listening to Browns, Steelers, and Bengals announcers call him Earl the Pearl. Obviously they got it from Earl the Pearl Monroe. So what?

Sure you did.

 

[cobalt_27]

BTW, just google Earl the Pearl Cambpell and you'll get hits.

I took your challenge. I got plenty of hits alright... none of them having anything to do with the NFL. I took it one step further and added "NFL" to the criteria. Guess what popped up over and over... Earl "The Pearl" Monroe! And to think, I tried to warn you to just quit.

You seem to have some difficultly believing that Earl Campbell is, or was ever called "The Pearl", in addition to "The Tyler Rose". I think that's really funny, as is your urgent need to tell me to stop stating an historical fact for some reason, like I could change it. I hope this helps:Google hits

That's just fully quoted. Feel free to waste time digging around with different search perameters.

What you got on those hits were a bunch of folks who were similarly confused and mixing up the nicknames on message boards (or fan sites from Slovakia ). Great authoritative sources.

 

[jetpack]

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/NFL-Nam...mbers-5012.html

Now you know.

Ehhh.... you could ask 1000 sports fans which athlete is nicknamed "The Pearl" and 990 of them would say Earl Monroe at first reaction.

Of course they would. I grew up listening to Browns, Steelers, and Bengals announcers call him Earl the Pearl. Obviously they got it from Earl the Pearl Monroe. So what?

Sure you did.

Myron Cope would be one of those. Maybe he was confused. Maybe it was a regional thing.

 

[jwb]

Tiki was a great all around back that was elusive, quick, and maybe a top 5 back in the NFL. Campbell was a man among boys, and dominated defenses. Tiki didn't instill the kind of fear that Campbell did. You can't go by the stats in this case, and when you do, it actually makes your points less persuasive. This isn't even close.

Having watched Earl Campbell, I have to agree - he was a beast. The best running back I ever saw. I mean this in a context that if I had 4th and goal from the 4, and could have any RB take it in, he's the guy I'd give the ball to.

 

[cobalt_27]

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/NFL-Nam...mbers-5012.html

Now you know.

Ehhh.... you could ask 1000 sports fans which athlete is nicknamed "The Pearl" and 990 of them would say Earl Monroe at first reaction.

Of course they would. I grew up listening to Browns, Steelers, and Bengals announcers call him Earl the Pearl. Obviously they got it from Earl the Pearl Monroe. So what?

Sure you did.

Myron Cope would be one of those. Maybe he was confused. Maybe it was a regional thing.

I can actually see Cope going there with the "Earl the Pearl" thing, as he was crazy enough to hijack it. Look, if he did, I recant. It's just that, to the rest of America, "Earl the Pearl" refers every bit to Earl Monroe as "Air" refers to Jordan and "The Bear" refers to Nicklaus...and that identity is pretty-much monopolized by those guys and those guys only.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Quick list of the greatest rushers of all time off a system I created (I'll have a bit more to say on this later):

Barry

Brown

Simpson

Holmes

Payton

Smith

Dickerson

Barber

Sayers

Davis

(The question why isn't Tomlinson on this list, is a very good one. The obvious answer is he hasn't played long enough, but I'm not real comfortable with that.)

 

[Koya]

Tiki was a great all around back that was elusive, quick, and maybe a top 5 back in the NFL. Campbell was a man among boys, and dominated defenses. Tiki didn't instill the kind of fear that Campbell did. You can't go by the stats in this case, and when you do, it actually makes your points less persuasive. This isn't even close.

Having watched Earl Campbell, I have to agree - he was a beast. The best running back I ever saw. I mean this in a context that if I had 4th and goal from the 4, and could have any RB take it in, he's the guy I'd give the ball to.

But when I look at the stats Tiki is so much better. Why muck stats up with context?

 

[jetpack]

Quick list of the greatest rushers of all time off a system I created (I'll have a bit more to say on this later):

Barry

Brown

Simpson

Holmes

Payton

Smith

Dickerson

Barber

Sayers

Davis

(The question why isn't Tomlinson on this list, is a very good one. The obvious answer is he hasn't played long enough, but I'm not real comfortable with that.)

Interesting since there's only 13 games played separating Holmes & Tomlinson. Also, any correlation between team record and individual ypc? I always wondered if there was correlation there.

 

[Koya]

in order

Rushing Leaders

RK PLAYER AMT

1 Emmitt Smith 18,355

2 Walter Payton 16,726

3 Barry Sanders 15,269

4 CURTIS MARTIN 14,101

5 Jerome Bettis 13,653

6 Eric Dickerson 13,259

7 Tony Dorsett 12,739

8 Jim Brown 12,312

9 Marcus Allen 12,243

10 MARSHALL FAULK 12,162

(LT is a very honorable Mention)

(LJ honorable mention)

Edit: I probably put Jim Brown up on the list above Bettis, since he played less games per year and in a different era.

Fantastic. I didn't know there was a place we could look up career rushing stats. I guess this pretty-much answers who the best RBs of all-time were. Tremendous analysis.

I don't believe there is a better way to get the unbiased results of a RB's career... I put Brown up around 5 and i think LT and LJ will eventually make this list. Disagree all you want, but I dont have to see it your way nor do you have to see it my way.

Right, because career rushing accumulation is the only unbiased measure of what a RB does.Next, you're going to tell us all that Vinny Testaverde was a better QB than Joe Montana because he passed for 5000 more career yards.

Great analysis, chief.

Edit: I probably put Jim Brown up on the list above Bettis, since he played less games per year and in a different era.

Do you really want to even bother engaging in this conversation?

 

[jetpack]

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/NFL-Nam...mbers-5012.html

Now you know.

Ehhh.... you could ask 1000 sports fans which athlete is nicknamed "The Pearl" and 990 of them would say Earl Monroe at first reaction.

Of course they would. I grew up listening to Browns, Steelers, and Bengals announcers call him Earl the Pearl. Obviously they got it from Earl the Pearl Monroe. So what?

Sure you did.

Myron Cope would be one of those. Maybe he was confused. Maybe it was a regional thing.

I can actually see Cope going there with the "Earl the Pearl" thing, as he was crazy enough to hijack it. Look, if he did, I recant. It's just that, to the rest of America, "Earl the Pearl" refers every bit to Earl Monroe as "Air" refers to Jordan and "The Bear" refers to Nicklaus...and that identity is pretty-much monopolized by those guys and those guys only.

Earl Monroe definitely gets the monopoly on the name. No disagreement there. I also live in Texas where Campbell is obviously known as the Tyler Rose. Always will be. I think Cope must have hijacked it and it was picked up by Brownie and Bengal announcers (or vice versa) during 78-79. Who knows? It was 30 years ago.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Interesting since there's only 13 games played separating Holmes & Tomlinson.

Holmes: 1,734 carries, 8,035 yards, 86 TDsTomlinson: 2,050 carries, 9,176 yards, 100 TDsYards per carry: 4.63 for Holmes, 4.48 for TomlinsonHolmes and Tomlinson are both given big boost for scoring a TD every 20 carries. If I deleted TDs from the system, Holmes would fall out of the top 15.

 

[Iron Mike Tomczak]

Comparing Bettis to Vinny Testeverde is foolish.

Certainly more foolish than comparing Bettis to Brown, both were power backs, (soon to be) HOF-ers, though Bettis played in an era that was chock full of excellent and even better RBs.

As for Cobalt, you don't have the balls to make your own list, you just simply argue with everyone who lists Bettis, which is totally fine, youre allowed to hate all you want. In fact I even agree LT is better than bettis, and I should have listed him in my top 10. Im slightly biased being a homer, but you cant tell me guys like Ricky Watters are better than the Bus, even Franco with his 4 SBs wasnt as great of a back. Bettis is in the top 5 all time rushers, you can cry all you want but its not going to change anything. Does that make him the greatest, hell no. Does it make him better than most, and one of the elite backs, absolutely, and arguably top 10.

I had alot more but it got deleted. Basically it went like this , I primarily rate RBs by Career, which includes rushing stats, achievements and lastly style. Some guys pick based on style, some on production for a short time, some for a long time. I just think we all have very different concepts of greatness.

 

[Despyzer]

Interesting since there's only 13 games played separating Holmes & Tomlinson.

Holmes: 1,734 carries, 8,035 yards, 86 TDsTomlinson: 2,050 carries, 9,176 yards, 100 TDsYards per carry: 4.63 for Holmes, 4.48 for TomlinsonHolmes and Tomlinson are both given big boost for scoring a TD every 20 carries. If I deleted TDs from the system, Holmes would fall out of the top 15.

So, YPC gives Holmes the nod over Tomlinson in this debate, but is inconsequential when you want to choose Rudi over McCalister. I understand.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Interesting since there's only 13 games played separating Holmes & Tomlinson.

Holmes: 1,734 carries, 8,035 yards, 86 TDsTomlinson: 2,050 carries, 9,176 yards, 100 TDsYards per carry: 4.63 for Holmes, 4.48 for TomlinsonHolmes and Tomlinson are both given big boost for scoring a TD every 20 carries. If I deleted TDs from the system, Holmes would fall out of the top 15.

So, YPC gives Holmes the nod over Tomlinson in this debate, but is inconsequential when you want to choose Rudi over McCalister. I understand.

You should read more carefully in the other thread.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

heres my top 10 runnigbacks

DISCUSS

Emmitt Smith

Barry Sanders

Walter Peyton

Jim Brown

LT

Gale Sayers

OJ Simpson

Earl Campbell

Eric Dickerson

Jerome Bettis

Curtis Martin

fixed

 

[H.K.]

Good discussion heres my reasons why

Emmitt Smith - longevity of career yardage/td/blocking/recieving

Barry Sanders - Best pure runner ever

Walter Peyton - see emmitt but on a crappy team

Jim Brown - power before power was understood oh and was pretty fast too

Gale Sayers - the best of all skills fast / tough / best punter returner of all time

OJ Simpson - fast fast fast

Earl Campbell - this is what brown probly looked like in his prime

Eric Dickerson - best vision ever smooth fluid runner

Jerome Bettis - longevity/ yardage /td did it wherever he played team player

Curtis Martin - same as above

On Barry Sanders: I don't have the stats but wasn't he stopped behind the lin e of scrimmage a lot? I'm curious if there are stats that show how many losses/carry RBs had. This alone might drop him. On Sayers: wouldn't your statement make him the best RB ever? I'd be very tempted to agree with you. What makes him drop in your list? Career numbers?

I dont have the stats either, but I do know Jerome Bettis had more runs for 0 or minus yardage than Barry.

I don't have the stats, but I think Barry Sanders has the record for most carries for a loss.

<_<

Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in negative yardage from scrimmage. Throughout his career, Sanders carried the ball 446 times for losses and total lost yardage was 1,114 yards.Link to Detroitlions.com for verification

 

[jcjets]

Bo Jackson

 

[Emmitt Smith]

Good discussion heres my reasons why

Emmitt Smith - longevity of career yardage/td/blocking/recieving

Barry Sanders - Best pure runner ever

Walter Peyton - see emmitt but on a crappy team

Jim Brown - power before power was understood oh and was pretty fast too

Gale Sayers - the best of all skills fast / tough / best punter returner of all time

OJ Simpson - fast fast fast

Earl Campbell - this is what brown probly looked like in his prime

Eric Dickerson - best vision ever smooth fluid runner

Jerome Bettis - longevity/ yardage /td did it wherever he played team player

Curtis Martin - same as above

On Barry Sanders: I don't have the stats but wasn't he stopped behind the lin e of scrimmage a lot? I'm curious if there are stats that show how many losses/carry RBs had. This alone might drop him. On Sayers: wouldn't your statement make him the best RB ever? I'd be very tempted to agree with you. What makes him drop in your list? Career numbers?

I dont have the stats either, but I do know Jerome Bettis had more runs for 0 or minus yardage than Barry.

I don't have the stats, but I think Barry Sanders has the record for most carries for a loss.

Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in negative yardage from scrimmage. Throughout his career, Sanders carried the ball 446 times for losses and total lost yardage was 1,114 yards.Link to Detroitlions.com for verification

Doesn't matter. It wasn't his fault. He played behind a line of 4 ft Pigmy's with down syndrome.

 

[Thorpe]

I'm partial to the old timers-

1. Jim Thorpe - won decathlon and pentahlon at 1912 Olympics. Led Carlyle Indian college to beat some of best college teams.

2. Red Grange - disgusting stats in college. As a barnstormer, played about 15 games in 3 weeks (with different teammates).

3. Jim Brown - never missed a game in an era when all RBs missed games

4. Hugh McElhaney - forgotten now, but was "King of Running Backs" in his day

5. Gale Sayers - incredible runner

6. Tomlinson

7. OJ

8. Walter Payton

9. Bronko Nagurski

10. Jim Taylor/Paul Hornung

 

[cobalt_27]

As for Cobalt, you don't have the balls to make your own list...

Check out post #60.

 

[Iron Mike Tomczak]

ok i retract that statement.

 

[Pat Patriot]

ok i retract that statement.

:X Nice job chief.....

 

[cobalt_27]

Comparing Bettis to Vinny Testeverde is foolish.

Hey, I'm just trying to use your criteria.Testaverde's 6th all-time in passing yards.Bettis is 5th all-time in rushing yards.According to your logic, career yardage accumulation dictated how you'd rate RBs from 1 to 10. Why is it any different with QBs? Why do you rate Bettis as one of the greatest of all-time, but think it's foolish to give Vinny similar reverence?

 

[TheGreatest]

Comparing Bettis to Vinny Testeverde is foolish.

Hey, I'm just trying to use your criteria.Testaverde's 6th all-time in passing yards.Bettis is 5th all-time in rushing yards.According to your logic, career yardage accumulation dictated how you'd rate RBs from 1 to 10. Why is it any different with QBs? Why do you rate Bettis as one of the greatest of all-time, but think it's foolish to give Vinny similar reverence?