Walter Payton (1 Viewer)

[boubucarow]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.

He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.

He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

 

[Heatman]

HUGE Viking fan here but Payton was the man. I remember watching him run and it was amazing. He would run around, over or through guys and never miss a beat. My friends give me crap because I have a bunch of Payton stuff but you can't argue with sweetness!

 

[Phlash]

He also averages 132.3 yards rushing per game that season. The next season the NFL expanded to 16 games. Had he averages that many rushing ypg over 16 games, he would have rushed for 2116 yards, which would have been the all-time single season yardage record.

 

[Football Critic]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

Payton was great, but why the thread for random stats? Is there a question here or something?

 

[SmoovySmoov]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.

He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.

He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

Payton was great, but why the thread for random stats? Is there a question here or something?

I believe it was "Who is the greatest RB of all time?"

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Lol, you forgot the part where you actually make a point when you start a new thread.

 

[Football Critic]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.

He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.

He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

Payton was great, but why the thread for random stats? Is there a question here or something?

I believe it was "Who is the greatest RB of all time?"

Ah, we are doing Jeopardy style on here!And that would be the second best, as Barry locked that top spot up once he started to walk!

 

[TitusIII]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.

He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.

He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

Payton was great, but why the thread for random stats? Is there a question here or something?

I believe it was "Who is the greatest RB of all time?"

Ah, we are doing Jeopardy style on here!And that would be the second best, as Barry locked that top spot up once he started to walk!

Never! Barry was certainly the most exciting/agile/quick/etc RB to play, but the sheer number of runs where he lost significant yardage keeps him from the top 3-5 spots, imo...he made up for most of them with his big gains, but he killed more drives than any RB should as well. Just my opinion...

 

[Football Critic]

In 1977, Walter Payton played 7 games against NFC Central Opponents in his MVP year.

He rushed for 1,163 yards or 166 yards per game in those games.

He rushed for over 100 yards in all 7 games including a 205 yard game against the Packers and the 275 yard record breaking game against the Vikings.

Payton was great, but why the thread for random stats? Is there a question here or something?

I believe it was "Who is the greatest RB of all time?"

Ah, we are doing Jeopardy style on here!And that would be the second best, as Barry locked that top spot up once he started to walk!

Never! Barry was certainly the most exciting/agile/quick/etc RB to play, but the sheer number of runs where he lost significant yardage keeps him from the top 3-5 spots, imo...he made up for most of them with his big gains, but he killed more drives than any RB should as well. Just my opinion...

Understandable!But wheres Walters 2000 yard season?

And also, Barry never ran for less then 1000 yards, Payton did it 3 times, and number of years dont matter as Walter got 679 yards in 13 games his rookie year, and 596 in his 8th year! His last year I wont count, although Barry did run for 1000 in his last year!

Oh and 1000 his rookie year.

Not to mention he had a higher average and only 1500 yards fewer on about 800 less carries!

Oh and Barry never avg less then a 4.3 ypc in a season, Payton did 6 times over 13 years!

ALL THIS WITH THE LIONS!

To be honest and I am a fan of Paytons, this is not even a discussion.

Oh and these are not opinions, these are facts, lol

 

[Michael Brown]

But wheres Walters 2000 yard season?And also, Barry never ran for less then 1000 yards, Payton did it 3 times, and number of years dont matter as Walter got 679 yards in 13 games his rookie year, and 596 in his 8th year! His last year I wont count, although Barry did run for 1000 in his last year!Oh and 1000 his rookie year.Not to mention he had a higher average and only 1500 yards fewer on about 800 less carries!Oh and Barry never avg less then a 4.3 ypc in a season, Payton did 6 times over 13 years!ALL THIS WITH THE LIONS!To be honest and I am a fan of Paytons, this is not even a discussion.Oh and these are not opinions, these are facts, lol

Yes, Payton had under 1,000 yards three times. You already threw out his last year since Barry didn't make it that far. Can you also throw out his first year, when he started only 7 of those 13 games? How about 1982 when the league was on strike and they only played 9 games?Another fact is that comparing Barry's last year and Payton's last year is flawed since Payton was so much older. We have no idea what Sanders would've done in his thirteenth season because like I mentioned, he retired before that. What we do know is that Barry's final season was his 10th year. And while he had a great year with 1,491 yards and 4.3 yards per carry (with 4 TDs), Payton had 1,684 yards at 4.4 yards per carry (with 11 TDs) in his 10th year. Maybe Barry was going to have a resurgence in his numbers, maybe he was going to fall off a cliff. But you can't compare each guy's final years and call that a fair comparison.Another fact is that you picked 4.3 YPC as your baseline because it fits your argument, but that's a pretty random number. If you drop that to 4.2, Barry obviously still never averaged under that mark once and Payton only had less than that twice (in full seasons).Another fact is that the two seasons Payton failed to crack 1,000 yards were the only two times (prior to his final season) where he didn't start every game.The fact that Barry did all this with the Lions is fairly irrelevant too, because Payton played for a number of very mediocre Bears teams before the 1985 season. That group was hardly representative of the types of teams he got to be a part of.

 

[Football Critic]

But wheres Walters 2000 yard season?

And also, Barry never ran for less then 1000 yards, Payton did it 3 times, and number of years dont matter as Walter got 679 yards in 13 games his rookie year, and 596 in his 8th year! His last year I wont count, although Barry did run for 1000 in his last year!

Oh and 1000 his rookie year.

Not to mention he had a higher average and only 1500 yards fewer on about 800 less carries!

Oh and Barry never avg less then a 4.3 ypc in a season, Payton did 6 times over 13 years!

ALL THIS WITH THE LIONS!

To be honest and I am a fan of Paytons, this is not even a discussion.

Oh and these are not opinions, these are facts, lol

Yes, Payton had under 1,000 yards three times. You already threw out his last year since Barry didn't make it that far. Can you also throw out his first year, when he started only 7 of those 13 games? How about 1982 when the league was on strike and they only played 9 games? Barry played 11 games one year and still put up 1100 yards, Payton got 596 in 9, YIKES!Another fact is that comparing Barry's last year and Payton's last year is flawed since Payton was so much older. We have no idea what Sanders would've done in his thirteenth season because like I mentioned, he retired before that. What we do know is that Barry's final season was his 10th year. And while he had a great year with 1,491 yards and 4.3 yards per carry (with 4 TDs), Payton had 1,684 yards at 4.4 yards per carry (with 11 TDs) in his 10th year. Maybe Barry was going to have a resurgence in his numbers, maybe he was going to fall off a cliff. But you can't compare each guy's final years and call that a fair comparison. Payton only played 3 years longer!

Another fact is that you picked 4.3 YPC as your baseline because it fits your argument, but that's a pretty random number. If you drop that to 4.2, Barry obviously still never averaged under that mark once and Payton only had less than that twice (in full seasons). 4.3 is not random, its a pretty average number for any assessment

Another fact is that the two seasons Payton failed to crack 1,000 yards were the only two times (prior to his final season) where he didn't start every game. Again, Barry played 11 games one year and still put up 1100 yards!

The fact that Barry did all this with the Lions is fairly irrelevant too, because Payton played for a number of very mediocre Bears teams before the 1985 season. That group was hardly representative of the types of teams he got to be a part of. The fact you dont think playing for the Lions has anything to do with it, well, I'll just say...learn the history of the Franchises!

My response in Bold!But you failed to respond to the fact of the 800 carries more then Barry, yet Barry is only a lil less then 1500 behind! Yikes again!

He also only gaind 11 more rushing TDs then Barry in 13 years (3 more then Barry), again I'm not saying the Payton was not great! Barry was better! IMO

 

[boubucarow]

Walter Payton's 21,264 yards from scrimmage for the Bears are the most by any player with any one franchise.

 

[Football Critic]

Walter Payton's 21,264 yards from scrimmage for the Bears are the most by any player with any one franchise.

and Emmitts the all-time leading rusher...your point?

 

[ADP]

Jim Brown is best all time. Don't even no why your arguing like this is a 2 horse race. Maybe for second it is. But #1 belongs to J. Brown.

Oh and personally, I would take W. Payton over B. Sanders. He was a better "football" player.

 

[boubucarow]

Walter Payton's four seasons of greater than 2,000 yards from scrimmage was matched only by Marshall Faulk. The first season he did so was during a 14 game season.

 

[dgreen]

Walter Payton's four seasons of greater than 2,000 yards from scrimmage was matched only by Marshall Faulk. The first season he did so was during a 14 game season.

It was more than just matched by Faulk. Faulk's worst season (2147) of those four was slightly better than Payton's best season (2121) of his four. And Faulk only played 14 games in two of his 2000 yard seasons.

 

[Tau837]

Walter Payton's four seasons of greater than 2,000 yards from scrimmage was matched only by Marshall Faulk. The first season he did so was during a 14 game season.

It was more than just matched by Faulk. Faulk's worst season (2147) of those four was slightly better than Payton's best season (2121) of his four. And Faulk only played 14 games in two of his 2000 yard seasons.

This is true, but Payton's yardage was more impressive. The supporting casts aren't remotely close to comparable.

 

[boubucarow]

Only two players have totaled 2,000+ yards from scrimmage during the season they were 29, 30, and 31 years of age. Walter Payton and Tiki Barber. No other 31 year old players gained 2,000 yards from scrimmage. Priest Holmes is the only other 30 year old to do so.

 

[Polar Dude]

If we are comparing Barry Sanders to Walter Payton....

Sanders was more elusive and more likely to change the game with a single play.

However, Payton was a much better blocker, a much better receiver, a much better short yardage runner, a more versatile runner, and could even be counted on as a reliable passer.

I think we have to give this decision to Payton. Now let's talk about Jim Brown.

 

[Tau837]

I definitely think as time passes, people forget just how great Payton was. He is my favorite player of all time.

He WAS the offense.

QBs he played with: Bob Avellini, Bobby Douglass, Gary Huff, Virgil Carter, Vince Evans, Mike Phipps, Jim McMahon, Steve Fuller, Greg Landry, Rusty Lisch, Mike Tomczak, Doug Flutie, Jim Harbaugh. Heck, Payton himself lined up at QB a few times. Basically, Jim McMahon was the best he played with. That's not saying much.

Payton played with 1 Pro Bowl QB in 13 seasons: McMahon in 1985. (And why exactly did McMahon make the Pro Bowl? The Bears passing offense was 22nd in yards and 23rd in TDs... McMahon threw for 2392 yards and 15 TDs.)

Not only did he never play with a 1000 yard receiver, he never even played with a 900 yard receiver. In fact, only 3 times in his 13 year career did any Bears receiver top 800 yards, and only 3 other times did any Bears receiver top 700 yards. And there were no good receiving TEs, either. It should come as no surprise that no Bears WR (or TE) made the Pro Bowl during Payton's career.

To reinforce this, consider Chicago's pass yardage ranks during Payton's career: 23 (of 26), 28 (of 28), 21, 26, 26, 28, 28, 22, 17, 26, 22, 24, 14. They finished in the bottom quarter of the league 10 times in Payton's career.

Payton himself led the Bears in receptions 6 times, and had the second highest total 5 other times.

In his last few years, his offensive lines were pretty good, but for most of his career it wasn't. Two of Payton's linemen made the Pro Bowl a total of 5 times in his 13 seasons, all in his final 3 seasons: Jim Covert (1985, 1986), and Jay Hilgenberg (1985, 1986, 1987).

Despite the lack of support, he retired as the all time NFL leader in rushing yards, yards from scrimmage, all purpose yards, and rushing TDs. He retired #1 in receptions and #2 in receiving yards for a RB in NFL history. He retired with the most 100+ yard rushing games and 1000+ yard rushing seasons in NFL history. And after missing a game in his rookie season, he didn't miss another game in the rest of his career, playing 186 straight games.

Aside from all that, Payton was arguably the most well rounded RB in history. He was a great runner, receiver, and blocker. He ran equally well to the outside and up the middle (or over the middle). He was great in short yardage and goalline situations as well as other running situations. He was the Bears' emergency QB, and he passed for 8 TDs in his career. He was the Bears' emergency kicker and punter for part of his career. He didn't return many kickoffs (17), but he averaged 31.7 yards per return, and led the NFL in kickoff return average the one season that he returned more than 2 kickoffs (1975). He was also known as a great leader, and he was such a great person and class act off the field, the NFL's man of the year award is named after him.

I think for all these reasons, he is the best RB, and possibly the best football player, in NFL history.

 

[Tau837]

I think we have to give this decision to Payton. Now let's talk about Jim Brown.

Brown is the only back I would consider comparing to Payton, and I admit I didn't see him play, so that may bias my opinion. That said, consider that Brown joined a dynasty.1950-56 (pre-Brown): 63-20-1 (.759), 6 postseason appearances in 7 years, 6 championship games, 3 championships1957-1965 (with Brown): 79-34-5 (.699), 5 postseason appearances in 9 years, 3 championship games, 1 championshipNow compare that to Payton and the Bears:1968-1974 (pre-Payton): 31-66-1 (.320), no postseason appearances1975-1987 (with Payton): 111-83 (.572), 6 postseason appearances, 1 championshipHow about a supporting cast comparison? Payton's is addressed above. It seems very hard to support the notion that the Browns were not already a very, very good team when Brown joined them, which naturally implies that he was surrounded by a talented group of teammates. Remember, there was no free agency (or draft?) at that time, so it would be very hard for me to see how the talent level of a team that appeared in 6 championship games in the 7 years prior to Brown's rookie season had suddenly dropped to average or worse. This is supported by the number of Pro Bowlers Brown played with:- Browns QBs made the Pro Bowl 4 times in Brown's 9 seasons: Milt Plum (1960, 1961), Frank Ryan (1964, 1965).- Browns WRs made the Pro Bowl 5 times in Brown's 9 seasons: Ray Renfro (1957, 1960), Bobby Mitchell (1960), Paul Warfield (1964), and Gary Collins (1965).- Brown played with the following Pro Bowl offensive linemen: Art Hunter (1959), Mike McCormack (1957, 1960, 1961, 1962), Jim Smith (1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962), John Morrow (1961, 1963), #### Schafrath (1963), Gene Hickerson (1965), John Wooten (1965). That's 7 different linemen for a total of 15 times in 9 seasons, and only one season without a Pro Bowler--1964. In 6 of his seasons, Brown had 2 or more Pro Bowlers on the line.To be fair, there were fewer teams when Brown played, so it stands to reason he would have played with more Pro Bowlers. Still, the difference is too big to be accounted for simply by that IMO. Not to mention that he played most of his career for Paul Brown, one of the greatest coaches of all time.The fewer teams also made it easier for Brown to lead the NFL in rushing, to win awards, etc. -- less competition. Brown played when there were only 12-14 teams. In Payton's first season, there were 26 teams; for the rest of his career there were 28. So Payton's 5 1st team and 3 2nd team All Pro selections are arguably as impressive as Brown's 8 1st team selections.Also, BlueOnion posted this in an older thread:

I actually like Jim Brown quite a bit, probably more so now as a person. But Jim Brown had it easy.Not that I am saying he is not the best running back of all-time, but if I was to make an argument he was not, here is what I would start with.1) He played in an era where all the great 'athletes' played on offense. The football players that were not athletic enough to make the offensive team but still showed a lot of heart or toughness were put on the defensive side of the ball. The thought that a defensive line could potentially have better athletes than the offensive line (in any given game) would be very, very unlikely.2) Pursuit angles. Back in Jim Brown's era, coaches did not understand the importance of pursuit angles or containment and did not teach it to the same magnitude of today's game. Defenses were basically, "just go get the ball carrier".

I certainly can't verify whether these are valid points, but I found them interesting.Brown was obviously an all time great player. I just don't see evidence that Brown was better than Payton. Again, I admit that could be because I never saw him play with my own eyes, while I did see Payton play often.

 

[rzrback77]

Walter Payton is #1 for me as well. Still upsets me when I recall the Super Bowl when da Bears called goal line carries for the Fridge instead of going with Walter Payton for the score.

 

[Sweetness_34]

HUGE Viking fan here but Payton was the man. I remember watching him run and it was amazing. He would run around, over or through guys and never miss a beat. My friends give me crap because I have a bunch of Payton stuff but you can't argue with sweetness!

 

[netnalp]

While we may not agree if he was the best RB or not, I think we can all agree he deserves a better display than what he has at the Hall of Fame. Looks like crap! If I could sculpt, I'd carve a better likeness and donate it to the hall. Just having the helm an uniform displayed would be better, take away the awful mannequin. It does remind me of the 1986 C. Thomas Howell flick, Soul Man.

http://img3.imageshack.us/g/wpayton2.jpg/

I have commented how awful the display is on the HoF website at:

http://www.profootballhof.com/service/contact.aspx

 

[boubucarow]

There is only one running back in NFL history that as carried the ball at least 300 times in 9 different season. Walter Payton did it 10 times.

 

[ALF!]

mini ditka is the man

 

[Football Critic]

He also averages 132.3 yards rushing per game that season. The next season the NFL expanded to 16 games. Had he averages that many rushing ypg over 16 games, he would have rushed for 2116 yards, which would have been the all-time single season yardage record.

Nice. Jim Brown would have pro rated his 14 games out to 16 and... 2129.

While these ar both great what if posts, Barry Sanders didnt need a what if to get his 2000 yards.My top 5 all time...B. SandersJ. BrownW. PaytonE. SmithM. FaulkI understand this is and will always be up for debate and Jim and Walter were both once in a lifetime type backs, I just made my case for Barry, while cases can be made for both JB and WP, and even ES!

 

[3nOut]

He also averages 132.3 yards rushing per game that season. The next season the NFL expanded to 16 games. Had he averages that many rushing ypg over 16 games, he would have rushed for 2116 yards, which would have been the all-time single season yardage record.

Nice. Jim Brown would have pro rated his 14 games out to 16 and... 2129.

Just about to leave for work. Can someone crunch Gale Sayers' numbers?

 

[dgreen]

Walter Payton's four seasons of greater than 2,000 yards from scrimmage was matched only by Marshall Faulk. The first season he did so was during a 14 game season.

It was more than just matched by Faulk. Faulk's worst season (2147) of those four was slightly better than Payton's best season (2121) of his four. And Faulk only played 14 games in two of his 2000 yard seasons.

This is true, but Payton's yardage was more impressive. The supporting casts aren't remotely close to comparable.

True.

 

[Chreesto]

I definitely think as time passes, people forget just how great Payton was. He is my favorite player of all time.He WAS the offense.QBs he played with: Bob Avellini, Bobby Douglass, Gary Huff, Virgil Carter, Vince Evans, Mike Phipps, Jim McMahon, Steve Fuller, Greg Landry, Rusty Lisch, Mike Tomczak, Doug Flutie, Jim Harbaugh. Heck, Payton himself lined up at QB a few times. Basically, Jim McMahon was the best he played with. That's not saying much.Payton played with 1 Pro Bowl QB in 13 seasons: McMahon in 1985. (And why exactly did McMahon make the Pro Bowl? The Bears passing offense was 22nd in yards and 23rd in TDs... McMahon threw for 2392 yards and 15 TDs.)Not only did he never play with a 1000 yard receiver, he never even played with a 900 yard receiver. In fact, only 3 times in his 13 year career did any Bears receiver top 800 yards, and only 3 other times did any Bears receiver top 700 yards. And there were no good receiving TEs, either. It should come as no surprise that no Bears WR (or TE) made the Pro Bowl during Payton's career.To reinforce this, consider Chicago's pass yardage ranks during Payton's career: 23 (of 26), 28 (of 28), 21, 26, 26, 28, 28, 22, 17, 26, 22, 24, 14. They finished in the bottom quarter of the league 10 times in Payton's career.Payton himself led the Bears in receptions 6 times, and had the second highest total 5 other times.In his last few years, his offensive lines were pretty good, but for most of his career it wasn't. Two of Payton's linemen made the Pro Bowl a total of 5 times in his 13 seasons, all in his final 3 seasons: Jim Covert (1985, 1986), and Jay Hilgenberg (1985, 1986, 1987).Despite the lack of support, he retired as the all time NFL leader in rushing yards, yards from scrimmage, all purpose yards, and rushing TDs. He retired #1 in receptions and #2 in receiving yards for a RB in NFL history. He retired with the most 100+ yard rushing games and 1000+ yard rushing seasons in NFL history. And after missing a game in his rookie season, he didn't miss another game in the rest of his career, playing 186 straight games.Aside from all that, Payton was arguably the most well rounded RB in history. He was a great runner, receiver, and blocker. He ran equally well to the outside and up the middle (or over the middle). He was great in short yardage and goalline situations as well as other running situations. He was the Bears' emergency QB, and he passed for 8 TDs in his career. He was the Bears' emergency kicker and punter for part of his career. He didn't return many kickoffs (17), but he averaged 31.7 yards per return, and led the NFL in kickoff return average the one season that he returned more than 2 kickoffs (1975). He was also known as a great leader, and he was such a great person and class act off the field, the NFL's man of the year award is named after him.I think for all these reasons, he is the best RB, and possibly the best football player, in NFL history.

This really sums it up. I've oohed and aahed about Barry's amazing runs and shiftiness but I've never admired how he threw a pass or, even more impressive, a block. In my mind Payton is the greatest football player ever. I named my son after him not just for his sexy highlights, of which there are many, but for his grit, determination, humility and passion for the game. I was genuinely moved when reading "Never Die Easy" , the book he wrote as he was dying, when I read that at his retirement ceremony, at age 33, he didn't really want to retire. He felt he had more left. He left the game before he wanted to and regretted it enough to write about it while he was dying. That's why I am glad to see Brett Favre come back every year. If you still love playing football you should do it. Payton loved football and played it as well or better than anyone in history, he also managed to do it while being a generally great human being.

 

[MarshallRob]

I think we have to give this decision to Payton. Now let's talk about Jim Brown.

- Brown played with the following Pro Bowl offensive linemen: Art Hunter (1959), Mike McCormack (1957, 1960, 1961, 1962), Jim Smith (1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962), John Morrow (1961, 1963), #### Schafrath (1963), Gene Hickerson (1965), John Wooten (1965). That's 7 different linemen for a total of 15 times in 9 seasons, and only one season without a Pro Bowler--1964. In 6 of his seasons, Brown had 2 or more Pro Bowlers on the line.

Also Lou Groza. The Toe was an All-Pro offensive lineman through 1959 before he becoming a kicking specialist only. I think you're actually understating how great Jim Brown's teammates were. He played with three different Hall of Fame linemen: Groza, McCormack and Hickerson.

 

[The Kansas Comet]

He also averages 132.3 yards rushing per game that season. The next season the NFL expanded to 16 games. Had he averages that many rushing ypg over 16 games, he would have rushed for 2116 yards, which would have been the all-time single season yardage record.

Nice. Jim Brown would have pro rated his 14 games out to 16 and... 2129.

Just about to leave for work. Can someone crunch Gale Sayers' numbers?

Sayers never had a season where he averaged 100+ rushing yards per game. His best average in a season where he played the full year was 87.9 (1966). In 1968, he averaged 95.1 but only played in 9 games. Three times he led the NFL in rushing yards per game. He never averaged 17 carries per game in any season, hitting 16.9 once in his career. Payton and Brown each averaged around 20 carries per game for their career.

 

[Tau837]

Chase Stuart's Player Points article on Tomlinson shows an interesting table of VBD and fantasy ranks of RBs that played since the 1970 merger. Payton ranked third in terms of VBD, behind Tomlinson and Smith. However, I noticed that Payton had more top 5 fantasy finishes than any other RB listed, with 8... Tomlinson, Smith, and Sanders each had "just" 6 top 5 finishes, and everyone else had 5 or fewer. I assume Brown might have had as many as Payton, but he played in a much smaller league and with all of the advantages already mentioned in the thread.

So, unsurprisingly, Payton is one of the few best fantasy RBs of all time as well as one of the few best (THE best IMO) NFL RBs of all time.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Oh and personally, I would take W. Payton over B. Sanders. He was a better "football" player.

I would take the better football player over the better "football" player, if there's a difference. Walter and Barry were both awesome. They were both supremely productive on bad teams. Payton was the more complete back -- excellent as a runner, blocker, receiver, and even passer. As a pure runner, I think Sanders had the edge. Ask me to pick between them to start my franchise, and I'd take Payton -- but I don't know how anybody can say it's not close. Passing on either one of those guys, even if it's to select the other, would be extremely difficult.

 

[Chase Stuart]

He also averages 132.3 yards rushing per game that season. The next season the NFL expanded to 16 games. Had he averages that many rushing ypg over 16 games, he would have rushed for 2116 yards, which would have been the all-time single season yardage record.

Payton's 1977 season ranks third all-time in rushing yards per game: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/tiny/TPX7K

Game  Game	Rush	Rush	Rush	Rush	RushRk				 Player Year Age  Tm   Lg	 G	GS	 Att	 Yds	 Y/A	  TD	 Y/G1		   O.J. Simpson* 1973  26 BUF  NFL	14	 0	 332	2003	6.03	  12   143.12			  Jim Brown* 1963  27 CLE  NFL	14	14	 291	1863	6.40	  12   133.13		  Walter Payton* 1977  23 CHI  NFL	14	14	 339	1852	5.46	  14   132.34		 Eric Dickerson* 1984  24 RAM  NFL	16	16	 379	2105	5.55	  14   131.65		   O.J. Simpson* 1975  28 BUF  NFL	14	 0	 329	1817	5.52	  16   129.86			 Jamal Lewis 2003  24 BAL  NFL	16	16	 387	2066	5.34	  14   129.17		  Earl Campbell* 1980  25 HOU  NFL	15	15	 373	1934	5.18	  13   128.98		  Barry Sanders* 1997  29 DET  NFL	16	16	 335	2053	6.13	  11   128.39			  Jim Brown* 1958  22 CLE  NFL	12	12	 257	1527	5.94	  17   127.310		  Terrell Davis 1998  26 DEN  NFL	16	16	 392	2008	5.12	  21   125.511		  Chris Johnson 2009  24 TEN  NFL	16	16	 358	2006	5.60	  14   125.412		 Clinton Portis 2003  22 DEN  NFL	13	13	 290	1591	5.49	  14   122.413			Ahman Green 2003  26 GNB  NFL	16	16	 355	1883	5.30	  15   117.714		 Barry Sanders* 1994  26 DET  NFL	16	16	 331	1883	5.69	   7   117.715		Shaun Alexander 2005  28 SEA  NFL	16	16	 370	1880	5.08	  27   117.516		  Terrell Davis 1997  25 DEN  NFL	15	15	 369	1750	4.74	  15   116.717			Tiki Barber 2005  30 NYG  NFL	16	16	 357	1860	5.21	   9   116.318		 Ricky Williams 2002  25 MIA  NFL	16	16	 383	1853	4.84	  16   115.819		 Jamal Anderson 1998  26 ATL  NFL	16	16	 410	1846	4.50	  14   115.420		  Priest Holmes 2002  29 KAN  NFL	14	14	 313	1615	5.16	  21   115.4