The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 5

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 5


In Part 5 of this series, I'll be covering 2002, the year Emmitt broke the NFL all-time rushing record, and in my opinion his toughest year as a Cowboy - for many reasons that have nothing to do with production. I'll also even talk a little bit about his 2 years with the Cardinals.


Before the season even started, Emmitt had to deal with the stories hanging over his head about being his last year as a Cowboy, no matter how many yards he got, that he was too old and expensive to keep in 2003. There was also the story of Emmitt's playing time decreasing after he broke the NFL all-time rushing record. With him being so close to an unparalleled achievement, having yet to gain a single yard, the timing of these stories couldn't have been worse. The worst part about it was that those stories picked up momentum after nobody from the front office came out and denied them, which left a dark cloud over the pursuit of the record. Cowboys fans everywhere, especially people in Dallas, should not only have been proud of Emmitt, but also supportive without hesitation, because he was the only real thing the Cowboys and their fans had to cheer for that year. That wasn't the case because people were too busy trying to put Emmitt out to pasture to treasure what they witnessed. Him still being a Cowboy after all those years had to count for something. That was the thanks Emmitt got after after all he did for the Cowboys. 

Emmitt carried much more than the football in 2002. He was still carrying the team on his back, but now he was also carrying the team's marketing campaign, which was built around him breaking the record. The record chase came at a good time for the Cowboys because it was tough to sell tickets for any kind of entertainment, let alone a football game, in a bad economy. It also didn't help that the Cowboys hadn't been a playoff team for a few years. The season ticket campaign focused on Emmitt. Letters and brochures emphasized the "once in a lifetime opportunity to witness NFL history", and the season tickets had a different picture of Emmitt every week.

The media relations department's thinking was that they wanted to remind people that they had a chance to witness a significant piece of history. The NFL all-time rushing record was/is a milestone worthy of a season-long celebration, a celebration of Emmitt's career up to that point. It wasn't about when he broke the record, the team he broke it against, or if he broke it at all. It's dangerous to build your whole marketing campaign around one player, but at the same time, the pursuit of the rushing record was too big to ignore. That's a big part of why the team was encouraging fans to be at the games that season, even if they didn't go to the game when Emmitt broke the record. The St. Louis Cardinals did the same thing in 1998 when Mark McGwire broke the single season home run record. The Cardinals set attendance records that season, a year they didn't make the playoffs. The team wasn't good, but the fans still wanted to be there. They knew it was a good chance that they wouldn't be there for the record-breaking home run, but they could still say, "I was there for #23." or "I saw his first home run of the season." People like to keep track of things like that.



2002 - Emmitt's Toughest Season As A Cowboy

Carrying a team and its whole marketing campaign on your back is plenty hard enough, but when the team is as bad as the 2002 Cowboys were, it's even more of an uphill battle if you are the team's most dependable weapon. Just to put this in perspective, let me paint a picture for you.

Here is a defensive coordinator's mindset going against the Cowboys in 2002:

Neither of their quarterbacks worry me. Quincy Carter is erratic. Chad Hutchinson is greener than a cucumber. There is no hint whatsoever of a receiving threat at tight end.

The receivers are not much better. They have a rookie (Antonio Bryant) that's talented, but undisciplined with a selfish streak. Joey Galloway has no stomach for routes over the middle, and the rest of them are forgettable. They all run undependable pass routes.

The offensive line is pitiful, the fullback is horrible, and the kicking game is a disaster. What's left? Their only proven source of ball movement and most dependable weapon is Emmitt Smith. I'll design my defense to stop him. At the first sign of trouble, their play caller gives up on Emmitt. That plays right into my strategy since the Cowboys can't beat me passing. Stop Emmitt, and the game is ours.


That same strategy could have also been used in 2000 and 2001 to beat the Cowboys. The biggest difference in 2002 from the 2 previous seasons, is that the Cowboys replaced Jack Reilly with Bruce Coslet at offensive coordinator. Even with that change, a lot of the reasons I listed in Part 4 for the running game struggles were the same.

Here are the reasons the Cowboys' running game struggled in 2002:

1.) New Offense
2.) New Blocking Scheme
3.) No Respect For The Passing Game
4.) Too Many 8-Man Fronts
5.) Too Many Mental Mistakes
6.) Terrible Blocking
7.) Injuries
8.) Constant Shuffling Of The Offensive Line (a result of injuries)
9.) Defenses used run blitzes and stunts to plug up the middle and force Emmitt to the outside.
10.) There seemed to be more emphasis on evaluating players than winning games.
11.) Reluctance At Times To Use The Running Game

Once again, Emmitt had nowhere to run in 2002. Physically, I thought he looked as good as he did 10 years earlier, it was the offensive line that wasn't getting it done, which was the biggest reason for Emmitt's struggles. The line didn't play well as a unit, even when it was healthy, and there were some noticeable individual flaws with them: Flozell Adams (LT) was playing too high, Larry Allen (LG) wasn't finishing people off the way he used to, rookie center Andre Gurode looked lost in the middle, and Kelvin Garmon (RG) and Solomon Page (RT) were repeatedly getting beat on stunts that they should have been able to handle with no problem. By the 3rd game of the season, which was a loss in Philadelphia, things went from bad to worse. Larry Allen missed the game with a bad ankle, Kelvin Garmon left the game with a leg injury, Solomon Page moved over to RG, and Javiar Collins, who was a converted defensive lineman, moved to RT, giving the Cowboys a patchwork offensive line. Emmitt still managed to get 4.7 yards on 11 carries. The Cowboys went through one 4-game stretch where they didn't use the same 5 starters at the same position on the offensive line. At that time, Flozell Adams was the only lineman on the field who went into training camp as a starter. They used a total of 9 different starting combinations in 11 games. Emmitt had to get a lot of his yards on his own, making it that much more impressive that he averaged 3.8 yards per carry in 2002.

Even in his 13th season, Emmitt still had that burst that allowed him to glide through the hole and make defenders miss. If it was nothing there, he stuck his head into the line and carried people, it still took more than one man to bring him down, and he was still a strong pass protector. Even at 33, Emmitt should have still been dominating and routinely putting up 100-yard games, but there was a breakdown that kept him from breaking loose on almost every play. A big part of that was the offensive line (when it was healthy) underachieving. Emmitt also had to change his running style the last couple of years he was a Cowboy. His strength was running between the tackles, but because of the struggles in the middle of the offensive line, he had to change his style and develop himself as an outside runner......not a burner, but being more patient and waiting for the line to establish their blocks.

As far back as 2000, defenses were stacking the line against Emmitt because the receivers were hopeless, and he still got 1,203 yards. In 2001, there was still only Emmitt, because the quarterbacks were a mess and the passing game was a disaster. He still got 1,021 yards, even though he missed 2 games, against a stacked deck for the season. Even in 2002, Emmitt wasn't exactly running on fumes. He was much better than he was able to show, but the lack of a passing game made it hard to get a credible evaluation of how much he had left in the tank. His numbers were down, and he didn't get 1,000 yards, but look at the team around him. Like I said earlier, he played with 2 inexperienced quarterbacks, a bad offensive line, and another new offense. He never complained or pointed fingers at anybody. Emmitt was still an All-Pro running back capable of carrying a team to the playoffs with all the elements around him. He would have been a clear upgrade over the starting running back for at least 11 teams that year. The problem was that the salary cap kept most teams from surrounding their running backs with Pro Bowl-caliber linemen, quarterbacks, and receivers. Teams needed a running back who could create big plays without great blocking.

Emmitt was an exceptional talent on an ordinary team, which is the biggest reason those last few hundred yards to break the rushing record were so hard to come by. Running backs don't break records like that on their own. They need an effective offensive line to open holes for them and an effective quarterback to keep the defense from keying on them. Emmitt had neither of those, and that's why it took so long for him to break the record. At 33 years old and after everything he had accomplished, there had to be a willingness other than records to keep Emmitt going. The first thing to go because of age is not your legs or physical agility, it's your willingness to take the hit to gain yards, hit the hole hard, knowing you might only get 3 yards, but have to pay a price to get those yards. Of course, Emmitt still had that willingness. And let's not forget that running back is the hardest position in football to stay healthy, especially in the NFL.

Emmitt would have been better off playing for a team that was built to get the most from his talent. He deserved to build on his record with a team that could give him a chance to play for another Super Bowl ring. He was still a long way from being washed up. It was the lack of talent around Emmitt that put too much of a strain on him at that point in his career. The fact that he had gotten older and had played a significant amount of football emphasized the fact that he needed more help around him than before. He might not have been putting up MVP numbers, but he was still more than productive enough to prove that he wasn't just holding on for the rushing record. A lot of people have claimed to have evidence of Emmitt's decline with his yards totals going down, but his carries and touchdowns also went down. You can't use his individual numbers to try to gauge his impact. You have to look at all the elements of the situation.

In Emmitt's 13 years with the Cowboys, he played for 4 head coaches, 6 offensive coordinators, and played in 5 different offensive schemes (3 after Norv Turner left). He was the only constant. In his last year as a Cowboy, the team made the switch to Bruce Coslet, whose offense was a West Coast-style offense that had a running game built on off-tackle plays that establish the outside running game. Bruce Coslet should have lasted nowhere near as long as he did, and the 2002 season alone proved that he wasn't capable of putting together a game plan to highlight the running game. He only used it reluctantly. Here is an example: In the game against the Colts, who were ranked 31st in the NFL against the run, the running backs only had 15 carries for 64 yards (Emmitt 8-22, T-Ham 7-42). The Cowboys had a capable running game and an inexperienced quarterback. Coslet didn't stick with either running back once they got going. The game was still 6-3 early in the 4th quarter, and they ended up losing 20-3. Instead of questioning the play calling, Dave Campo just took the easy way out by saying they couldn't get the running game going.

Not only was Bruce Coslet hesitant with the running game, his system operated by rotating running backs. He believed that running backs didn't need to get into the rhythm of the game to be effective, which was his reason for rotating his backs. He would use one running back for 1st and 2nd downs, another one for 3rd down, another one for short yardage, and another one for goal line situations. I believe running backs do need touches to get into a rhythm and get stronger as the game goes on, which is hard for them to do with going in and out of the game and with limited carries. This is why I believe that Blair Thomas, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1990 draft, might not have been as big of a bust with the Jets as he appeared to be. It was more like his potential was drained by the Jets' offensive system. He was one of those backs that liked to get into the rhythm of the game. He said one year that he would need 250 carries to get 1,000 yards, but in the Jets' system under Bruce Coslet, there was no way a single running back would ever get 250 carries. 

If you want to make a case for Blair Thomas's struggles being a systematic problem, consider that 4 of the running backs picked in the 1990 draft after him (Emmitt Smith, Barry Foster, Rodney Hampton, Harold Green) had 1,000-yard or better seasons, and they all made the Pro Bowl in 1992. It's fair to say that those backs wouldn't have had the same success playing in Bruce Coslet's system. I think Blair Thomas was victimized most by untimely and nagging injuries, along with low confidence by constantly seeing himself referred to as a bust. The exception to the rule in Coslet's system was Corey Dillion, who emerged as the Bengals' best player when he took over for Ki-Jana Carter. Here's another damning fact about Bruce Coslet's track record: In 2002, the Cowboys failed to score more than 21 points in their first 10 games, and they were the NFL's lowest scoring offense.

Having to overcome all those elements and never complain or quit on the team says a lot about Emmitt's character. He had the burden of carrying a mediocre team for a city and franchise that are only happy with supremacy, carrying the team's marketing campaign, and people trying to run him out of town. Emmitt was in that paradox that so many great athletes have to deal with toward the end of their careers: Even as he was being celebrated for his run into history, he had teammates and coaches saying he wasn't the force he used to be, commentators wondered out loud if he was hurting the team, and fans thought his backup was better. As I pointed out in Part 4, even Emmitt's backup thought he was better than Emmitt. In other words, Troy Hambrick wanted Emmitt's job and said so out loud by saying that Emmitt should step aside. There have been feuds between teammates for as long as sports have been around, and there is added drama and hostility when you have 2 players competing for the same position. But when you have a 26-year old journeyman disrespecting a Hall Of Famer with 3 Super Bowl rings........that broke new ground. Emmitt's role changed after he broke the rushing record because the Cowboys wanted to evaluate Troy Hambrick. 

In Emmitt's last home game as a Cowboy, a late December game against the Eagles, he only had 8 carries for 30 yards. The team only finished with 146 total yards on offense that night. The real head-scratcher was when the Cowboys squandered their best chance to get in the end zone. They had a 1st and goal from the 9 - Emmitt got 6 yards on a carry, only for them to call 3 straight passing plays call after that, leading to a turnover on downs. The Cowboys made a HUGE mistake in not getting Emmitt his 1,000 yards in that game. Andy Reid didn't care about stopping Emmitt from getting his milestone, but Cowboys decided to keep throwing the ball against a team they knew they couldn't beat, for reasons nobody will ever know. In the season finale, the Redskins KNEW that the Cowboys would try to get Emmitt his 1,000 yards, and they were waiting for it. The coaches cost Emmitt his milestone and streak in another testament to stupidity. It was all VERY predictible. The coaching staff shot itself in the foot again, in a sorry end to a sorry season.

The Cowboys made a mistake by not bringing Emmitt back for the 2003 season. He was valuable to the chemistry and attitude of the team, and because of the leadership role that he played. Troy Hambrick was just a player that fit in, and that's about it. The Cowboys didn't have anybody on the team that could take Emmitt's place. The money could have been worked out, and he could still contribute. Emmitt could still hit the holes, and if they didn't feel like he was the breakaway threat he used to be, they should have found somebody to compliment him. It would be different if Emmitt couldn't play. He took care of himself, was in good shape, and he was better than what the Cowboys already had. It's not like Emmitt was getting shut down, he was limited by the Cowboys' play calling. 

I honestly thought Emmitt would be brought back at a reduced salary, allowing him to be the bridge to the future, but all of that changed the day Bill Parcells was hired. Emmtt was a big part of the shine returning to the Cowboys star, and he was cut to make way for a younger, cheaper running back. He had said since the 2001 season ended that he wanted to finish his career as a Cowboy and that he was willing to take a paycut to stay. Besides a paycut, Emmitt was told that he would have to come back as a backup. You can take money away from a great athlete and he might be cool with it, but not allowing him the chance to compete for his starting job is not acceptable. With all of Emmitt's credentials, there was no way his pride would allow him to accept sitting behind a player of inferior talent. I believe Jerry Jones was completely wrong with the way he treated Emmitt. Leaving Dallas was the last thing Emmitt wanted to do. Yes, he was 34 years old and his production wasn't what it was when he was the workhorse on the Super Bowl teams, but what about loyalty? What about the Cowboys pride and tradition that Jerry liked to brag about? Emmitt Smith practically gave his life to help the Cowboys win games for 13 years.

I felt like the Chiefs would have been a good fit for Emmitt since he wouldn't be back with the Cowboys. He would have been an insurance policy for them with Priest Holmes still recovering from his hip surgery, and he was threatening to hold out for a new contract. It would have been an easy transition for Emmitt since the Chiefs offense came from the old Don Coryell system, using a lot of the same language, terminology, and philosophy of Norv Turner's offense for the Cowboys. The Chiefs also had the best offensive line in the NFL at that time, and they played on grass.

The Cardinals were the best fit for what Emmitt wanted: "feature back" status, a healthy dose of carries, a chance to reach 20,000 yards. For what the Cardinals wanted, Emmitt was perfect. They signed him for more than what he could do on the field. Emmitt was signed by the Cardinals to be a mentor to the younger players, to help teach them how to win and help change the organization's losing culture, and to help sell tickets. Like I mentioned earlier, Emmitt's decline had more to do with the team's incompetence than his declining skills. Despite not having a passing attack to open up some running room for him, playing with the 3rd worst pass offense in 2002, Emmitt still managed to average 4.2 yards per carry. Apparently Dave McGinnis and running backs coach Johnny Roland felt the same way I did when they studied film of Emmitt from 2002 before the Cardinals signed him. They both saw the same thing I saw, a running back that was repeatedly stuck in traffic.

Here is a quote from Johnny Roland:

"When Dave asked me if we should sign Emmitt, I told him 'He gained 975 yards behind a terrible line, with no quarterback, and with defenses playing eight-man fronts all the time. Of course we should.'"

In all honesty, I don't think Emmitt did too bad of a job playing for the Cardinals either, especially given that situation and what he had to work with. Out of the top 15 all-time rushers at that time, 5 of them ended up with new teams, and every ending was ugly. O.J. Simpson spent 2 injury-riddled seasons with the 49ers in 1978 and 1979. Franco Harris had 68 forgettable carries for the Seahawks in 1984. Tony Dorsett, who like Emmitt was 34 when he left the Cowboys, had the best season out of the 5 running backs when he went to the Broncos in 1988 and had a 703-yard season. Eric Dickerson, playing for the Raiders in 1992 and the Falcons in 1993, rushed for only 820 yards over those 2 years. Thurman Thomas had 28 carries for the Dolphins in 2000 before blowing out his knee and retiring. In 2003 it looked like Emmitt was headed down that same path. He was having a so-so year until he got injured against the Cowboys and had to miss 6 games before coming back as a backup. In 2004, Emmitt's last season in the NFL, Dennis Green took over as head coach and put Emmitt back in the starting lineup. He responded with 937 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns, easily the most successful out of those star running backs who switched teams at the end of their career. Not bad for a 35-year old running back, and being part of an offense that was ranked 26th in the NFL.



I'll pick up Part 6 with the impact that Emmitt had with his teams on every level he played at.

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 4

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 4


In Part 4 of this series I'll be covering 2001, the year when things really started turning bad for Emmitt, and what I believe to be the beginning of the end for him as a Cowboy. The biggest issue for the Cowboys that year was the continued decline of the team, which lead to them being more interested in evaluating players than winning games. As a result of that approach, a running back controversy was started.


Emmitt Smith/Troy Hambrick Controversy

Troy Hambrick was a practice squad player, and was discovered when the Cowboys were in the middle of consecutive 5-11 seasons. He got a lot of attention very quickly, as well as a lot of praise and a lot of people telling him he was ready. You can't fault him for wanting to play, but he was immature and classless in the way he handled it. 

Here are some quotes from Troy Hambrick as evidence:

"If I've accomplished the things Emmitt has accomplished, I would have retired. What else are you playing for? I understand he wanted the record and he didn't feel like his career was over, but 3 Super Bowl rings and all of the things he's done. You know, this is like Michael Jordan still in the league tarnishing his name and he can't make an easy dunk."

"Emmitt doesn't have to prove anything anymore. I just think it's time to let a new generation come along. Everything ends at some point. I'm not trying to be disrespectful towards anyone. But I just feel it's my time to come in and show what I can do." (after he was called on the previous quote)

"This is my time. We've been waiting on Emmitt to retire or make his move. Of course, I see it as a breakout year. Every time I touch the ball, it's a breakout carry." (after he was promoted to starter)


This controversy seemed like Tony Dorsett/Herschel Walker in 1986 all over again. It looked to me liked everybody was trying to run Emmitt Smith out of Dallas the same way they did Tony Dorsett. That whole situation with Emmitt reminded me of when the Cowboys signed Herschel Walker from the USFL and eventually put him in the starting lineup ahead of Tony Dorsett. TD was highly upset about it, and eventually came to resent Herschel. Tom Landry's initial plan was to have a "Heisman Backfield" with TD and Herschel in the same backfield. After that backfired, they moved towards having Herschel start full time. TD was upset because he felt like he was being slighted and he didn't want to be a backup running back. He felt like he hadn't lost a step, or at least lost enough to be demoted to 2nd string. Even several of his teammates said they didn't see a drop off in talent. After the 1987 season, the Cowboys traded Tony Dorsett to the Broncos for a conditional 5th round draft choice. There were a lot of hurt people in Dallas after TD left, and I was really hoping that Emmitt wouldn't leave the same way.

The situation with Emmitt in 2001 was slightly different because the offense had reached a new low and was breaking futility records, but the running back situation was basically the same as it was in 1986. Emmitt was in his 12th season, and on the verge of breaking the most sacred record in the NFL, and the Cowboys had a young running back in Troy Hambrick who could take over for Emmitt in the near future. The biggest difference between the 2 controversies is that T-Ham was forced into the starting fullback spot when Robert Thomas was lost for the season.

Here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote about the situation back then:

It seems like the Cowboys are trying to speed up the future, but they would be foolish to let Emmitt get away. With the way the team is playing right now and the way things are going, people want to say Emmitt is too old and too beat up to still be in the NFL, they say he should forget about the record and retire at the end of this season before he embarrasses himself or he has to be carried off the field. It's easy to criticize players and talk bad about them in situations like this. If Emmitt was leading the NFL in rushing and the Cowboys were winning games, the bandwagon would be overcrowded.

Everybody now is quick to say Troy Hambrick is better and more productive than Emmitt. T-Ham might have 16 fewer yards than Emmitt on fewer carries, and they do run behind the same offensive line, but T-Ham and Emmitt don't face the same defenses. When Emmitt is in the game, he is a bulls-eye. teams stack the line and run blitz A LOT more often than they do when T-Ham is in the game. When T-Ham is in the game, Jack Reilliy calls way more running plays between the tackles than he does for Emmitt. When Emmitt is in the game, Reilly will try to send him outside on a pitch or some kind of sweep. Sometimes he'll run him out of the single back formation. When T-Ham and Emmitt are both in the game with T-Ham at fullback, defenses will overload to stop Emmitt, and T-Ham will take a quick handoff from the QB with the defense thinking Emmitt is getting the ball. Emmitt is getting the short end of things. It wouldn't be ridiculous at all to say that Emmitt has been misused the past few years, even a couple of years before Reilly came back to Dallas. It would be interesting to see what Emmitt would do if he ever got a passing game to take pressure off of him. He would have better stats, and more importantly, the Cowboys would have more wins.

I agree with everything Emmitt is saying about the Cowboys putting more emphasis on evaluating players than winning games. That's what training camp and preseason are for. When you lock and load for the season, you have to commit. The object of the game is to have your best 11 players on the field at all times. It was wrong of Dave Campo to tell Emmitt to retire if he didn't like it. To me, that was a slap in Emmitt's face, after all he had done for the Cowboys. They are both at different points in their careers, and that can put a strain on any relationship. I just hope everything gets fixed soon, and like I said earlier, I pray that Emmitt won't leave the Cowboys the same way Tony Dorsett did, and that he can finish his career as a Cowboy.


One thing I forgot to mention when I wrote that, is that teams also rotated their defensive personnel. T-Ham was lucky enough that lesser quality backups were rotated onto the field when he was in the game, making it easier for him to run. Also, it's possible that Emmitt and the offensive line wore down the first string defense, and T-Ham benefited from it. Teams also put an extra man in the box for Emmitt, but not for T-Ham. In so many words, Troy Hambrick got impatient with his backup role and said so out loud. He said at training camp in 2002 that he was the best running back on the team, and that it was time for Emmitt to move on after he broke the record. T-Ham got exactly what he wanted in 2003, and he had to be humbled. He quickly found out that it wasn't as easy as he thought it was. He admitted it when he said, "They didn't tell me once teams start game-planning against you that all those big runs stop." T-Ham also said that he thought he was "the next thing to O.J. Simpson. He ran for 972 yards and a 3.5 yards per carry average. 

This story ends with an ironic twist. Emmitt Smith ended up signing with the Cardinals after he left the Cowboys, and Troy Hambrick ended up being his backup again. The Cowboys released T-Ham in 2004 after they drafted Julius Jones. He was picked up by the Raiders, and ended up gaining weight. The Cardinals traded for T-Ham, who was out of shape, after Marcel Shipp blew out his knee in training camp. He was supposed to give them the "power back" they lost when Shipp went down.


2001 - Running Into A Brick Wall

The 2001 season was a real struggle for the Cowboys as a team, but Emmitt Smith was the one who was feeling it the most because the running game was running into a brick wall. When it wasn't running into the wall, it was going backwards. Plain and simple: Emmitt had NOWHERE to run. He had to fight, bite, and claw for every yard that year. To put in perspective how tough that season was for Emmitt, I want to point out that the Cowboys started out 0-4, and Emmitt went into halftime with 2 or fewer yards in 3 of those losses. 

Here are some of the elements from a long list of things Emmitt had working against him:

1.) Good Defenses
2.) Terrible Blocking
3.) Linemen Pulling Off Of Blocks Early
4.) Tentative Running (a result of all of the above)
5.) Offensive Scheme
6.) The Worst Passing Attack In The NFL
7.) No True Fullback
8.) Right Guard Struggling Badly (revolving door at the position)
9.) Joey Galloway and Rocket Ismail were injured again and missed significant time.
10.) Defenses were stacking the line and daring the quarterback to beat them.
11.) The offense went through 4 quarterbacks that season.
12.) Defenses used run blitzes and stunts to plug up the middle and force Emmitt to the outside.
13.) There seemed to be more emphasis on evaluating players that season than winning games.


Emmitt was stuck carrying the load as the star player on a team full of lesser players. He was still too good to retire, but with the team being so bad, he was no longer seen as a hero. With the offense as inconsistent as it was for most of the season, and with Emmitt being the oldest player on offense, everybody had a tendency to blame him for their struggles. When you have an offense with 4 different quarterbacks - a rookie, 2 undrafted free agents, and a failed #2 overall pick and and an offensive line that can't open holes, you have much bigger problems than your running back. It also didn't help that late in his career Emmitt played with a bunch of young players that were lazy and didn't have a good work ethic or a passion for football. When losses start to pile up, a player that was a major contributor to the team during the times where a win was much appreciated, no longer has a function.

It required a lot of endurance from Emmitt and Cowboys fans to see him break the NFL's all-time rushing record with that broken team. There were too many people that lived for the moment that wanted to run him out of Dallas. I personally saw a running back who was still capable of playing at an All-Pro level, even if he was stepping out of bounds a yard or two earlier and fighting less when he was being gang tackled. Even with all of that, Emmitt was still picking up yards with a line that was showing weakness in running situations. He was still productive running the ball with his quarterback constantly on his back after pass attempts.....AFTER a successful running down by Emmitt. Bottom line, he was still capable of Emmitt-like production if the rest of the offense was consistent. 

As the last Triplet, Emmitt became the locker room spokesman and the player every team designed their defense to stop. Defenses had been selling out to stop Emmitt for years, but this time was different because the Cowboys didn't have a passing game. At this point, Emmitt wasn't a good fit on a bad Cowboys team. He could still run between the tackles with the quick, darting moves that he was famous for, but because he wasn't able to break the long runs the way he used to, defenses started cheating against the run because they didn't fear Emmitt taking it all the way. He would have been a better fit with a good line, where the long runs would have been frequent again. With a better line, the team could pound him for 3 quarters, wear down the defense, and allow him to put up big numbers in the 4th quarter. In Dallas, Emmitt's skills were being wasted.

Not having a passing game hurt the running game overall, and not having a dependable tight end hurt the runs inside. Without a threat at TE, linebackers could run blitz the Cowboys all day long, a lot of times hitting Emmitt in the backfield. The revolving door of inexperienced players at right guard meant that they could never develop any kind of consistency at that position. That hurt the offense because most of those blitzes came from between the right guard and center. With a decent threat at TE, at least one LB would be forced to cover him, instead of a defensive end (usually in a run blitz the DE pulls off to cover the TE). With a true threat like Jay Novacek was, it would require a linebacker AND a strong safety to cover him short and deep. That's a big part of why Emmitt was so successful when he was there. It took 2 players to cover Jay Novacek. Even though there might have been 8 or 9 in the box, by the time the play developed, 2 of them were off covering #84. The "lead draw" was the main play for the Cowboys' offense because it gave the defense time to react to the TE going out before the running play actually hit them. One or two seconds was all that was needed of the OLB and SS to start backpedaling to cover Jay Novacek, then Daryl Johnston came barreling through with Emmitt right behind him. The defense didn't have enough man power up front to account for all the blockers, so Emmitt would burst through for good yardage.

Even though his production was down by Emmitt standards in 2001, he still had a solid season by NFL standards. His 1,021 yards ranked 15th in the NFL and 7th in the NFC. Those numbers alone were enough to prove that at least half the teams in the league still would have coveted Emmitt's production. Everybody expected his 1,000-yard streak to end after he only had 9 yards on Thanksgiving Day against the Broncos, leaving him with 487 yards after 10 games. It seemed like the deck was stacked against Emmitt, considering that he needed to average 85.5 yards over the last 6 games, and at that point he had only gained more than that once all season. Then Emmitt had a stretch drive where he went over 100 yards in 3 of the last 6 games to reach 1,000 yards. He had 18 carries for 77 yards in the season finale vs the Lions to put him over 1,000 yards for the 11th straight season, breaking the NFL record set by Barry Sanders. The irony with this record, was that either way Emmitt would have passed Barry in some category to reach a milestone. The game up in Detroit got moved from Week 2 (because of 9/11) to the end of the season. If the game had been played in Week 2 as planned, Emmitt would have passed Barry for 2nd place on the NFL's all-time rushing list. Instead, he ended up breaking Barry's record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

That season was all the more impressive when you think about the fact that Emmitt ran for 1,021 yards despite missing 2 games, being misused in the offense, having the NFL's worst pass offense, and playing on an offensive unit that went through 4 quarterbacks (5 if you count Tony Banks in the preseason). He also didn't have a lead blocker. After Robert Thomas went down for the season, the Cowboys moved Troy Hambrick to fullback. They even used a TE on occasion (Johnny Huggins), and sometimes they used a DT on the goal line as the lead blocker. All of those things made those 100-yard games hard to come by for Emmitt that season.......he only had 4 of them. It's hard enough for a running back to get 100 yards even without all of those elements working against him. Think about it: You have to average 25 yards a quarter, you don't always have the ball, you have 15 minutes, and you go against 8 and 9-man fronts often. It's 10 times harder when you have a QB that doesn't have the respect of opposing defenses.

At that stage in Emmitt's career, people failed to realize that his value came in 2-fold form - production and intangibles. The most important trait that he had that so few in the NFL did, was that he knew how to win. He knew exactly what it took to be a champion. The Cowboys had a roster full of young players who needed to learn that skill from him. If you need proof, just look at the 2 games that Emmitt missed with a sprained knee, against the Giants and Falcons, both away games. The Cowboys should have won both games, but didn't. The running game production wasn't the problem. Troy Hambrick ran for a respectable 77 yards against the Giants and a season high 127 yards against the Falcons, but the Cowboys gave both of those games away. What the team was missing was leadership in the huddle and a guy that could convert a crucial first down late in the game.

Emmitt, after 12 years in the NFL, was still the best running back in the league in close games when the game was on the line. He got stronger as the game went on, and always ran harder when something was on the line. Emmitt was a 2nd half player that wore teams down and them humiliated them late for game winning points. A good example of that would be the Oct. 15 Monday night game against the Redskins, where Emmitt carried the Cowboys to a 9-7 win. He had 25 carries for 107 yards for the game, and had 54 more yards called back because of penalties. He had a 13-yard run on the last play of the game to set up the game winning field goal. I was glad to see Emmitt have a game like that because a few days earlier Eric Dickerson, who was a sideline commentator for MNF at that time, made the statement "Father Time has caught up with Emmitt Smith." For more proof that Emmitt was still clutch, check out these rankings:

-1st in the NFL in total rushing yards in close games (200 yards)
-3rd in the NFL in yards per carry in the 4th quarter (5.3 YPC)
-6th in the NFL in yards per carry for carry 21 and up (4.3 YPC)


I also want to point out that the Cowboys passed for 2,218 yards in 2001, which was dead last in the NFL. It was also the team's 16-game single season franchise low. There were 28 quarterbacks all by themselves that threw for more yards. Emmitt by himself ran for more yards than any QB threw for individually. The Cowboys were ranked 3rd in the NFL in rushing offense behind the Steelers and 49ers, averaging 138.5 yards per game. The rushing and passing offense combined to give the Cowboys a 29th overall ranking in total offense. It would have been nice to see what Emmitt could do with a real passing attack and the defense not crowding the line of scrimmage looking for him with no regard for the forward pass. With all of the mess the Cowboys had going on that year, it would have been unbelievable for them to finish the 2001 season with an 8-8 record. They ended up being 5-11 for the 2nd straight year.


I'll pick up Part 5 with 2002, the year that Emmitt broke the record, and in my opinion his toughest season as a Cowboy.

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 3

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 3


For Part 3 of this series, I'll be going over 1998-2000, Emmitt's comeback years after having 2 straight seasons well below Emmitt standards.


With greatness comes backlash, and every great player in every sport has his share of critics and naysayers. I believe that Emmitt Smith has it worse than most. It seems to me like the majority of football fans and media thought Emmitt had it easy and that he wasn't all that great of a running back. The most common misconception is "Put him on any other team besides the Cowboys, and he would have been good, but not great." In the 3-year span from 1998-2000, the Cowboys, coached by Chan Gailey and Dave Campo, were one game under .500 and won ZERO playoff games. As much as I love Troy Aikman, he was done by then. All of those concussions had finally taken a toll on him. Michael Irvin also had to retire prematurely, after a spinal injury ended his 1999 season in the 4th game. Some of the famous names were still on the offensive line, but their best years were behind them at that point. During those seasons, Emmitt's age was 29, 30, and 31. He had taken a ridiculous amount of punishment in his first 28 years, at all levels of football. Usually in that situation, you would have a running back who is just above average struggling.

Emmitt rushed for 3,932 yards and 33 touchdowns during those 3 years, and he wasn't running on fumes either. He was at 4.2 yards per carry in 1998 and 1999, and at 4.1 in 2000. He was in the top 5 in the NFL in rushing yards in 2 of those 3 years. We don't even have to speculate on what Emmitt would do if he played for a mediocre to bad team. He did play for those kinds of teams from 1998-2000, and ran for the 3rd most yards from 29-31 in NFL history behind Walter Payton and Curtis Martin. Once again, most good-but-not-great running backs struggle to keep a job at age 30. Emmitt Smith was a top 5 rusher on a bad team. It would be easy to say that I picked out that particular 3-year stretch to make Emmitt look good, but the fact is, you can pick ANY 3-year strectch out of his career and he would be among the leading rushers in NFL history in that age group. Let's not forget that Emmitt has the NFL record for most rushing yards after turning 30. My point is that his supporting cast wasn't great in all of those stretches and was downright bad in others. I said in Part 2 that Emmitt's decline had much more to do with the team's incompetence than his declining skills.



Let's look at what Emmitt had going on in these 3 seasons:

1998

Emmitt had to make the following adjustments:

1.) Learning How To Run Without A Fullback

A lot of people tend to forget about this adjustment. In Emmitt's first 8 years, he spent about 60% of the time behind a fullback, and under Chan Gailey that number got cut in half. The adjustment also meant that Emmitt wasn't hitting the hole as fast. He had to wait another split-second to see how the play developed or see if the player in front of him was able to make the block.

2.) A New Zone Blocking Scheme

This scheme is based on the running back's ability to recognize where the hole is and make a cut to get up the field. This blocking scheme stretches the defense by moving the line, forcing the defensive linemen to move sideways, making them easier to block. The defenders also get tied up because they have to react, and that's where the running back can take advantage of the stretch. Zone blocking is not about blowing your man off the line, it's about staying in contact with him and letting the running back make the adjustment. This scheme was an adjustment for the whole offense, especially since the offensive line was better at man blocking than zone.


3.) Giving Up 3rd Down Responsibilities

The Cowboys signed Chris Warren to be their 3rd down back, as well as giving Emmitt an occasional breather to help lighten his load.


After back to back sub-par seasons full of injuries and having bone spurs removed from one of his ankles, Emmitt was healthy for the first time in 3 seasons. Under new head coach Chan Gailey, he bounced back in 1998 with 1,332 yards and 13 touchdowns, and also became the Cowboys' all-time leading rusher that season. Defenses were still keying on Emmitt because the Cowboys still didn't have a threat at TE, and the Cowboys were without Troy Aikman for 5 games after he broke his collarbone in Week 2. Jason Garrett didn't do a bad job stepping in for those 5 games, but Emmitt played a major role in keeping the team afloat during that stretch, with 90 carries for 390 yards and 3 touchdowns. Making those adjustments after doing things the same way for so long wasn't easy for Emmitt to do, which makes his 1998 season that much more impressive.


1999

Emmitt had an even better season in 1999 despite:

1.) Being the only reliable cog in an inconsistent offense. 
2.) Running behind a converted linebacker at fullback.
3.) The Cowboys had 3 of their top 4 receivers out with injury.
4.) Troy Aikman was in and out of the lineup with concussions.
5.) Even more 8 and 9-man fronts.
6.) Missing 9 quarters of football because of hand and groin injuries.


This would be the year that Emmitt proved that he still had it. He was once again on his usual record-setting pace, even leading the NFL in rushing at one point- AT 30 YEARS OLD and supposedly washed up. He and Ricky Watters were the only two 30-year old running backs to rank among the top 10 in rushing in 1999. Emmitt also moved up a couple of spots on the NFL's all-time rushing list, passing Tony Dorsett and Eric Dickerson, moving into 3rd place all-time.

Who can forget that Monday Night game in Minnesota right after Walter Payton's death? Emmitt came out in his memory and had 13 carries for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns in less than a half, more like a quarter and a half. The Cowboys were completely dominating the Vikings, and then it all changed:

In what might be the most unfortunate moment in Emmitt's career, when he started getting close to the end zone on his 63-yard touchdown run, he stiff-armed Vikings cornerback Kenny Wright and got his fingers tangled in his face mask, breaking bones in the back of his hand. He also had a 24-yard touchdown run on his very next carry, after the Cowboys recovered a Vikings fumble of a kickoff, giving him the NFL record for fastest back to back touchdowns scored by one player.....18 seconds. By halftime, on a record-setting pace, Emmitt was done for the game, and even sat the next one out. The Cowboys' offense left when Emmitt did, and they started to fall apart after that. To cap it all off, Troy Aikman suffered a concussion early in the 3rd quarter that knocked him out of the game. I had A SICK FEELING in my body after hearing that Emmitt was done for the game. I really wanted to see him go after Walter Payton's then-NFL single game rushing record. I remember him saying that he was in a serious groove that night, and wasn't even tired yet.

Emmitt still ended up with 1,397 yards and 11 touchdowns, along with a healthy 4.2 yards per carry average. It was a very good season, but it was robbed by a broken hand of all it could have been. With the pace Emmitt was on before he got injured, there is no telling how many yards he would have ended up with. At the very least, I would say his total would have been in the 1,600-1,700 range, and at least 15 touchdowns. At the risk of sounding biased, if Emmitt would have kept up that pace and won the rushing title, he would have been my choice for MVP. Kurt Warner was the 1999 MVP, and there is no question that he deserved it. He took over the starting QB job after Trent Green blew out his knee in a preseason game, and led the Rams to a 13-3 record and Super Bowl win after going 4-12 in 1998.

Emmitt carried the Cowboys on his back in 1999, and he put those numbers and dragged the Cowboys to the playoffs with a beat-up Troy Aikman, Robert Thomas (a converted linebacker) at fullback, Rocket Ismail and Ernie Mills as the starting receivers, and David LaFleur at tight end as his supporting cast. You would think that losing Daryl Johnston to a career-ending neck injury in Week 1 and Michael Irvin to a career-ending spinal injury in Week 4 would have slowed Emmitt down, but he got stronger as the season went on, and the only thing that could stop him were the injuries. That's why I believe he would have won the MVP if he stayed healthy. More than anything, the 1999 season also proved that if Emmitt's talent and production didn't get slowed drastically after the 1995 season, he would have smashed the all-time rushing record much earlier than he actually did, and went over 20,000 yards, which was his goal.


2000

Durring Emmitt's last 3 years with the Cowboys, the Dave Campo era, he was surrounded by amazingly little talent (particularly on offense). The Cowboys finished 5-11 in every one of those seasons. By then, Emmitt was all the Cowboys had going for them, and he had even more obstacles to overcome.

Here is what Emmitt was up against in 2000:

1.) Joey Galloway and Rocket Ismail both out with a torn ACL.
2.) Troy Aikman in and out with concussions.
3.) Underachieving offensive line.
4.) Shuffling of the offensive line because of injuries.
5.) Defensive problems.
6.) Lack of time of possession (not having the football enough to establish a running game).
7.) Playing from behind.
8.) Coaches not utilizing everything.
9.) No commitment to be good at one thing.


Emmitt really had the deck stacked against him in 2000, but what makes it all worse, is that they would even go away from him sometimes when the running game was working. Here is a prime example:

The Cowboys gave away the November 5 game against the Eagles, losing 16-13 in overtime. I personally hold Jack Reilly (offensive coordinator) responsible for the Cowboys losing that game. Robert Thomas might have been the goat in that game, but he should have never been put in that situation in the first place. Why would a coach IN THE MIDDLE OF OVERTIME put the football in the hands of a 3rd year blocking fullback when you had an 11-year veteran halfback that's headed to the Hall Of Fame at your disposal?

Why would a coach decide in as hostile an environment as there is to give the ball to a man that hadn't carried it all day when the other guy had carried it 26 times for 134 yards? Why would a coach take that chance with a player that came into the league as a backup linebacker when the other choice was one of the top running backs in the history of the game at EVERY LEVEL he played?

To justify his decision, Jack Reilly said, "We needed a little bit of mixture in there." It didn't look that way from my TV. To me, it looked like all they had to do was give the ball to Emmitt. Michael Irvin was retired, Troy Aikman was on his way out, but Emmitt still worked about as well as he ever did. With the way he was running, how could he have 84 yards at halftime, 121 through 3 quarters, and only have 134 by the time the game was over? With that game going to OT, Emmitt probably should have had about 175 yards.

When the Cowboys got the ball for the first time in the 4th quarter, they had a 10-3 lead, and then the coaching staff all of a sudden decided to try something else. As a result, they ended up having their first possession of the game that ended without a 1st down, and then they had to punt. As a matter of fact, the Cowboys only ran the ball twice in their first 3 possessions of the 4th quarter. They stopped dominating time of possession and eating up clock to give their defense some rest, and that's what did them in. The next thing you know, the Eagles tied the game TWICE after struggling the whole game.......first with a touchdown at 10, then with a field goal at 13.


That day wasn't the first time Dave Campo and his coaching staff had abandoned Emmitt Smith, their only weapon, and one that rarely failed them. The offensive burden fell on Emmitt because Troy Aikman was in and out of the lineup with repeated concussions, and Joey Galloway and Rocket Ismail were both out for the year with knee injuries. On that particular day, with Randall Cunningham filling in for Troy and the team being short-handed at receiver, you would think it would have been all Emmitt all the time, with a little bit of Chris Warren mixed in. 

In the December 10 game against the Redskins, Emmitt carried the Cowboys to a 32-13 win by running for a season-high 150 yards......against the NFL's No. 2 ranked defense. That was also the game that Troy Aikman suffered the concussion that ended his career, on a hit by Lavar Arrington in the 1st quarter. It speaks volumes about his character for him to go out and play like that when his QB was out, other key contributors injured, and the Cowboys being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The offensive line struggled to open holes for him in the first half, limiting him to just 39 yards on 12 carries, and then Emmitt just took over the game in the 2nd half. Emmitt also went over 1,000 yards in that game, for the 10th straight season, and it would have been 11 if David Shula would have seen fit to give him more carries in his rookie season. Emmitt only got more than 20 carries once in the first 10 games of that season.

I think Emmitt did well to put up 1,203 yards and 9 touchdowns, considering everything he had going against him. I believe he could have gotten 1,400-1,500 if they gave him the ball more often. Better yet, I wonder what the Cowboys' record would have been. Emmitt played on good teams early in his career and bad teams late. Walter Payton did the opposite. Jim Brown only played on good teams. During his career, Emmitt Smith's teams were a total of 12 games over .500, Walter Payton's were 28 games over .500, and Jim Brown's were 45 games over .500. With that being said, can somebody tell me again why Emmitt gets accused of gravy-training?


I'll pick up Part 4 with 2001, when things started to get even worse for Emmitt, especially the controversy with him and Troy Hambrick. 

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 2

The Underrated Greatness Of Emmitt Smith - Part 2


In Part 1 of this series, I talked about 3 of the biggest reasons why I believe that Emmitt Smith was underrated. The 3 reasons I gave are:

1.) The Supporting Cast Double Standard - Emmitt gets penalized for the teammates he had, while other all-time greats that played on stacked teams get a pass.

2.) The Offensive Line Cop-Out - As good as Emmitt's offensive line was, they got way too much credit for his success.

3.) Intangibles/Impact On The Other Units - Emmitt was the prototype for what championship caliber teams want from their running back......extend the drive, wear down the defense, score the touchdown to put the game away.


Starting with this piece, I'll be focusing more on what Emmitt did in his later years, after all the Super Bowl years were over. Before I get into that, I want to point out a couple of things:

-Most people don't realize that Emmitt actually racked up most of his yards post-1995, after the Cowboys started to decline and Jimmy Johnson was long gone. In that time, Emmitt put up 8 straight 1,000-yard seasons, including his NFL record (5,789 yards) for most rushing yards after turning 30. Only 2 other running backs have ever managed 5,000 yards after 30, and they were John Riggins with 5,683 yards, and Walter Payton with 5,101 yards. Out of all the intangibles that Emmitt had, the one that amazed me the most was his durability. In his 13 years with the Cowboys, Emmitt only missed 4 games due to injury. That kind of durability has only been matched by Walter Payton (missed 1 game in 13 years) and Jim Brown (never missed a game). You could even give Emmitt a slight edge over them if you take into account that he was the workhorse for his team every year on every level he played, as well as all of the NFL playoff games he played in. When you think about it, Emmitt played a little over 16 seasons in his 15 years in the NFL.

-What people that only pay attention to stats don't realize, is that before a set of significant injuries slowed down Emmitt's pace in his prime, he was on pace to SHATTER the all-time rushing record way before he actually did, along with every other major rushing record. Emmitt was about to rewrite the NFL record book for running backs. Barry Sanders wasn't the only running back that had a legitimate chance at 20,000 yards. Emmitt was also on pace for a 2,000-yard season through the first 9 games of the 1995 season, and had a decent shot at it until around Thanksgiving. There were a few games where he could have easily added to his totals if not for leaving early due to injury or the team putting the game out of reach early.


The Cowboys had a simple, but very efficient offense in the early 90's. If the defense had 7 in the box, then they would run Emmitt all day. If the defense had 8 or 9 in the box, then they would start throwing the ball to Michael Irvin. If the defense rolled a safety over the top to double team The Playmaker, then Jay Novacek would get some passes in his direction. If another safety was rolled over the top for him, then Troy Aikman would go deep to Alvin Harper. Once the Cowboys' passing game started clicking, then the opposing defense would back that extra man out of the box, leaving them with 7 again. Once they did that, the Cowboys would go right back to handing the ball to Emmitt. There was a little bit more to it than that, but that sums up how the Cowboys' offense operated back then.

I enjoyed watching the Cowboys so much because EVERYBODY, including the other team, knew what was coming and STILL couldn't stop it. I never got tired of watching that kind of dominance every week. Those were some of the best times of my early teenage years. Back then, I just knew the Cowboys would dominate forever.....but then I learned a lesson. When free agency came along, that was when I learned that pro sports are a business first. The biggest lesson that I learned was that it costs money to keep a good team together. That well-oiled machine took ALL parts to function properly. Once the first part went missing, the machine started to fall apart. Alvin Harper, the Cowboys' deep threat, left after the 1994 season and signed with the Buccaneers. Even with him gone, the machine could still function at a high rate. It was when Jay Novacek's bad back forced him into early retirement that the machine broke down. At that point, opposing defenses could put 8 in the box to stop Emmitt, roll a safety over the top to double team Michael Irvin, and leave 1 on 1 coverage on the backside receiver because the TE was no longer a threat. That makes the numbers those 2 players put up that much more impressive, because if the Cowboys had another true threat at TE, the machine would have kept rolling, and the Big 3 would have still been among the league leaders late in their careers.

We all know about the perception that Emmitt played only on stacked teams, with a powerhouse offensive line and All-Pros at every position, and that we don't know how he would have done without all of that. That's not true. As a matter of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. People that truly understand the game and don't have a bias against the Cowboys know very well how Emmitt would have done on a losing team, with a mediocre to bad QB and an average to bad offensive line, because those are exactly the kinds of teams that he played on after the Super Bowl years, up until the end of his career with the Cardinals. The deteriorating supporting cast along with a lot of injuries in his prime are what accelerated Emmitt's decline.


Here is what Emmitt had to endure after the Super Bowl years were over:

1996

Here are the things Emmitt had going against him in 1996:

1.) There was no cohesion in the offense whatsoever. They didn't even play together as a unit until the season opener.

2.) Several key players were out because of injuries and suspensions.

3.) The offensive line got older.

4.) Defenses were stacking 8 and 9 in the box to stop Emmitt.

5.) A long list of injuries: 2 sprained ankles, sprained left knee, strained back, bruised ribs, bruised shoulder, bruised and jammed neck, spinal cord contusion - Emmitt was hurting from the top of his head to his ankles. His ability to accelerate and cut was reduced by a half-step or split-second, which is enough to separate the best from the rest. Emmitt lost push-off speed and power, and his ability to start and stop, then restart in another direction became fractionally slower. By medical measurement, he lost 18% flexibility in his right ankle.


The 1996 season seemed like it was doomed from the start. In the preseason game against the Broncos, which was Emmitt's first game, he made a 5-yard run when Erik Williams was sideswiped and fell off-balance against the back of Emmitt's knee. He ended up suffering a sprained left knee and right ankle. The injury looked much worse than what it was, and Emmitt said that it felt like the worst injury of his career. I was nervous as all hell after seeing that happen, and you could hear a pin drop at Texas Stadium while Emmitt was being tended to. Even former Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson, who was a guest commentator that night, was worried about Emmitt's health. Things went from bad to worse after Michael Irvin was suspended for the first 5 games and  learning that Jay Novacek wouldn't be able to play because of his bad back. The Cowboys had a mix-and-match lineup to start the season. For starters, Larry Allen was moved from RG to LT, and George Hegamin took his place. Because of this and all of the other switches on the offensive line, the run blocking was as coordinated as 3rd grade recess. Daryl Johnston played some TE, and even Deion Sanders played a lot of receiver with Michael Irvin being out.

In the season opener against the Bears, Emmitt was misused. The Cowboys didn't have Michael Irvin or Jay Novacek, and still decided to go pass-happy on early downs, ignoring Emmitt. He got 18 carries for 70 yards in that game, but that wasn't enough. For all I know, they might have been trying to lighten his load, but at the same time Emmitt Smith was the reason the Cowboys won so many games. They could have run him more to take some pressure off the passing game, which was obviously feeling those losses. Fewer people were open, and the receivers that were open were dropping the ball. Then add 9 penalties along with a couple of wasted timeouts because of things like people being in the wrong formations. It was also a close game until 4 turnovers finally did the Cowboys in.

This was also the game where it went from bad to worse for Emmitt, who was already playing with a bad knee and ankle. Here is how it went down:

The play was a bootleg right by Troy Aikman, which ended up losing yards. At the beginning, Troy faked a handoff to Emmitt, who tried to sell the fake by jumping over the pile as a decoy and ended up landing on his head and right shoulder. He laid motionless on the field for several minutes until he was finally carted off. I didn't get much sleep at all that night because I was worried that Emmitt was paralyzed and would never play again. It turned out that Emmitt suffered a spinal cord contusion, which would further limit his explosion, agility, and power for the whole season. Those skills were a big part of what made him "Emmitt". I remember hearing and reading about him waking up one night during that season, putting his feet on the floor to stand up and then crumpling to the floor because his legs went completely numb. Emmitt also developed bone spurs in both of his ankles because of a change in step to overcompensate for the spinal injury. He finished that season, just one year after his record-setting production in 1995, with 327 carries for 1,204 yards, a 3.7 yards per carry average, and 12 touchdowns. To me, that's amazing considering that he was never at 100% physically at any point of the season because of all those injuries he had to play through, along with defenses selling out to stop him every week.

In both 1996 and 1997, the sports world watched Emmitt's production dwindle down even more from 1,204 yards in '96 after a career season the year before, to 1,074 yards in '97. Everybody in the media was talking about how he looked like a RB that was quickly declining. They even predicted that for the rest of his career, that he could be a workman-like 800-yard back if he worked at it. A few of the all-time great RBs in NFL history thought Emmitt's workload had caught up with him. I even remember reading a Football Digest article in 1998 that talked about Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders being equals up until 1996, and then Barry blew past Emmitt, and that his career even soared to new heights. They even said that Emmitt probably wouldn't even be in the NFL by the time Barry broke Walter Payton's record. Everybody said it looked like Emmitt was hitting a wall, basically pronouncing his career over and saying that he was washed up.


1997

Emmitt had another injury-plagued year in 1997. He had an ankle that was still bothering him, bruised ribs, a strained groin, a slightly separated shoulder, and he even played 1 game with the flu. Like I mentioned earlier, his decline was sped up by an aging and increasingly ineffective line. The Cowboys' offense was built around the power running game, which means that the middle of the offensive line has to be dominant and blow people off the ball. That wasn't the case in 1997, and it was the single most important reason for the decline of the Cowboys that season. They started a new undersized center (Clay Shiver), an out of shape and injured left guard (Nate Newton), and a left tackle who was never 100% (Mark Tuinei)......that's 3/5 of the offensive line. It's also the main reason that all 3 of The Triplets had bad years.

Here is what the power running game is designed to do:

1.) Keep Defenses Honest - They won't be so quick to blitz if you have a running back that's a threat to score on any play. That's why Troy Aikman had a bad year, and he was pressured more than any QB that I could remember.

2.) Give The Lead Receiver A Clear View To The QB - This goes especially for play-action passes because the weakside linebacker has to play up to the line for run support instead of dropping back into the slant zone. With the offensive line struggling, the linebackers were able to drop back more.

3.) Allows Elite RBs To Have 1,500+ Yard Seasons - Once again, I believe Emmitt Smith did an amazing job for a running back that was supposed to be washed up, especially with all those injuries and not having the line he had during the Super Bowl years. Emmitt's greatest asset besides his vision was his ability to make linebackers miss and/or grab their reaching arms and move them out of his way. He could still do that, but he had to have an offensive line that could give him a hole to run through. When teams started blitzing up the middle, it threw off the blocking schemes of the line, combined with the injuries and out of shape linemen, Emmitt couldn't find a hole. Not even Barry Sanders could have done much of anything under those conditions.


Execution wasn't the problem for the Cowboys offense, a lack of innovation is what cost them. Defenses started changing, and they stayed the same and got stale. It's bad enough that the Cowboys didn't have a threat at TE to replace Jay Novacek or a receiver to compliment Michael Irvin, but the coaches keep trying to force the running game inside where all the blitzes were coming from instead of running outside more. That wasn't where Emmitt was at his best, but the Cowboys did have Sherman Williams, who had that extra burst of speed to be effective on the outside. Every team in the NFL figured out that the way to stop Emmitt was to bring linebackers in the gaps between the tackles. That's the biggest reason why Emmitt wasn't himself and the Cowboys were being outschemed. Defenses were attacking Emmitt's strength, which was running between the tackles.

I also saw some hesitancy from Emmitt at that time. He wasn't attacking the line of scrimmage like he used to. There was a lot of uncertainty. It was a combination of his injuries and him being unsure of either his linemen or blocking scheme. He was also being held back by an old offensive line with Clay Shiver, a young overmatched center, and the left side of the line was old (Mark Tuinei, 37, Nate Newton, 35). In other words, the line was too old on the left side, too inexperienced in the middle, and a shadow of itself on the right. Also, since the Cowboys had become so predictable, defenses would just stack the line and wait on Emmitt. He wasn't even getting a chance.

There was a reason why Troy Aikman wanted the Cowboys to move up in the 1997 draft and take Tony Gonzalez (with all-due respect to Jason Witten). From time to time, I fantasize about how he likely would have almost instantly opened the offense back up and took the extra man out of the box for Emmitt. I'll even take it a step further. What if the Cowboys had also went on and drafted Randy Moss the next year like everybody expected them to, instead of Greg Ellis? That would have been one NASTY offense if they could have pulled that off. I won't even mention the line, because if they had all that talent on the offense, I believe they almost certainly would have bolstered the line. I believe the Cowboys would have been right back to winning Super Bowls with that offense, and Emmitt probably would have gotten a couple more rushing titles. I can't help but fantasize about that once in a while, but I guess it turned out the way it was supposed to.

I will say one last thing about 1997: If anybody had told me that a team with Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Deion Sanders on it would only win 6 games and not make the playoffs, I would have laughed in their faces and told them they were crazy. I don't think anybody saw that kind of season from the Cowboys. I'll be picking up with 1998 in the next installment.

My Emmitt Smith Report From 9th Grade

I was doing some cleaning last week and came across an old report I did on Emmitt Smith in my 9th grade English class. Here it is in raw form, without any formal training in writing or the upgrades that I have made to my current writing style:


12/12/94


Emmitt Smith

Emmitt Smith is a superstar running back for the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys football team. He is in his 5th year with the Cowboys. They drafted him in 1990 in the first round with the 17th pick overall out of the University Of Florida, where he set 58 school records. In his freshman year with Florida, Emmitt was only the second freshman to finish in the top 10 in the Heisman Trophy balloting. During his collegiate career, he only missed 2 games and ran for 100-plus yards in 25 of 34 games, and was the only Gator to earn first team All-SEC honors his first 3 seasons. In his junior year he had a college career-high 316 yards against New Mexico, had a 96-yard touchdown run against Mississippi State as a sophomore in 1988.

Emmitt is the Florida Gators' all-time leading rusher with 4,232 yards. In high school, Emmitt ran for 8,804 yards in 4 years at Escambia High in Pensacola, FL with a 7.8 yard average per carry and 106 touchdowns. He ran for 100-plus yards in 45 of the 49 games he played for Escambia, including the last 28, and he was never held to less than 71 yards, even as a freshman. The 8,804 yyards puts Emmitt 2nd on the all-time rushing list in the National High School Sports Record Book behind Ken Hall  of Sugar Land, TX (11,232 yards from 1950 to 1953). In his first game in 1983, Emmitt ran for 115 yards against Pensacola Catholic High. By his sophomore year, he was already District 1's most feared back. Defensive units were taping his number 24 on their helmets. By his junior year, he had turned it up a notch with seven 200-yard games, and in a furious outburst against Milton High he had 28 carries for 301 yards. In 4 years Emmitt hit Milton for 855 yards.

The 1990 NFL Draft was the first in which juniors were allowed to pass up their final year of eligiblity and enter the draft pool. Emmitt and 37 other juniors came out early. He was an incredible yardage machine. But pro scouts are funny people. Size, vertical leap, speed -those are the things that get the exclamation points in their notebooks. In terms of speed -the burst and the breakaway ability, there was a question mark next to Emmitt's name. His time in the 40 while at Florida was 4.55, on synthetic turf. A New York Giants scout reportedly got him at 4.7. Too slow. The Cowboys weren't worried about the speed. They were coming off a 1-15 season and a last-place NFC ranking in team rushing.

Emmitt never misses a workout, not a nick or bump guy who'd miss a lot of practice time, and not a complainer. Emmitt held out in his rookie year for the whole training camp. Still, he was the Cowboys' starting running back by Game 2 of his rookie season. One big day, 121 yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was about it for his first 11 games, and then he did a strange thing. he complained. Dallas was coming off 2 losses to the N.Y. Jets and the san Francisco 49ers in which he didn't score a touchdown. Emmitt had carried a total of 21 times in those games. He spoke to the backfield coach and then went public on a radio show, saying: "The ball, please, I'd like the ball." In the next 4 games, Emmitt had 88 carries for 374 yards and 7 TDs, and the Cowboys had 4 wins. He ran for 100-plus yards in 2 of the games. 

In 1991, Emmitt rushed for over 1,500 yards. In game 2 in a loss to Washington, Emmitt had 11 carries for 112 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown run. In Game 4, he had 23 carries for 182 yards, and a 60-yard touchdown run. The 75-yarder is still his longest run ever. That season, Emmitt had 6 other 100-yard games including 112, 122, 132, 109, 112, 160. That year, Emmitt edged out Detroit Lions star running back Barry Sanders to win his first rushing title with 1,563 yards to Barry Sanders' 1,548 yards. He finished with 12 rushing TDs, and 1 receiving TD. 

In 1992, Emmitt won his 2nd straight rushing title with 1,713 yards, his best season. He also lead the league in scoring, 19 TDs, a Cowboys record- 18 rushing, 1 receiving. His longest run was 68 yards. His best day was 174 yards against the Atlanta Falcons on December 21. On that same night, Emmitt's most spectacular run of his career came. When he got the ball, he ran up the middle, about 5 or 6 Falcons piled up on him, he broke out of the pile and ran about 40 yards for a touchdown. That year, Emmitt led the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl since 1979. The Cowboys blew out the Buffalo Bills 52-17. Emmitt had 22 carries for 108 yards and 1 TD. Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was Super Bowl XXVII's MVP. Emmitt got his first ring.

In 1993, Emmitt held out the whole training camp and even missed 2 games. The Cowboys lost their first 2 games without him. Then he signed a contract worth $13.6 million over 4 years. When he came back, the Cowboys got a 12-2 record. The final record was 12-4. In Emmitt's first game back he had 8 carries for 45 yards against the Phoenix Cardinals. That season, Emmitt ran for a career-high 237 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles. In that game he got 1 TD when he broke his 62-yard touchdown run. In the other game the Cowboys played against the Eagles, Emmitt ran for 172 more yards. That year, Emmitt went on to win his 3rd straight rushing title with 1,486 yards, due to the knee injury of Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions. Emmitt also won the league MVP. The Cowboys went back to the Super Bowl and beat Buffalo 30-13. Emmitt was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVIII. It was close between him and safety James Washington. Emmitt got his 2nd ring. Emmitt had 32 carries for 132 yards and 2 TDs. He is the only back in NFL history to win the rushing title and Super Bowl in the same season, and the trifecta (rushing title, NFL MVP, and Super Bowl MVP).

This year, he went over 7,000 career yards (7,109). Emmitt is in 2nd place as one of the Cowboys all-time leading rushers behind Tony Dorsett (12,036). Emmitt trails Tony Dorsett by 4,927 yards. He wants to break former Chicago Bear running back Walter Payton's all-time record of 16,726 yards. he trails Payton by 9,617 yards. The other record Emmitt wanted is held by former Cleveland Browns fullback Jim Brown, which is 5 rushing titles in a row. Emmitt has 3. It doesn't look like he will get his 4th. He is on the verge of being dethroned by Barry Sanders, unless a big miracle can happen. If he gets lucky, he will break Jim Brown's record in his 11th season if he is as good as he is now. If Emmitt was to get 300 yards in the last Cowboys' 2 games, the rushing title is his. He needs a BIG miracle. If it's 1 thing he wants for Christmas that would be it. Emmitt has 74 career touchdowns. 

Clearly, Emmitt Smith is THE BEST running back in the NFL, and has the statistics to prove it. He has 3 straight rushing titles, 2 Super Bowl rings, an NFL MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, and 11 NFL records (7 or 8 of them are Cowboy records). Barry Sanders is the best pure runner in the NFL. Compared to Emmitt, he has 1 rushing title (on the verge of 2), the Detroit Lions' all-time leading rusher, and he won the Heisman Trophy in college. Barry Sanders is "poetry in motion". He makes more tacklers miss than any other back. He makes them look bad. He has speed, agility, and strength. He and Emmitt have it good because they are so small. Emmitt is 5-9, 209 lbs. and Barry is 5-8, 203 lbs. Emmitt has power, speed, and agility. He is a heads-up runner with outstanding vision. He has the ability to cut back and go all the way at any time. 

I would like to know what exactly Emmitt is doing out there, a guy with a supposed lack of speed who gains all those yards. What is his style? Here are some descriptives: "Frantic hopscotching, barefoot, on a blistering sidewalk." One newspaper wrote "He darts, feints, shifts back and forth like a typewriter carriage." My descriptive is this: He stops in the hole - comes to a complete stop - looks unhurriedly for a seam and skates across the field like a hot dog wrapper. Emmitt has the same vision and awareness Tony Dorsett had. He'll thrill you with his strengths, not speed. He'll go into a pile and come out the other end. I've seen him leave the ground and have to do a hitch step, like a long jumper, and then burst through. He also has the ability to keep his legs clean - he very seldom gets hit with his feet on the ground. That's where you see people get hurt.The yards don't awe him, but he keeps track of them, as he has ever since high school. Every time he scores a touchdown, he keeps the ball.

In the off-season, Emmitt still lives at home in Pensacola with his parents, 3 brothers, and 1 of his 2 sisters. He has a store there called Emmitt, Inc that sells sports collectibles such as cards and jerseys. His parents and 1 of his sisters run the store. He also has a football camp in the off-season for boys ages 8-16. Emmitt, as an individual player, is a lot like the Cowboys as a team - inexorable, indomitable, bound for gretness. He'll take your breath away and you won't get it back until he scores. It is his total package. The thing that turns Emmitt on the most is his desire to be a tremendous player. That's refreshing. It's easy to look at his prolific performance so far and project him as one of the greats, taking into account that he has never had knee surgery and that Dallas has the perfect offense for a back to put up big numbers. Emmitt wants to make a mark on football that few players will ever equal.


Bibliography

The Emmitt Zone
by Emmitt Smith w/Steve Delsohn
Crown Publishing Group
September 6, 1994

25 Most Popular Players In 1994
by Harry Peterson
Collector's Sports Look
December 1994

A Man Of Vision
by Leigh Montville
Sports Illustrated
February 14, 1994



***I mentioned that the 1990 NFL draft was the first that allowed early entry for underclassmen, but it was actually the 1989 draft that was first. Barry Sanders left college after his junior year for the NFL.

***That spectacular touchdown run that Emmitt had against the Falcons in 1992 was actually 29 yards instead of 40 yards.