I quit arguing my perspective on this topic a long time ago.....Here is my not-so-popular opinion from an excerpt out of a VERY LONG blog that I wrote back in 2009, which can be seen at its entirety here:
Emmitt vs Barry - The Ultimate Debate
Here are some reasons (covered in my blog) why I think Emmitt is, in my opinion, the most underrated star running back ever:
1. The Supporting Cast Double Standard
This is not meant to take anything away from the players surrounding Emmitt, especially since I'm a lifelong diehard Cowboys fan, but let's just keep it real. In Jerry Rice's career, his supporting cast had a combined 69 Pro Bowls and 18 All-Pro (1st Team) selections between them. If you include his offensive lines, that makes 126 Pro Bowls and 33 All-Pro selections. He was a 13-time Pro Bowl, 10-time All-Pro selection himself. Again, what other player has been blessed with a supporting cast like that, especially for HIS ENTIRE CAREER? With that being said, my question is: If Jerry Rice is considered the best of all-time at his position and doesn't get singled out for riding the coattails of his supporting cast, then why does Emmitt get accused for it when his name is mentioned as an all-time great? That's a double standard any way you look at it.
Jerry Rice had THREE MVP quarterbacks Joe Montana, Steve Young, Rich Gannon) throwing him the ball. Montana and Young were 2-time MVPs and both are in the Hall Of Fame. What other receiver can say that he has NEVER been without a Pro Bowl quarterback? Yes, Jerry had a Pro Bowl QB for every team he played for. He had Joe Montana, Steve Young, and Jeff Garcia in San Francisco, Rich Gannon in Oakland, and Matt Hasselbeck in Seattle. He also had some good running backs to work with like Roger Craig, Ricky Watters, Garrison Hearst, and Shaun Alexander. Who can forget the receivers on the other side of Jerry like Dwight Clark, John Taylor, Terrell Owens, and Tim Brown? And, he also had Russ Francis and then Brent Jones at tight end, and Tom Rathman at fullback. Let's not forget all of the linemen he had to protect the QBs long enough to get him the ball. Emmitt's supporting cast was top-notch, but he was the most important and indispensable out of the group. This is why you can't accuse Emmitt of riding the coattails of his teammates. For further proof of that, how about the fact that Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin's careers didn't really take off until Emmitt got there. Yeah, they both had to battle some injuries in the beginning of their careers, but even if they stayed healthy, do you really think they would have had the same success with Paul Palmer (team's leading rusher in 1989) instead of Emmitt Smith? Troy and Michael both made ther first Pro Bowls in 1991, which happened to be the year Emmitt won his first rushing title. That's further proof that a quarterback's best friend really is a solid running game. Also the Cowboys defense benefited from Emmitt's presence, enjoying the honor of being the top unit in the league a couple of times, 1992 and 1994 if I'm not mistaken.
Had anybody ever heard of Jay Novacek before he became a Cowboy? I sure didn't. He was a 6th round pick by the Cardinals in 1985 and came to the Cowboys as a free agent in 1990. He made 2nd team All-Pro in his first season with the team, and from 1991 until his last season in 1995, he made the Pro Bowl every year. What about Daryl Johnston? As critical as Moose was to the running game for the Cowboys, and as good of a fullback as he was, he only made the Pro Bowl twice. Again, this is not to discredit Emmitt's supporting cast, I just wanted to point out that they really do get too much credit for his success. I personally believe that all of the talent that Emmitt had around him made his success that much more impressive, because it was centered around the team's success. They had to get that kind of output from Emmitt to give them the best chance of winning. With as much talent as the Cowboys had, some sacrifices had to be made, and some egos had to be kept in check.
Even with all the talent that Emmitt had surrounding him, teams still feared him the most when they played the Cowboys. He routinely faced defenses stacked with 8 and 9 men in the box. They wanted to take their chances with the passing game and not let Emmitt get going.
2. The Offensive Line Cop-Out
As for a couple of other all-time great running backs, Jim Brown had a Pro Bowl lineman every year he was in the league, and 8 out of those 9 seasons he had multiple Pro Bowlers. He never had less than 3 linemen blocking for him that had Pro Bowl experience. In 1958 and 1959, he had FIVE Pro Bowl-caliber blocking for him....FIVE! Yes, all 5 of them had established themselves as Pro Bowlers by then. Three of those linemen (Lou Groza, Gene Hickerson, Mike McCormack) are in the Hall Of Fame, and 2 other ones still have a slight possibility of making it. Eric Dickerson had multiple Pro Bowlers blocking for him in all 4 of the seasons that he won the rushing title. He was another one who, at least in his time with the Rams, had 3 Pro Bowl-caliber linemen on a regular basis. In 1985, the year after he set the single season rushing record of 2,105 yards, all of his linemen made the Pro Bowl except for his left tackle. It's no stretch to say that Eric Dickerson might have put the all-time rushing record out of reach if he would have stayed with the Rams, because that offense was built around him. It's funny how nobody ever holds against them the offensive lines they had. Oh, and what do Jim Brown and Eric Dickerson have in common? Their back-ups stepped in and led the NFL in rushing after they left their teams. Even 2 of Jim Brown's back-ups (Bobby Mitchell and Leroy Kelly) are in the Hall Of Fame.
For proof that Emmitt's line got too much credit for his success, consider the fact that the first 2 years he made the Pro-Bowl, NONE of his linemen made it, or when he won his first rushing title NONE of his linemen made it. As a matter of fact, in his rookie year, Emmitt was the ONLY Cowboy to make the Pro Bowl. To put it in perspective, when he won his first rushing title in 1991, Emmitt had 2 undrafted free agents, a 10th round pick, an 8th round pick, and a 3rd round pick blocking for him. Jimmy Johnson and Nate Newton both admitted that there were several times when the line wasn't blocking well that Emmitt bailed them out. I will say that those linemen do deserve credit for stepping their games up, but Emmitt was a major factor in the way they were perceived, along with the coaches, and Moose.
The biggest misconceptions about that Cowboys offensive line, were that the line had 5 garunteed Hall Of Famers, ANYBODY could run behind that line and get 1000 yards, Barry Sanders would get 2000 yards every year. There are a lot of people who think the line from that era is the best in NFL history.During 1991-1993, the years of Emmitt's first 3 rushing titles, it could not be said that he had an "All-Pro offensive line." No member of that line made the AP All-Pro team in 1991, only one player made it in 1992 (Mark Stepnoski made the 2nd team) and one in 1993 (Erik Williams). That's 2 selections in 3 years--some teams had as many as 6 selections over that same time period. The Cowboys were one of 8 teams that had 2 or more OL on that All-Pro team from 1991-93. If 2 All-Pro OL selections in 3 of Emmitt's best seasons means Dallas had an "All-Pro line", that would mean that 1/4 of the teams in the league had an All-Pro line.
I just have one question: If that line was as good as everybody made them out to be, why couldn't Emmitt's back-ups come in and put up the same production whenever he wasn't in the game? They had to run behind that same line, and they got their chances to produce when Emmitt was either getting a breather, or when he was hurt and couldn't get it done. For anybody that has an eagerness to prove that Emmitt was just the beneficiary of running behind that offensive line, if you do your research like I did, you'll see that in 4 out of those 5 seasons, Emmitt was at least a full yard per carry better than the next best running back on the team.
One other interesting fact, that offensive line had 3 linemen (Donaldson, Stepnoski, Gogan) that made the Pro Bowl for other teams. The thing is, those linemen had other Pro Bowl-caliber running backs that they blocked for. When Ray Donaldson was with the Colts he had Eric Dickerson, Mark Stepnoski had Eddie George with the Oilers, and with the 49ers Kevin Gogan had Garrison Hearst (before he broke his ankle).
3. Intangibles/Impact On The Other Units
Emmitt was the epitomy of what a running back should be, the prototype for what championship caliber teams want their running backs to do, extend the drive ... extend the drive ... extend the drive ... then score. He was an outstanding pass blocker, something Barry either wasn't capable of or willing to do. When the Cowboys needed yardage, Emmitt almost always got it for them. He might not break off one for 80 yards, but he would just beat teams down 4, 6, 3, 2, 8 yards at a time. Then when the defense got tired, he might break off a long run. Barry broke ankles the way most of us walk down the street, but Emmitt elevated his team, and he did it when it counted. Because of Emmitt's ability to control the clock, the Cowboys defense was able to stay fresh. They looked as good in the 4th quarter as they did in the 1st.
Emmitt was also the best goal-line back in league history. The red zone is where running backs earn their paychecks. Emmitt was as good as there ever was at sealing the deal for his football team. Speaking of that, Emmitt has the NFL record for touchdowns under 10 yards with 138, and 85 of them were from 3 yards or less (which is also an NFL record). Barry apologists are quick to point out that Emmitt's career 4.2 YPC pales in comparison to Barry's 5.0 YPC, this is the reason why. When you score so many of your touchdowns from a short distance like that or have so many 3rd and short conversions, that cuts into a running back's YPC.
Go back and look at the punting stats for the Lions when Barry was there. They punted an awful lot, far too often for a team with a running back that good. If you can find the game stats from those years you will also see that if you look at the play by play that if you took away Barry's longest run of the game he often barely averaged 2.5 yards per carry. But he'd mix in a 60+ yard run and it would look like 4.5 yards per carry. If you look directly at the Lions stats from Barry's last year (1998) and the 2 years that followed, you'll notice that they actually won more games despite less talent with Barry's absence you will see one very telling stat. Look at the 3rd down conversion %. It backs up my point. They converted better, sustained more drives, and scored a little bit more. The big difference was that the Lions' defense wasn't so tired from all the 3 and outs, and they allowed fewer points. That translates to more wins. All of the units of a football team integrate and fit together like a puzzle, and they all affect each other in some way.
Since I'm talking about the Lions' records after Barry retired, why not take it further? In 1998, Barry's last year, the Lions were 5-11. The following season, the Lions improved to 8-8, and in 2000 impoved by one more game to 9-7. They went from 9-7 in 2000 to 2-14 in 2001, and 3-13 in 2002. How did they go from 9-7 to 2-14? Two words: Matt Millen. He was hired in 2000, and when he got settled in, decided to shake the team up. During his time in Detroit, Matt Millen was never able to dig the Lions out of the hole he dug for them. During his tenure, the Lions had an apalling record of 8-50. Ouch!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment