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.