Who Is The Best Running Back Of All-Time?

[bearfield]

i have realised that there are a lot traders of different ages on here. some, a lot younger.

it would also follow that there are a lot of people on here that NEVER saw barry play.

it is a reasonably assumption on my part that the ones bad mouthing barry never saw him play so they don't have a clue as to how good he was.

they are probably also the ones that can't tell what a good o-line does, so they aren't really knowledgable about the offensive schmes of a game. thats why they think emmitt is the best ever. this i can understand.

now i can understand why they think the way they do. they just never saw barry play.

how unfortunate. i am sad they missed seeing the greatest running back ever play the game. some of us are so lucky and grateful to have seen him.

there are some who won't understand my rationalization here.
old saying---you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

[atma232]

Well everyone who is around long enough to watch football from the early days of the afl and nfl agree that the greatest is Jim Brown. Heck they all agree that he is the greatest football player of all time, not just the best RB. Imagine if Bo Jackson, the perfect combination of speed and power, had played for 9 years. And in those 9 years, he led the league in rushing 8 times, named MVP 3 times, Pro Bowl MVP 3 times, took his team to the championship 3 times and won once, never missing a game in 9 of those years, and when he retired he had the record for most rushing tds, most rushing yds, most yds from scrimmage, most overall tds. Then imagine that Bo had to stay in separate hotels from the rest of the team because he is black, that he played all of his games outside in the middle of winter in cities like Pittsburgh, NY, Detroit, that he invented the position of Running Back. Before Jim Brown, you had a half back and a full back. Jim Brown was both, because he had the speed of a halfback and the power of a fullback, they just gave him the ball all the time and thus was born the full time running back. So in terms of dominance, toughness, success, records, speed, power and impact on the game, Jim Brown was the best.

[capt55]

I say: This is going by the number of years they played.
Jim Brown
Eric Dickerson
O.J. Simpson
Walter P.
Earl Campbell

Just my 2 cents worth.

[MrMojo]

[capt55]

Barry and E. S. were both awesome backs, Barry quit way too soon, and E.S. stayed way too long.

[capt55]

Everyone has to remember, maybe the league is a little softer now, with free agency movement, teams can now load up with any player they want, Jim Brown played with one team, and thats how they signed on for, now, a year here, couple of years here, wherever the MOOLA is.
If you ask me, L.T. will quit early, because I think he will want the big big money and lets face it, he is not the real L.T. anyway, we know who was.

[bearfield]

atma232; i agree jim brown was a great running back, and he ran for 2,000 yards how many times with no, the key word here being NO, offensive line ? nuff said about that.

the league is a lot softer now, turf toe, ouch ouch, i have to sit out 3 games.
which of you can remember when a player would play the whole game, as in both ways.
and i mean play football, not footsie.
on the field the whole 60 minutes, i doubt it there are 2 or 3 playing today that could do that.

[kobe847]

IMO Barry Sanders

but if you ask my current fav player.. hell say hes the best in the league and what not lol

Willis McGahee

[GeorgehenryCollec]

I saw both Barry and Emmitt Play. Neither one is the greatest. Then again I like Backs that are bruisers. My favorite is Earl Campbell.

[#11 Roy Williams]

I say: This is going by the number of years they played.
Jim Brown
Eric Dickerson
O.J. Simpson
Walter P.
Earl Campbell

Just my 2 cents worth.

I just don't see how Barry Sanders isn't there. If he would've had a decent team, not even a great o-line, not only would he have been able to get TONS more yardage, but he would've played longer. He even said that he lost the love for the game, and with no love for the game, there isn't a reason to play. I would lose the love for the game if I had to make this team win every single week. Bad QB, Mediocre WRs, BAD O-line. What is he supposed to do? Give him a good o-lineman, and a couple more years, that record would be so out of reach that there would be no question to who was the greatest.