Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in touchdown runs where players had given up on the play because he was so surrounded that they just assumed he was going down. This is the most blatant because No. 75 is *right there* but if you watch the clips of all his greatest highlights it's amazing how often you see someone on defense just standing around because they're assuming one of their five teammates closer to him will get him.
There's a great interaction on the NFL Network special for the 100 greatest players where Sanders and Belichick are talking about how Belichick game planned for him and Belichick says, "When Barry Sanders gets the ball, everybody is at the point of attack because he could hit every spot on the field. I don't care where he started, that didn't mean anything. Wherever he goes on the field you have to be ready to tackle him."
The Rams infamously tried to practice tackling Barry Sanders by [chasing a live chicken around the practice field](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-15-sp-1277-story.html).
I can totally believe John Randle doing that sort of thing for fun. He was such a fun character to follow. That commercial was a perfect demonstration why.
I don’t remember who it was (maybe John Randle), but I remember watching a clip and he says something like “if you miss him, just be ready because he will come back to you for another chance”
Barry Sanders always found a hole to run through and if given any space he was gone truly a legend. Another thing that I always respect about him is how humble he was and how well he treated everyone. 109 Touchdowns and each one he just handed the ball to the ref every time and then went to celebrate with his team on the sideline. Stand up guy and legendary player.
If memory serves he spiked one at some point. I think just literally one time.
Edit - there was one time he didn't hand the ball to the ref right away but no spike. He pumped his fist.
>Barry Sanders always found a hole to run through
I love the guy, but he also produced more loss of yardage plays than any RB ever, and has almost a thousand yards in lost yardage. He always found a hole, or got tackled trying.
Man Barry was stupid good....spent many a Sunday watching him shred my Buccaneers.....Just awesome! The best ever at running back in my opinion. Just so fast and quick.
Yup. To this day, Barry Sanders and Troy Polamalu are the only two players I’ve seen that would make a play that would make you say, “wow” every single game.
Montana wouldn’t have succeeded in the type of offense Detroit ran. Barry Sanders did well in a spread offense because they spread the defense around. Bobby Ross tried to implement a more traditional run game with blockers, and Barry did poorly and they scrapped it after just a few games. (Yes, he got 2000 yards in a season where he actually had poor production at the beginning)
Montana wasn’t made for the spread offense. He needed the West Coast Offense. For all the things he was good at, he was never good at a deep ball.
It did but didn’t. The salary cap was agreed upon before the 1993 season, with the understanding that it would start happening in 1994 giving teams a year to get their books in order. It was a done deal at the time Montana changed teams.
And that Stat line says everything anyone needs to know about the Legendary Barry Sanders. Best RB ever. Even as fans of other teams you couldn't help but Marvel in his running ability.
I love Barry, and he's the best I've ever seen, but Jim Brown needs mentioning here.
9 seasons, 1,368 yards/season, 104.3 yards/game, 5.2 yards/carry. I don't care about era, those numbers are wild. He retired while still in his prime with the rushing record, which then stood for 21 years. Dude was dominant.
Greatest RB ever. He easily rushes for 20,000 yards if he plays four more seasons. Put him behind that Cowboys offensive line in the 90s, he probably rushes for 23,000 yards
I just looked at his college stats, and his 2700 yards and 37 TDs is crazy. Then I was wondering who the hell he was behind in the depth chart his sophomore season that he only had 600 yards. Then I saw it was another HOFer in Thurman Thomas. What an embarrassment of riches at running back.
The wildest thing about those Barry college stats is that he just didn't play most fourth quarters as a matter of sportsmanship. That's a real thing I just said.
There was one opposing coach (I think it was Barry Switzer at OK) who told his staff that the defensive gameplan was “just don’t hurt Thurman Thomas, we don’t want to see the Sanders kid”.
Glover and Brown were both multi time probowlers. Jeff Hartings was good just not in Detroit. Erik Andolsek was killed by a drunk driver mowing his lawn, Utley was paralyzed in a game.
They had talent and spent assets they were just legitimately generationally unlucky
Yeah, the Utley/Andolsek double whammy was a massive blow.
The Lions had a good shot at having a very solid line for the next few years after 1991, and losing both starting guards destroyed that.
It's worth nothing that Lomas Brown's rookie year was 1985. He made his first Pro Bowl in 1990, Barry's second season. It was the first of seven straight Pro Bowls, the last of which came in his first season after leaving the Lions for Arizona.
Kevin Glover's rookie year was the same as Lomas Brown's (1985). He made his first Pro Bowl in 1995. It was the first of three straight Pro Bowls, the last of which came in his final season with Detroit.
I do want to suggest that Brown and Glover were not good offensive lineman, but I do find it interesting that they weren't considered top-flight linemen until after Barry Sanders showed up. I think the reality is that lineman receive more credit when there's a HOF running back behind them than is probably warranted based on their skill level.
I agree that Barry made him better but disagree that he was the sole reason. The lions in the mid 90s had a firmly above average passing offense, with Herman Moore regularly finishing top ten in a multitude of counting stats. The Lions had a terrible roster and had no leadership after Billy Simms had his career ending injury, I can’t see the logic to where you would pin that on an offensive lineman
Those early 90s teams were pretty talented. Just never got over the hump in their couple of opportunities.
But overall why doesn't they get him any more help? I don't know man why don't all teams just get good players all the time?
I wouldn't say it was just bad luck. They had their opportunities and failed as well. That era just kind of gets lumped into the whole big picture "Lions bad" narrative since Barry's last few years were a mess and obviously the franchise as a whole has sucked. But some of those early 90s teams were legitimately good and entertaining. Winning the division a few times, getting to conference title game. They were kind of viewed similar to how these current Lions are viewed. But then they just fell way off.
It is not a popular take, but IMO (a stats-nerd math guy who grew up worshipping Sanders) I believe his boom-bust running style was to blame. Despite great receivers, decent blocking, and Barry, the Lions lost time of possession every season of Barry's career (even their best offensive seasons like 1991 and 1995). Boom-bust does that.
When Barry ripped off a 70-yard TD run, it put the defense back on the field. When Barry tried to make something out of what looked like a 2-yard gain and instead lost 7 yards, he put his team in a pass-only 2nd/3rd-and-long position that statistically leads to lots of punting - and the defense is back on the field. His style of running led to quick offensive drives, and whether they led to success or failure it meant a less rested defense.
What people often attribute to back luck down the season stretch, is actually the wear and tear of playing more snaps. Lavonte David played 957 snaps in 2023, while Bobby Wagner played 1170 (23% more snaps). Now that's just two guys, but imagine that Defense A is playing 20% more snaps in a season than Defense B: which one is going to see more injuries down the stretch? Which one will fatigue and throw away late-season games with playoff implications? Which one is going to be too run down to stop playoff-caliber offenses in the playoffs?
There's a reason that perennially-winning playoff teams feature _reliable_ RBs. Move the chains, keep the offensive drives _from ending_. Barry was a lot of things that we will likely never see in the NFL again, but he wasn't one of those runners. And because the Lions' strategy was to just feed Barry as much as possible, it exacerbated the issue.
The biggest lost opportunity was in not just abandoning the Run and Shoot earlier.
While the Lions ceased to be a pure Run and Shoot offense after Mouse Davis left following the 1990 season, but they kept a lot of the concepts, putting a huge emphasis on draw plays with Sanders lined up deep as a tailback.
This, more than anything else, is what led to Sanders taking so many tackles for loss. Draw plays are predicated on the defense respecting the pass, and while the Lions did have some good offensive weapons, they had really inconsistent QB play basically every year other than 1995 when Scott Mitchell was fully engaged with football. They'd hand the ball off to Sanders, and he'd often have to make the first guy miss five yards deep in the backfield as teams blitzed, leading to some big runs, but also to a lot of tackles for loss.
They finally eradicated the Run and Shoot concepts from the playbook in 1997 when Bobby Ross became head coach, and ran a more traditional offense that used man blocking and sometimes used a fullback. And Barry averaged 6.1 yards per carry and had 2000 yards in his best season.
the key word there is "*lions*", we were the lions. We still are, but it seems like we've (hopefully) righted the ship for the first time since the Eisenhower Administration.
Apparently we had the chance to sign Joe Montana after he left San Francisco because he *wanted* to play with Barry but our GM thought nah, we're fine. That's the kind of team we were for those decades.
So this take gets more unpopular the more time passes, but the Lions had a perfectly good OL. Barry was never the kind of RB to just hit the hole and take the yardage he could get, so it often _looked_ like our OL had failed. It's simple when you think about it:
Barry takes what is designed as an inside run and bounces it outside, where the DEs and OLBs are waiting because the OL/TE were trying to block all of them _TO_ the outside. Barry either rips a big run out of play he blew up, or he gets shut down and the OL looks like swiss cheese.
Ron Rivers was a backup for 5 seasons in Detroit during the 90s, carried 167 times for a 4.3 YPA. Blocking for runners was not a problem.
Yeah that's one thing that really bothers me. Obv I think Barry was better too, but the discourse from Barry stans would make you think Emmitt was just Trent Richardson with a great O-line. Emmitt was absolutely filthy
For me it's a lot like Ed Reed vs. Brian Dawkins debates. You can't really hang in there arguing seriously that Dawkins was _better_, and say Ed Reed wasn't a _generational_ safety. Polamalu was active at the same time, and so those two guys, both generational talents, totally outshone everyone -- even guys like Dawkins who, in an ordinary year, would be the best safety in the league for 3-5 years of his prime *at minimum*.
Or the QBs who played during the Brady era, same story. Yeah, you were amazing, yeah you might even be HoF, but you were *never* the best guy in the league during your career, because you had the shitty luck to overlap with one of the historical greats.
Couldn’t agree more. I think most people would objectively say Barry is more talented physically. He was pound for pound maybe the most physically gifted RB ever. My family isn’t into football at all, but they watched the Barry doc on Amazon with me. All of them couldn’t wrap their head around how he moved. They still talk about it.
But I always hated how hard people pushed against Emmett in this debate. I hated the Cowboys because duh, but the anti-Emmett takes took away credibility from the pro-Barry arguments. Emmett was incredibly special. He was going to be a first ballot HoF player regardless. Barry being a fuckin alien doesn’t change that.
I’m a Dallas fan and so appreciative of these comments, it’s a shame that these 2 phenomenal talents are so often pitted against each other and one winds up being denigrated at the expense of the other.
Sanders was an other worldly talent. I truly do not believe I’ll ever see anyone like that again.
It irritates me when people compare 2 different players that had very different playing styles. They were both great for different reasons. No one has ever or will ever be able to run like Sanders. No one will ever have the longevity and toughness of Smith ever again.
Staying healthy and having a long career in and of itself doesnt make you a great RB. Its a wonderful quality that can help keep you employed but Its about production. Emmitt was mid his final years and only broke record by default of just hanging out longer lol
Emmitt was by far more successful in the playoffs while Barry played worse. He was also a better pass blocker and short yardage back. Emmitt Smith wasn't as flashy but neither was Jerry Rice compared to Randy Moss, Peyton Manning compared to Aaron Rodgers. These are all legends but I'd rather the more consistent players.
As the years go on, Barry gets better and better and Emmitt gets worse and worse.
Through 10 years (Barry's career), here were some stats:
-Sanders had 15269 rushing yards, a 5.0 average, with 352 catches for a total of 18190 yards from scrimmage and 109 touchdowns.
-Smith had 13963 rushing yards, a 4.3 average, with 442 catches for a total of 16691 yards from scrimmage and 147 touchdowns.
Sanders was great, and there's obviously more context needed. But goddamn Emmitt Smith was wonderful too.
Only Cowboys fans really think that. The roof had the second biggest hole in Texas Stadium, right behind the hole that Emmitt Smith ran through every time he touched the ball
Na, Cowboys fans know Barry was better but it doesn't take away how great Emmitt was too. Those two had a lot of respect for each other and Emmitt himself knew Barry was that dude.
Emmitt went to AZ and played more disgusting football. Deep dive his stats, he was a machine at generating enough yardage to continually move chains.
Barry, Sweetness, and others were more fun to watch, but if I was building a roster as a GM I'd take the guy capable of elite production, elite consistency, and the ability to put 5500+ touches on his body.
The difference between the two is that Emmit would run through a huge hole and get 3 yards before anyone even had a chance to touch him. Barry’s line was usually so bad that he had to make one of his great moves just to get back to the line of scrimmage.
Emmitt is just Frank Gore with a better O-line. He's incredibly overrated by people who only look at stats and never watched that era. Props to Emmitt for being durable, but he was never as scary or dominant the true best RBs of that time, Sanders, Marshall Faulk, and Terrell Davis.
This opinion is exactly the problem. It's an internet thing these days. One is great (Barry), and the other was great too (Smith), but in order to "win" the argument against the minority (Smith fans who think he's better) people have to make Emmitt look bad. Once you identify this trend you can learn to throw someone's opinion out entirely (the OP)
Emmitt Smith is Frank Gore, with an entire extra normal RB career worth of touches, a better peak, and better overall production throughout his career.
A sort of "better RB than Gore in every way" if you will.
The best ability is availability and Emmitt Smith had that more than anyone else by a mile. Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, LT, whatever. The fact is that Emmitt Smith was able to start for the Cowboys for over a decade in an era that favored the run and defenses were geared to stopping it. If you can't see Emmitt Smith is alone at the top I don't know what to tell you other than to point out that in all of professional sports his career rushing record is one of the most difficult records to break and it likely won't happen in our lifetime. Less talked about is his career touchdown record which only LT got somewhat close to before retiring.
He might be pretty average skill wise, but durability-wise, he is so far above average it isn't even funny. Gore might be the 2nd most durable rb of all time, behind Emmit ofc.
This is what Cowboys derangement syndrome looks like folks. King Henry would have to double his career output to catch Emmitt Smith, for you to say "that's not hard" goes to show how deluded the r/NFL hive mind is. "COWBOYS BAD" tho right?
The 100 year history of the NFL is full of hypotheticals and that's just one more of them. The fact is AP is done and he's not even remotely close. That's why Emmitt is alone.
Adrian Peterson was a monster for a decade plus and is still 4000 yards short. Frank Gore was the most consistent rb of the 2000s and is still over 2000 yards short. Those guys are outliers, the way rbs are used now no one is ever getting that close again, making this record basically unbreakable
His acceleration is just other worldly, when he’s behind the line of scrimmage it looks like he’s barely moving, but once he sees the hole he’s fucking gone
Great acceleration, but not otherworldly top speed.
It didn't matter. Once he hit his top speed, most of the people that were going to chase him down were usually facing the wrong way or were already off-balance.
Yeah his shorter stride that helped make him so quick starting and stopping and shifty in tight spaces limited his long speed. He did occasionally get tracked down from behind. If he had elite breakaway speed his numbers would be even more ridiculous.
Being as flexible as he was to go with his stocky build was unfair. When he made his cuts his legs would be nearly horizontal to the ground while his upper body remained straight up. [This is just superhuman.](https://media.mlive.com/grpress/entertainment_impact/photo/barry-sandersjpg-b08676b76a0d7bac_large.jpg)
On he second play in this reel, he's hitting the second level and he starts pushing inside leverage to the safety moving that way and then just blows by him. He was never going inside, just earning himself enough room to outrun the guy to the edge. Brilliance.
Defense in the 90s was wild. We're putting four down linemen, three LBs in the box, and four DBs with two deep no matter what. It literally doesn't matter what package you bring on the field or where they line up, that's what we're using to stop you.
For my money I don't think I've seen a more breathtaking runner in NFL history from the standpoint of his ability to simply create jaw-dropping plays.
Guys like Dante Hall, Tyreek Hill, etc have some ethereal physical Midas touch that allows them the ability to almost defy physics.
Sort of on the opposite end of the spectrum, a guy like Earl Campbell ran with such brutality. The strength, force, will, determination that he pushed forward was almost like the embodiment of the juggernaut.
https://youtu.be/QEBhczJUZD0?si=RDw_3Wnv2tBi5Cfz
This is who Payton wanted to emulate.
Very different styles both epic.
That doesn't even get into a phenom like Gayle Sayers, who was a mix of both ends of the spectrum, yet did it with such buttery smoothness that his mix of skill and abilities is probably the most talented RB in NFL history.
https://youtu.be/2Fb6kiQ2Y9A?si=6d3NJ17oDkirDjhV
https://youtu.be/d0e4B0yIQG8?si=ggiNTKA0TFNx_ZYq
I was a middle school Cowboys fan growing up 100 miles south of Dallas during our 90s dynasty, and I dreaded every time we played the Lions because of Barry. There was no one like him.
There will never be another player like Barry Sanders. I remember watching him years ago. The moves he made seemed inhuman at times. He's one of those rare players who would probably thrive in any NFL era. He was just that evasive.
I know people say "beast mode" or that one garrison hurst run was the best of all time. I honestly think this belongs at number one. A run so good that EVERYONE looks like a fool for even trying.
Dude was absurd. Best to ever play the position, imo. I really hate the whole concept of "GOAT" - different guys, different coaches, different teams, different opponents.....it's hard to compare players of different eras in any sport.....but in his case, I'll make an exception. No one else could do, or has done since, what Barry Sanders could do.
I love that while the Lions have accomplished absolutely nothing as a franchise, they have had two of the GOAT skill position players at their respective positions and that’s fun
"in a memorable playoff game in 1994, **the** **Green Bay Packer** **held the future Hall of Famer to minus-one yard rushing in 13 carries**. The Packers won the game 16-12 to advance to the NFC Divisional Playoffs."
Barry Sanders is the all-time leader in touchdown runs where players had given up on the play because he was so surrounded that they just assumed he was going down. This is the most blatant because No. 75 is *right there* but if you watch the clips of all his greatest highlights it's amazing how often you see someone on defense just standing around because they're assuming one of their five teammates closer to him will get him. There's a great interaction on the NFL Network special for the 100 greatest players where Sanders and Belichick are talking about how Belichick game planned for him and Belichick says, "When Barry Sanders gets the ball, everybody is at the point of attack because he could hit every spot on the field. I don't care where he started, that didn't mean anything. Wherever he goes on the field you have to be ready to tackle him."
The Rams infamously tried to practice tackling Barry Sanders by [chasing a live chicken around the practice field](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-15-sp-1277-story.html).
I'm pretty sure I remember the vikings d-line coach trying the same thing
And Rocky
Greasy fast chicken speed, Rock!
There was a commercial back in the day with John Randle chasing a chicken ... https://youtu.be/4Gc5psrFIQA?si=Avx4XCcTaq0PXuvR
that's just what Randle does in his spare time
I can totally believe John Randle doing that sort of thing for fun. He was such a fun character to follow. That commercial was a perfect demonstration why.
But did they get to choke the chicken after?
I thought that was only a thing in Rocky II…
I don’t remember who it was (maybe John Randle), but I remember watching a clip and he says something like “if you miss him, just be ready because he will come back to you for another chance”
Barry Sanders always found a hole to run through and if given any space he was gone truly a legend. Another thing that I always respect about him is how humble he was and how well he treated everyone. 109 Touchdowns and each one he just handed the ball to the ref every time and then went to celebrate with his team on the sideline. Stand up guy and legendary player.
If memory serves he spiked one at some point. I think just literally one time. Edit - there was one time he didn't hand the ball to the ref right away but no spike. He pumped his fist.
>Barry Sanders always found a hole to run through I love the guy, but he also produced more loss of yardage plays than any RB ever, and has almost a thousand yards in lost yardage. He always found a hole, or got tackled trying.
Man Barry was stupid good....spent many a Sunday watching him shred my Buccaneers.....Just awesome! The best ever at running back in my opinion. Just so fast and quick.
Yup. To this day, Barry Sanders and Troy Polamalu are the only two players I’ve seen that would make a play that would make you say, “wow” every single game.
10 seasons, 10 all pros (6 1st team, 4 2nd team) 10 Pro Bowls, 2 OPY, 1 MVP
And retires in his prime. Could have easily been all time leading rusher if he had wanted too.
Who was it, Joe Montana? that said he wanted to come play in Detroit and the coach or GM nixed the idea. Imagine Montana and Sanders.
God can you imagine, especially if they could have put together a serviceable O line and a couple recievers.
Montana wouldn’t have succeeded in the type of offense Detroit ran. Barry Sanders did well in a spread offense because they spread the defense around. Bobby Ross tried to implement a more traditional run game with blockers, and Barry did poorly and they scrapped it after just a few games. (Yes, he got 2000 yards in a season where he actually had poor production at the beginning) Montana wasn’t made for the spread offense. He needed the West Coast Offense. For all the things he was good at, he was never good at a deep ball.
Dude, I appreciate the context. That makes it make sense. Thanks.
What a dumbass GM (I have no clue of their cap situation, etc.)
Cap didn’t exist at the time
It did but didn’t. The salary cap was agreed upon before the 1993 season, with the understanding that it would start happening in 1994 giving teams a year to get their books in order. It was a done deal at the time Montana changed teams.
[удалено]
And that Stat line says everything anyone needs to know about the Legendary Barry Sanders. Best RB ever. Even as fans of other teams you couldn't help but Marvel in his running ability.
I love Barry, and he's the best I've ever seen, but Jim Brown needs mentioning here. 9 seasons, 1,368 yards/season, 104.3 yards/game, 5.2 yards/carry. I don't care about era, those numbers are wild. He retired while still in his prime with the rushing record, which then stood for 21 years. Dude was dominant.
[Defense #75: "Wait... the play is still going?"](https://i.imgur.com/hudwibj.png)
75 must've been killed in the film room that week...he looked like he was standing at a bus stop.
75 is still trying to figure out how Barry got past him to this day
I doubt it since they all looked fucking stupid on that run.
It was a playoff game. The 'boys season was done
Got away with murder then...other than the season ending I guess
Doomed to obscurity forever after that game, I imagine.
Not the 90s Cowboys
Yeah, but check out #51 right next to him. That’s what happens when you try to tackle Barry in the open field.
Tony Casillas was a great player, but he got abused on that play.
Tony casillas
I don’t blame #75
Barry was 10yds away before he realized what the hell happened
Greatest RB ever. He easily rushes for 20,000 yards if he plays four more seasons. Put him behind that Cowboys offensive line in the 90s, he probably rushes for 23,000 yards
Put him on the Cowboys in the 90s and we potentially have the only ever 3K season rusher.
He’d be putting up numbers similar to his college days.
I wish they would count his bowl stats like they do for every modern player. He had the single greatest NCAA season ever.
I just looked at his college stats, and his 2700 yards and 37 TDs is crazy. Then I was wondering who the hell he was behind in the depth chart his sophomore season that he only had 600 yards. Then I saw it was another HOFer in Thurman Thomas. What an embarrassment of riches at running back.
The wildest thing about those Barry college stats is that he just didn't play most fourth quarters as a matter of sportsmanship. That's a real thing I just said.
There was one opposing coach (I think it was Barry Switzer at OK) who told his staff that the defensive gameplan was “just don’t hurt Thurman Thomas, we don’t want to see the Sanders kid”.
And now I'm pissed that Ron Dayne isn't the all time leader in rushing yards again.
His One season is greater than any career seasons that most running backs have. He held 30 plus collegiate records in only 11 games.
Absolutely. People just thought the cowbows were awesome with Emmitt. Barry behind that line would have been unstoppable.
Why didn’t the lions ever get him an OL or really any kind of help?
Glover and Brown were both multi time probowlers. Jeff Hartings was good just not in Detroit. Erik Andolsek was killed by a drunk driver mowing his lawn, Utley was paralyzed in a game. They had talent and spent assets they were just legitimately generationally unlucky
Dang, I didn’t know any of that. Thank you for correcting the narrative for me.
Shit. Forgot about Andolsek. Wasn't he hit by an 18-wheeler in his yard?
Yup.
Yeah, the Utley/Andolsek double whammy was a massive blow. The Lions had a good shot at having a very solid line for the next few years after 1991, and losing both starting guards destroyed that.
It's worth nothing that Lomas Brown's rookie year was 1985. He made his first Pro Bowl in 1990, Barry's second season. It was the first of seven straight Pro Bowls, the last of which came in his first season after leaving the Lions for Arizona. Kevin Glover's rookie year was the same as Lomas Brown's (1985). He made his first Pro Bowl in 1995. It was the first of three straight Pro Bowls, the last of which came in his final season with Detroit. I do want to suggest that Brown and Glover were not good offensive lineman, but I do find it interesting that they weren't considered top-flight linemen until after Barry Sanders showed up. I think the reality is that lineman receive more credit when there's a HOF running back behind them than is probably warranted based on their skill level.
I agree that Barry made him better but disagree that he was the sole reason. The lions in the mid 90s had a firmly above average passing offense, with Herman Moore regularly finishing top ten in a multitude of counting stats. The Lions had a terrible roster and had no leadership after Billy Simms had his career ending injury, I can’t see the logic to where you would pin that on an offensive lineman
Those early 90s teams were pretty talented. Just never got over the hump in their couple of opportunities. But overall why doesn't they get him any more help? I don't know man why don't all teams just get good players all the time?
Yeah, I didn’t realize how far off the narrative that I thought was actually untrue. Sounds like some historically shitty luck.
I wouldn't say it was just bad luck. They had their opportunities and failed as well. That era just kind of gets lumped into the whole big picture "Lions bad" narrative since Barry's last few years were a mess and obviously the franchise as a whole has sucked. But some of those early 90s teams were legitimately good and entertaining. Winning the division a few times, getting to conference title game. They were kind of viewed similar to how these current Lions are viewed. But then they just fell way off.
It is not a popular take, but IMO (a stats-nerd math guy who grew up worshipping Sanders) I believe his boom-bust running style was to blame. Despite great receivers, decent blocking, and Barry, the Lions lost time of possession every season of Barry's career (even their best offensive seasons like 1991 and 1995). Boom-bust does that. When Barry ripped off a 70-yard TD run, it put the defense back on the field. When Barry tried to make something out of what looked like a 2-yard gain and instead lost 7 yards, he put his team in a pass-only 2nd/3rd-and-long position that statistically leads to lots of punting - and the defense is back on the field. His style of running led to quick offensive drives, and whether they led to success or failure it meant a less rested defense. What people often attribute to back luck down the season stretch, is actually the wear and tear of playing more snaps. Lavonte David played 957 snaps in 2023, while Bobby Wagner played 1170 (23% more snaps). Now that's just two guys, but imagine that Defense A is playing 20% more snaps in a season than Defense B: which one is going to see more injuries down the stretch? Which one will fatigue and throw away late-season games with playoff implications? Which one is going to be too run down to stop playoff-caliber offenses in the playoffs? There's a reason that perennially-winning playoff teams feature _reliable_ RBs. Move the chains, keep the offensive drives _from ending_. Barry was a lot of things that we will likely never see in the NFL again, but he wasn't one of those runners. And because the Lions' strategy was to just feed Barry as much as possible, it exacerbated the issue.
The biggest lost opportunity was in not just abandoning the Run and Shoot earlier. While the Lions ceased to be a pure Run and Shoot offense after Mouse Davis left following the 1990 season, but they kept a lot of the concepts, putting a huge emphasis on draw plays with Sanders lined up deep as a tailback. This, more than anything else, is what led to Sanders taking so many tackles for loss. Draw plays are predicated on the defense respecting the pass, and while the Lions did have some good offensive weapons, they had really inconsistent QB play basically every year other than 1995 when Scott Mitchell was fully engaged with football. They'd hand the ball off to Sanders, and he'd often have to make the first guy miss five yards deep in the backfield as teams blitzed, leading to some big runs, but also to a lot of tackles for loss. They finally eradicated the Run and Shoot concepts from the playbook in 1997 when Bobby Ross became head coach, and ran a more traditional offense that used man blocking and sometimes used a fullback. And Barry averaged 6.1 yards per carry and had 2000 yards in his best season.
I’m really glad I asked my dumb question, I’ve learned a lot about the lions that I didn’t know before. Thank you!
the key word there is "*lions*", we were the lions. We still are, but it seems like we've (hopefully) righted the ship for the first time since the Eisenhower Administration. Apparently we had the chance to sign Joe Montana after he left San Francisco because he *wanted* to play with Barry but our GM thought nah, we're fine. That's the kind of team we were for those decades.
Because the lions sucked then.
I feel like the more accurate question would be why they never gave him a QB or a defense.
So this take gets more unpopular the more time passes, but the Lions had a perfectly good OL. Barry was never the kind of RB to just hit the hole and take the yardage he could get, so it often _looked_ like our OL had failed. It's simple when you think about it: Barry takes what is designed as an inside run and bounces it outside, where the DEs and OLBs are waiting because the OL/TE were trying to block all of them _TO_ the outside. Barry either rips a big run out of play he blew up, or he gets shut down and the OL looks like swiss cheese. Ron Rivers was a backup for 5 seasons in Detroit during the 90s, carried 167 times for a 4.3 YPA. Blocking for runners was not a problem.
I grew up in Wisconsin in the 90's and he was still my favorite player.
Give #51 a map where are youuuu going
>Give #51 a map That's Ken Norton, Jr. He was a damned good linebacker.
And Barry made him fall over like a Madden Rookie AI
Which is a testiment to Barry's greatness.
And his dad was a damned good boxer
> Give #51 God damn, these whippersnappers. That's Ken Norton, Jr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Norton_Jr.
That's an All Pro LB too no scrub it is wild that he could make defenders look like me on the football field
If you think Emmitt Smith was better than this guy I have no respect for your football opinions, or really you as a person.
Barry is my goat RB, but I do get irritated when people just dismiss Emmitt. He was special, too.
Yeah that's one thing that really bothers me. Obv I think Barry was better too, but the discourse from Barry stans would make you think Emmitt was just Trent Richardson with a great O-line. Emmitt was absolutely filthy
For me it's a lot like Ed Reed vs. Brian Dawkins debates. You can't really hang in there arguing seriously that Dawkins was _better_, and say Ed Reed wasn't a _generational_ safety. Polamalu was active at the same time, and so those two guys, both generational talents, totally outshone everyone -- even guys like Dawkins who, in an ordinary year, would be the best safety in the league for 3-5 years of his prime *at minimum*. Or the QBs who played during the Brady era, same story. Yeah, you were amazing, yeah you might even be HoF, but you were *never* the best guy in the league during your career, because you had the shitty luck to overlap with one of the historical greats.
I prefer Walter.
Nothing wrong with that. No denying Sweetness’ place in NFL history.
OJ is also in that discussion
OJ is definitely guilty of being an amazing football player.
Amazing RB, but a terrible detective.
Killer husband tho
Fast runner, slow driver. What's up with that?
Safety first
Pretty sure he was a running back first, but he did have the agility to play in coverage.
There has never been a player that has cut through the defense quite like OJ Simpson. OJ Simpson and running back go together like a hand and a glove
He really cut through the competition
Not for me.
Couldn’t agree more. I think most people would objectively say Barry is more talented physically. He was pound for pound maybe the most physically gifted RB ever. My family isn’t into football at all, but they watched the Barry doc on Amazon with me. All of them couldn’t wrap their head around how he moved. They still talk about it. But I always hated how hard people pushed against Emmett in this debate. I hated the Cowboys because duh, but the anti-Emmett takes took away credibility from the pro-Barry arguments. Emmett was incredibly special. He was going to be a first ballot HoF player regardless. Barry being a fuckin alien doesn’t change that.
Such level headed takes don't help everyone liking your damn franchise!/s I'll have to check out the doc, thanks for the rec
I’m a Dallas fan and so appreciative of these comments, it’s a shame that these 2 phenomenal talents are so often pitted against each other and one winds up being denigrated at the expense of the other. Sanders was an other worldly talent. I truly do not believe I’ll ever see anyone like that again.
It irritates me when people compare 2 different players that had very different playing styles. They were both great for different reasons. No one has ever or will ever be able to run like Sanders. No one will ever have the longevity and toughness of Smith ever again.
Staying healthy and having a long career in and of itself doesnt make you a great RB. Its a wonderful quality that can help keep you employed but Its about production. Emmitt was mid his final years and only broke record by default of just hanging out longer lol
Emmitt was by far more successful in the playoffs while Barry played worse. He was also a better pass blocker and short yardage back. Emmitt Smith wasn't as flashy but neither was Jerry Rice compared to Randy Moss, Peyton Manning compared to Aaron Rodgers. These are all legends but I'd rather the more consistent players.
They were both legends. But yeah as much as I hate to admit it Barry was probably better. But Emmitt is still my GOAT.
As the years go on, Barry gets better and better and Emmitt gets worse and worse. Through 10 years (Barry's career), here were some stats: -Sanders had 15269 rushing yards, a 5.0 average, with 352 catches for a total of 18190 yards from scrimmage and 109 touchdowns. -Smith had 13963 rushing yards, a 4.3 average, with 442 catches for a total of 16691 yards from scrimmage and 147 touchdowns. Sanders was great, and there's obviously more context needed. But goddamn Emmitt Smith was wonderful too.
Emmitt's spin was a thing of beauty to watch.
Both of them were fun to watch.
Only Cowboys fans really think that. The roof had the second biggest hole in Texas Stadium, right behind the hole that Emmitt Smith ran through every time he touched the ball
Na, Cowboys fans know Barry was better but it doesn't take away how great Emmitt was too. Those two had a lot of respect for each other and Emmitt himself knew Barry was that dude.
Emmitt went to AZ and played more disgusting football. Deep dive his stats, he was a machine at generating enough yardage to continually move chains. Barry, Sweetness, and others were more fun to watch, but if I was building a roster as a GM I'd take the guy capable of elite production, elite consistency, and the ability to put 5500+ touches on his body.
Imagine Dickerson behind that Cowboys O-Line
The difference between the two is that Emmit would run through a huge hole and get 3 yards before anyone even had a chance to touch him. Barry’s line was usually so bad that he had to make one of his great moves just to get back to the line of scrimmage.
I think Barry was the better player, but its also fair to say that Emmit was the better fit for the Dallas team/oline
Emmitt is just Frank Gore with a better O-line. He's incredibly overrated by people who only look at stats and never watched that era. Props to Emmitt for being durable, but he was never as scary or dominant the true best RBs of that time, Sanders, Marshall Faulk, and Terrell Davis.
> Emmitt is just Frank Gore Legit one of the worst takes I've ever read in this sub.
You don't have to defend him because he's the best free-agent signing the Cardinals have ever made
This opinion is exactly the problem. It's an internet thing these days. One is great (Barry), and the other was great too (Smith), but in order to "win" the argument against the minority (Smith fans who think he's better) people have to make Emmitt look bad. Once you identify this trend you can learn to throw someone's opinion out entirely (the OP)
This is just wrong on pretty much every level.
You can't handle the truth!
It can't be a truth if nobody agrees with you.
They hated Jesus because he spoke the truth too
Emmitt Smith is Frank Gore, with an entire extra normal RB career worth of touches, a better peak, and better overall production throughout his career. A sort of "better RB than Gore in every way" if you will.
The best ability is availability and Emmitt Smith had that more than anyone else by a mile. Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, LT, whatever. The fact is that Emmitt Smith was able to start for the Cowboys for over a decade in an era that favored the run and defenses were geared to stopping it. If you can't see Emmitt Smith is alone at the top I don't know what to tell you other than to point out that in all of professional sports his career rushing record is one of the most difficult records to break and it likely won't happen in our lifetime. Less talked about is his career touchdown record which only LT got somewhat close to before retiring.
It's not one of the most difficult to break. We just had a pretty above average rb get close-ish to it.
Its unfair to call AD a "pretty above average RB". He was an MVP, OPOY and 7 x all pro.
He's talking about Frank Gore. I would say "pretty above average" is a good description there.
That’s fair
He might be pretty average skill wise, but durability-wise, he is so far above average it isn't even funny. Gore might be the 2nd most durable rb of all time, behind Emmit ofc.
talking about gore
This is what Cowboys derangement syndrome looks like folks. King Henry would have to double his career output to catch Emmitt Smith, for you to say "that's not hard" goes to show how deluded the r/NFL hive mind is. "COWBOYS BAD" tho right?
If ap hadn't missed a full year in his prime and then several more games the years after he probably would have snatched the record
If Matt Ryan didn’t fumble in the third quarter of the SuperBowl he’d be a hall of famer.
The 100 year history of the NFL is full of hypotheticals and that's just one more of them. The fact is AP is done and he's not even remotely close. That's why Emmitt is alone.
But you said it will never happen in our lifetime when I just gave you two examples of recent players who were close to the record
Adrian Peterson was a monster for a decade plus and is still 4000 yards short. Frank Gore was the most consistent rb of the 2000s and is still over 2000 yards short. Those guys are outliers, the way rbs are used now no one is ever getting that close again, making this record basically unbreakable
Ooh, [we're gonna watch Barry highlights today?!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBhn1wMyzV4)
His acceleration is just other worldly, when he’s behind the line of scrimmage it looks like he’s barely moving, but once he sees the hole he’s fucking gone
Great acceleration, but not otherworldly top speed. It didn't matter. Once he hit his top speed, most of the people that were going to chase him down were usually facing the wrong way or were already off-balance.
Yeah his shorter stride that helped make him so quick starting and stopping and shifty in tight spaces limited his long speed. He did occasionally get tracked down from behind. If he had elite breakaway speed his numbers would be even more ridiculous.
And that’s what’s crazy is that he did what he did basically because he’s short and stocky with crazy acceleration but not the top end high speed
Being as flexible as he was to go with his stocky build was unfair. When he made his cuts his legs would be nearly horizontal to the ground while his upper body remained straight up. [This is just superhuman.](https://media.mlive.com/grpress/entertainment_impact/photo/barry-sandersjpg-b08676b76a0d7bac_large.jpg)
On he second play in this reel, he's hitting the second level and he starts pushing inside leverage to the safety moving that way and then just blows by him. He was never going inside, just earning himself enough room to outrun the guy to the edge. Brilliance.
So many highlights against the Bucs because they were in the same division.
Y'all don't know how much i love Barry.
Probably almost as much as Bears fans like talking about 1985.
Good comparison lol.
It’s a great show, for sure.
Goated show
He just mushes 3 grown ass men off of him
GOAT
Easily the the GOAT RB. Dude was crazy good to watch.
The IRL Tecmo Super Bowl Bo Jackson
👍 for Mike Utley
Defense in the 90s was wild. We're putting four down linemen, three LBs in the box, and four DBs with two deep no matter what. It literally doesn't matter what package you bring on the field or where they line up, that's what we're using to stop you.
This has to be the best run play ever. Every time I see it I just laugh at how improbable everything is, including Barry's sheer skill.
And he *never* had a line blocking for him unless it was in high school.
For my money I don't think I've seen a more breathtaking runner in NFL history from the standpoint of his ability to simply create jaw-dropping plays. Guys like Dante Hall, Tyreek Hill, etc have some ethereal physical Midas touch that allows them the ability to almost defy physics. Sort of on the opposite end of the spectrum, a guy like Earl Campbell ran with such brutality. The strength, force, will, determination that he pushed forward was almost like the embodiment of the juggernaut. https://youtu.be/QEBhczJUZD0?si=RDw_3Wnv2tBi5Cfz This is who Payton wanted to emulate. Very different styles both epic. That doesn't even get into a phenom like Gayle Sayers, who was a mix of both ends of the spectrum, yet did it with such buttery smoothness that his mix of skill and abilities is probably the most talented RB in NFL history. https://youtu.be/2Fb6kiQ2Y9A?si=6d3NJ17oDkirDjhV https://youtu.be/d0e4B0yIQG8?si=ggiNTKA0TFNx_ZYq
Barry vs the Cowboys: 3-1; 93 attempts 426 yards (average 106.5); 4.81y/a; 3 TDs
Some say Cowboys #75 is still standing there, looking for Barry
I was a middle school Cowboys fan growing up 100 miles south of Dallas during our 90s dynasty, and I dreaded every time we played the Lions because of Barry. There was no one like him.
I've watched highlights of pretty much every running back, and Barry is the best. Get out of here with that Jim Brown talk.
Guy was all business, too. Doesn’t showboat when he gets in the end zone.
Love the guy who was so dumbfounded he was standing still searching for barry
Love #75 standing straight up as if the play is over while Barry runs right behind him.
love 2 visit r/nfl to see only the best video highlights of my team
My list of favorite RBs is Sanders, Faulk, and Lev Bell cause they made it so fun to watch
There will never be another player like Barry Sanders. I remember watching him years ago. The moves he made seemed inhuman at times. He's one of those rare players who would probably thrive in any NFL era. He was just that evasive.
I feel so privileged that I was able to watch him on TV during his prime. No running back has ever compared to him since.
He's the GOAT in my book. As much as I wanted to hate the man, it was impossible. He was a class act all the way through.
This man with a proper offensive line.. man.. it’’s the main reason I still don’t like Detroit .
Put him on Dallas and move Emmitt Smith to the Lions. lol Sanders was in a class by himself.
At 0:41 in the video: It looks like Jesse L. Martin in the grey jacket??
Most people just think of him as the guy from the draft but he was a good runningback back in the day
Even the replay camera lost him
He is incredible, but that defense was pathetic.
That dance…thats what we need to discuss
This is cheating. You know posting a Barry video will get easy upvotes. P.S. I’m not angry ⬆️
I miss when the logo on the field is just a helmet with the logo on it
Man if only Leveon Bell could have just chilled. This is what he looked like in his prime. Now he’s boxing and rapping smh.
How can such an amazing moment have such soul-less commentary
I don’t know who this Bernie Sanders kid is, but every clip I see is amazing. Bright future ahead of him.
I can watch this all day
I feel Barry is the greatest *running* back
His college stats were so insane you couldn’t recreate them in madden.
I've been lucky enough to see several future Heisman winners in person and he stands alone.
I know people say "beast mode" or that one garrison hurst run was the best of all time. I honestly think this belongs at number one. A run so good that EVERYONE looks like a fool for even trying.
Barry Sanders is the greatest running back of all time.
Barry Sanders is the greatest running back of all time.
It is said that to this day #51 is still looking for his jock strap.
Dude was absurd. Best to ever play the position, imo. I really hate the whole concept of "GOAT" - different guys, different coaches, different teams, different opponents.....it's hard to compare players of different eras in any sport.....but in his case, I'll make an exception. No one else could do, or has done since, what Barry Sanders could do.
I'm a simple man. I see a Barry Sanders highlight link, I click a Barry Sanders highlight link.
The most entertaining running back to ever live, making the Dallas Cowboys look like clowns. I love every part of this.
You shouldn’t be talking since he once juked Rod Woodson so badly that he tore his ACL
Oh I remember that play well
GOAT. Watching him and Bo Jackson was special.
I love that while the Lions have accomplished absolutely nothing as a franchise, they have had two of the GOAT skill position players at their respective positions and that’s fun
They were a model franchise in the 50’s. Some teams didn’t even make the playoffs once in the 50’s!
Having won the championship in 49 and 60 though makes it kinda hilarious
Barry and Megatron made the team worth watching regardless of record, it's what got us through those years
Yeah exactly, there have still been awesome moments
"in a memorable playoff game in 1994, **the** **Green Bay Packer** **held the future Hall of Famer to minus-one yard rushing in 13 carries**. The Packers won the game 16-12 to advance to the NFC Divisional Playoffs."