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TT Greatest Running Backs of All-Time

#7t
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Marshall Faulk
Born: February 26, 1973
Years Active: 1994-2005
Height: 5'10 Weight: 211
Stats: 12,280 yds, 4.3 ypc, 100 tds, 767 rec, 6,875 yds, 36 tds
RotY '94, 7x Pro Bowl, NFL MVP '00, SB Champion (XXXIV), HoF

Points: 152
Votes: 11
Ranked Highest by: chicagotexan2 (4th)
 
#6
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Eric Dickerson
Born: September, 1960
Years Active: 1983-1993
Height: 6'3 Weight: 220
Stats: 13,259 yds, 4.4 ypc, 90 tds, 281 rec, 2,137 yds, 6 tds
RotY '83, 4x Rushing Leader, 2,000-Yard Club, 6x Pro Bowl, HoF

Points: 202
Votes: 14
Ranked Highest by: Texecutioner (3rd)

Summary ...

6. Eric Dickerson
7. Marshall Faulk
7. LaDainian Tomlinson
9. Adrian Peterson
10. O.J. Simpson
11. Tony Dorsett
12. Gale Sayers
13. Marcus Allen
13. Bo Jackson
15. Curtis Martin
16. Edgerrin James
17. Terrell Davis
18. Marshawn Lynch
18. Marion Motley
20. Thurman Thomas
20. Shaun Alexander​
 
#5
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Emmitt Smith
Born: May 15, 1969
Years Active: 1990-2004
Height: 5'9 Weight: 210
Stats: 18,355 yds, 4.2 ypc, 164 tds, 515 rec, 3,224 yds, 11 tds
RotY '90, 4x Rushing Leader, 8x Pro Bowl, NFL MVP '93, 3x SB Champion (XXVII, XXVIII, XXX), SB MVP (XXVIII), HoF

Points: 245
Votes: 15
Ranked Highest by: TexasCowboy (1st)
 
Emmitt's such a polarizing player to rank ... at #5 he's both ranked way too high and way too low.
Because Smith's the ultimate overachiever. I'm not saying he didn't have talent. Of course he did. But compared to the other RBs on this list? He's not there. It was Emmitt's mentality that separated him from the pack. He willed his way to become a college star, a Pro Bowl back, a MVP, a HOFer.

Compare Marcus Dupree to Emmitt Smith. Dupree had it all. Size, speed, balance. He did not have what Emmitt had. If I were Dr. Backenstein, and were building the perfect RB, I'm starting with Emmitt Smith's brain.
 
I was going to use Bo or Earl as the example, but exactly. Physically and pure talent, Emmett's probably in the 15-20 range of this list (which is still amazing). So how does THAT guy get into the top 5. He fought for it. As I said on page 1, if I was picking a franchise back from the NFL library - give me Emmitt. Dude is going to fight, and block, and catch, and learn, and run onto the field with a friggin tire iron if that's what the playbook called for ... Emmitt is all in all the time. And, as IC has pointed out, he's somehow exceptionally subtle - almost an instinctual behavior, turning just enough to keep from taking the hit, or taking just the fractionally shorter stride to move past a helmet.

If I were Dr. Backenstein, and were building the perfect RB, I'm starting with Emmitt Smith's brain.

As a runningback and ONLY a runningback ... right? Because outside of those white lines I'm sure he can't walk and chew bubble gum.
 
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Obviously Mollywhopper didn't follow my rules: discard any ballots without Jim Brown at #1 or with Barry Sanders ahead of Emmitt Smith. It would be interesting to see the split of ballots with Smith ahead of Sanders (people who prefer winning championships) versus the ballots with Sanders ahead of Smith (people who prefer exciting highlights).
 
Emmitt's such a polarizing player to rank ... at #5 he's both ranked way too high and way too low.


He is the perfect example of "want to" overcoming talent

And the perfect example of that is him demanding the ball with a busted shoulder and getting the job done in a huge game
 
He is the perfect example of "want to" overcoming talent

Emmitt would regard that as the highest compliment.

And the perfect example of that is him demanding the ball with a busted shoulder and getting the job done in a huge game

That game has to lift him several spots. Epic. Aikman and Irvin both teared up telling the story. Emmitt was not going to be denied that day.
 
#4
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Earl Campbell
Born: March 29, 1955
Years Active: 1978-1985
Height: 5'11 Weight: 245
Stats: 9,407 yds, 4.3 ypc, 74 tds, 121 rec, 806 yds, 0 tds
RotY '78, 3x Rushing Leader, 5x Pro Bowl, NFL MVP '79, HoF

Points: 276
Votes: 16
Ranked Highest by: Double Barrel, Heath Shuler, Scooter (1st)
 
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Campbell was so revered by the great coaches of his time. Shula, Landry, and Noll spoke glowingly about Earl. They knew greatness when they saw it.
 
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#3
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Walter Payton
Born: July 25, 1954
Years Active: 1975-1987
Height: 5'10 Weight: 200
Stats: 16,726 yds, 4.4 ypc, 110 tds, 492 rec, 4,538 yds, 15 tds
1x Rushing Leader, 9x Pro Bowl, NFL MVP '77, SB Champion (XX), HoF

Points: 281
Votes: 16
Ranked Highest by: Texecutioner, bah007 (1st)
 
#2
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Barry Sanders
Born: July 16, 1968
Years Active: 1989-1998
Height: 5'8 Weight: 200
Stats: 15,269 yds, 5.0 ypc, 99 tds, 352 rec, 2,921 yds, 10 tds
RotY '89, 4x Rushing Leader, 2,000 Yard-Club, 10x Pro Bowl, NFL MVP '97, HoF

Points: 285
Votes: 16
Ranked Highest by: Say Watt, xtruroyaltyx, chicagotexan2, IDEXAN (1st)
 
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And finally, the Texans Talk Greatest Running Back of All-Time ...

#1

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Jim Brown
Born: February 17, 1936
Years Active: 1957-65
Height: 6'2 Weight: 232
Stats: 12,312 yds, 5.2 ypc, 106 tds, 262 rec, 2,499 yds, 20 tds
RotY '57, 8x Rushing Leader, 9x Pro Bowl, 3x NFL MVP ('57, '58, '65), NFL Champion '64, HoF

Points: 286
Votes: 15
Ranked Highest by: gs27, Speedy, Lucky, Fred, disaacks3, JB, infantrycak, Mollywhopper (1st)

Final Summary ...

1. Jim Brown
2. Barry Sanders
3. Walter Payton
4. Earl Campbell
5. Emmitt Smith
6. Eric Dickerson
7. Marshall Faulk
7. LaDainian Tomlinson
9. Adrian Peterson
10. O.J. Simpson
11. Tony Dorsett
12. Gale Sayers
13. Marcus Allen
13. Bo Jackson
15. Curtis Martin
16. Edgerrin James
17. Terrell Davis
18. Marshawn Lynch
18. Marion Motley
20. Thurman Thomas
20. Shaun Alexander

also receiving votes: Franco Harris (8 points, 2 votes), Jerome Bettis (2, 1), Ricky Waters (2,1)
John Riggins (1, 1), Billy Sims (1, 1), Fred Taylor (1,1)​
 
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And lastly just for shiggles,

By their numbers..

Total Years Active: 1946-53, 55, 57-present
Avg. Height: 5'11.5 Weight: 215
Total Stats: 236,308 yds, 4.4 ypc, 1,801 tds, 7,105 rec, 59,520 yds, 256 tds

for a grand total of ... 168 miles worth of total yardage, or roughly, Houston to Austin.

Total Resume: 12x RotY, 44x NFL Rushing Leader, 1x AAFC Rushing Leader, 5x 2,000-Yard Club, 113x Pro Bowl,
15x NFL MVP, 2x NFL Champion, 4x AAFC Champion, 10x SB Champion, 3x SB MVP, 16x HoF

Thanks for playin', fellas. Hope anyone else had a fun read of it..​
 
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That's just wow. Youngsters?

Not even Earl or Walter got on every ballot?

No one unanimous. Don't think it boiled down to youngsters, just different strokes and all. Pretty content with the results on the whole though to be honest. A top 10 or so that was pretty lock solid, strong contest for the top spot, and the kind of subjective tastes that made the bottom half rather interesting.
 
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No one unanimous. Don't think it boiled down to youngsters, just different strokes and all. Pretty content with the results on the whole though to be honest. A top 10 or so that was pretty lock solid, strong contest for the top spot, and the kind of subjective tastes that made the bottom half rather interesting.

Yeah but anyone that fails to put Earl, Walter or Brown in the top 15 is just...

imo too strange for words

Or don't watch football

edit: Or even Emmitt, the all time leader in rushing yards is not top 15 on some ballots?
 
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edit: Or even Emmitt, the all time leader in rushing yards is not top 15 on some ballots?

Ok so I like Emmitt anyway, but steelb and I were talking. One if the most epic football moments was Emmitt against the Giants. A moment like that lifts you.

You put a team on your shoulder. For anyone who hasn't had that, it hurts like hell. It's not an OK kind of pain.
He demanded the football.

Earl was huge and tough, no doubt. But Emmitt was tough in a way that can't be judged.
 
Ok so I like Emmitt anyway, but steelb and I were talking. One if the most epic football moments was Emmitt against the Giants. A moment like that lifts you.

You put a team on your shoulder. For anyone who hasn't had that, it hurts like hell. It's not an OK kind of pain.
He demanded the football.

Earl was huge and tough, no doubt. But Emmitt was tough in a way that can't be judged.

Yeah that game was epic...

would love to see SteelB's top 15
 
OJ
Lawrence Phillips
Michael Bennett
Ray Rice
Ahman Green
Maurice Clarett
Tre Mason

Not sure about the rest :evil:
Ricky Williams
Stanley Wilson
David Meggett
Travis Henry
Marshawn Lynch
Trent Richardson
Jamal Anderson
Laurence Maroney
Le'Veon Bell
LeGarrette Blount
Montee Ball
Joseph Randle
And based upon potential arrests alone...Joe Mixon

Edit: Throwback era RB: Paul Hornung
 
I am very late to this party.

To me, greatness can be measured in so many ways. It's very hard to judge, IMO. I will say this - the two greatest RBs I have seen in my lifetime were equally great, in opposite ways - Earl and Barry Sanders. Walter Payton had the record, Emmitt broke it, there have been others, but those two are the greatest I've seen play. That said, Earl doesn't have the longevity of career you see from a guy like Payton. Sanders stepped away before he took over the record books. But clearly, some segment of the HOF voters agree with my general premise about true greatness outshining longevity or guys like Earl and Gale Sayers (and to a lesser extent Jim Brown and Barry Sanders) wouldn't be in the HOF. So if I'm picking true greatness and weighting performance over longevity, I put Earl at the top of my list. And I do. Others will weight longevity over performance, and that's fine. To each his own. At the end of the day, we're splitting hairs comparing the best of the best against each other.

My top 10, in order of tiers, but not ranked:

Earl
Barry Sanders

Sweetness
Jim Brown
Eric Dickerson
Emmitt Smith
Bo Jackson

Faulk
Tomlinson
Dorsett
Marcus Allen

That was 11. I don't care. No order. Again, I don't care.

I thought of a guy that sort of helps illustrate what's going on in my head - Curtis Martin. He played 11 years, he's 4th on the all-time rushing yards list ahead of everyone on my list except Sanders, Payton and Smith, and he averaged 4 yards a carry over his career, but he was never great. I never considered Martin great. *shrug*
 
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That said, Earl doesn't have the longevity of career you see from a guy like Payton. Sanders stepped away before he took over the record books. But clearly, some segment of the HOF voters agree with my general premise about true greatness outshining longevity or guys like Earl and Gale Sayers (and to a lesser extent Jim Brown and Barry Sanders) wouldn't be in the HOF. So if I'm picking true greatness and weighting performance over longevity, I put Earl at the top of my list.

Given this stance of yours, which I can agree with to a great degree, what are your thoughts of Bo Jackson? I'm sure you saw him play and thought of him playing full time how great he would be...
 
Given this stance of yours, which I can agree with to a great degree, what are your thoughts of Bo Jackson? I'm sure you saw him play and thought of him playing full time how great he would be...

I have him in the next tier down, as I didn't get to watch him as much as I did Earl and Barry Sanders. He also did not play full time as a conscious decision. He chose to dedicate some of his time to football.

Again, splitting of the finest hairs here, and JMO.
 
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