Barry Sanders vs Emmitt Smith

jbugs

Who you think is better and why?

Barry Sanders definetly. If he would of stayed and played longer, emmitt would be chasing him! He ran behind NO offensive line every year and still have several 1000 yard seasons. Emmitt has a great line, and couldnt keep up with Barry. Emmitt played for the Cowboys who had great offensive to work around. Barry played for the lions, with which he had no help or relief.

sonicsfan

Barry Sanders cuz he's from OKLAHOMA STATE... yeah, thats right... my local college
and he is a better person that Emmitt... not as RB, but as a person, and he is a better RB... he'd have more yards if he played the same amount of years as Emmitt... but Emmitt is good, but he is starting to age

sonicsfan

and u might want to spell Barry Sander to Barry Sanders in the title name, lol

americanfreak

Barry sanders for sure. I even watched him and thurman thomas play at OSU when i was a kid.
Barry would have broking the record for sure if he didn;t retire. he only had what like 1500 more yards?
he would have brokin it for sure. emmitt is a good back but i would rather watch barry run than emmitt. barry was exciting because at any time during the game he could pull a rabbit out of his hat and blam he had a 50 yard gane or took it to the house. He made nothing out of something and thats realy a magic trick considering what his oline could do or should i say not do.

OU and OSU all the way

JC214

Barry. Why ask? everyone should say Barry, he was ALOT better.

ScoutDawg

I pick barry as well...and by the way anyone need a nice big lot of barry sanders cards?
some real nice ones

runningman22

BARRY WHO ???????????????????
DIDNT HE LEAVE THE GAME CRYING BECAUSE HE COULD NOT SWITCH TEAMS!!!!
"YES" THATS WHAT I THOUGHT
SO THERE FOR THERE IS NO BARRY SANDBUG OR WHO EVER HE IS LOL
JUST THE RUNNINGMAN22 6 CENTS

P.S. IT DONT MATTER WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE, JUST WHAT HE DID HAVE AND THAT IS NOTHING !

runningman22

LOL NO ONE E4VEN COLLECTS BARRY SANDBURG ANY MORE.

autobilia

Barry was better than Emmitt. Detriot had no line and no passing game. Barry created something when nothing was ever there. Barry was always on plays of the week for breaking tackles behind the line of scrimmage and able to keep his balance and get yardage. If you put Emmitt on a team like Detroit, we would be saying, Emmitt who? Barry always had to go left or right because of not having a line. Emmitt went right up the middle because his line created holes. Who outside of Detroit can even remember a name of one of the lineman blocking for Barry (without looking it up)?

sonicsfan

some still do, I know about 3 guys, and most people dont because he is retired... when Emmitt is retired, no one will probably collect him either maybe except you

dirtmonkey

I'm a huge Lions fan, but I'll try to stay impartial. Barry was truely one of the best pure running backs in the last 20 years... But Emmitt's been a better receiver and blocker. The record doesn't mean anything other than a player stayed healthy for long enough to play that long which is quite a feat in football. They're both great players and I only wish Barry would have stuck around a little longer...

cardnyou

hell..if i had played fer 30 years like Emmit...i'd only have 500 and something yards to go to.....d@mn...he's been in the NFL for what seems like a eternity...why dont the old goat retire ?....oh...i know...greedy fool wants that record......money aint enuff i guess...gotta be greedy with numbers as well

jbugs

ttt

runningman your a moron

americanfreak

It took two seasons for emmitt to catch up to sanders and pass him on the list. If barry would have stayed emmitt would be retired and sanders would have the record

AlanB

BARRY SANDERS! No question. The only reason he retired was that Detroit wouldn't trade him and he knew that they weren't going anywhere so he just quit. Had he stayed around, he would have shattered the record already. He made plays by himself most of the time. He had basicly no line and no passing game while Smith was winning Super Bowls. What if that had been Barry on that team? He probably would have had the record before he retired.

KOBEcollector

first off to answer a question which was asked yes i can name an offensive lineman who blocked for barry. an ALL-PRO by the name of lomas Brown ( and i didn't have to look that up ) but i did have to look up how many times he made the pro bowl which was 6. also barry ran behind ANOTHER pro bowler by the name of Kevin Glover. so to say that barry had no offensive line at all is not true. wasn't as good as emmitts but these guys made the pro bowl for a reason. another thing, the lions had one of the best wide recievers in the game in the prime years of barry which was Herman Moore. so there was some sort of passing game there... and someone mentioned that it took emmitt 2 years to catch up to barry when he retired. the fact that barry came into the league before emmitt might have something to do with that.
someone made a good point about emmitt being a better reciever and blocker than barry which is true and for anyone who played football they'd agree that those are 2 important features of being a r.b. just rushing the ball isn't everything. barry was awesome and probally was the best but being a cowboy and emmitt fan im just glad to see him get the record. hopefully

americanfreak

barry came in in 89 and emmitt came in in 90. one season it took emmitt two seasons or more to catch up to sanders on the record list. after barry retired. if barry didn;t retier emmitt would still be chaseing him

zimmy3

Yea, this really isn't too debatable. Barry was clearly a better RB than Emmitt. When he retired he was far ahead of Emmitt. And just by watching them you could tell Barry was better. And heck, he did that all w/o a team. Emmitt had a line and a QB to help him out

KOBEcollector

yes. he had to makeup that 1 year barry had on emmitt but i would be interested in seeing how many games beside that year it took. not sure if it was 2 more seasons or more. that's 32 games.

Derrick

Barry Sanders without question! Why the hell wasn't this a poll? If it was, there wouldn't be any votes dor Emmitt I'm sure. Emmitt was and is great...but he's not as great as Barry was.

duncangal

Why does there always have to be the "who is better" debate among players? Each player has his own style and ability. I think we can all say that Barry was great, but he didn't choose to stick around and Emmitt did. Emmitt has overcome a lot of injuries, settled for less money than a lot of other running backs, all for the love of the game. People forget that the Cowboys also had some great receivers back in Emmitts early years so he didn't get as many carries as Barry. He has proved over the years what a durable running back/ blocker/receiver he is, and if he breaks the record, it will be well deserved.

americanfreak

no one is saying it will not be well desirved when and if he brakes the the record.

rooks

I think emmit is better. Barry was great but I think his style made it difficult for his team sometimes. He would have 6-7 straight carries of negative and short gains but would break a couple 40-50 yarders per game. Emmit might not have broken alot of 60 yard runs but he constantly got 4-5 yarders that keep the chains moving and lead to points. Emmitt also got into the end zone much more, barry was ineefective near the goal line. Thats a major reason why emmitt won superbowls and barry couldnt win a playoff game even though I know it takes a whole team to win

americanfreak

that goes back to the point about barry not haveing a oline to help him out.

rooks

I dont think it just his oline. He is not a straight ahead runner who will bang it up the middle for 4 yards, he looked for the big run too much in my opinion

jbugs

he banged up the hole a lot, and usually threw in a juke or stiff arm. he constantly gave them postive yards. I understand what you saying, but emmitt too has also had his fair share of -yards. kevin glover, lomas who?, and herman moore- glover and lomas didnt help out that much, barry made them look good. As for herman, if he woulda been on a good team, he woulda been a much better reciever. He had no real great qbs(scott mitchell, charlie batch) to throw to him. Barry brought first downs, a lot of first downs, while they passed 1-2 every 4 plays, 1-2 for barry to make up for what the qb couldnt do. the lions won games because of barry!

UofAWildcatFan

Barry Sanders by far. Emmit had a solid offensive team around him for most of his career which included All-Pro Linemen, QB Troy Aikman, WR Michael Irvin + many many more. A Dallas fan will be able to tell you they had another WR and a good TE that I don't know the names of ( can't stand Dallas ).

Who did Barry Sanders have?? Nobody really. The Lions have never had a consistant good quarterback, WR's were inconsistant as well, OL was decent but far far less talented the Dallas' OL.

There is no comparison. If these 2 players switched teams for their career I think we'd be saying Barry is arguably the best RB of all time.

If we had a poll on this it would be around 90% Barry 10% Emmit.

nowitzki

Two different backs, and two different systems.

One is still playing and the other wants to watch.

One is a player, the other a spectator.

One is breaking a record, the other is not.

One won Superbowls, the other didn't.

One has proof, the other has "what if's"

You figure it out.

One is, the other might have been.

KOBEcollector

the guys i believe you were thinking of were alvin harper and jay novecek..and as a diehard cowboy fan of almost 25 years i can honestly say that if i had a pick of which runningback to have on those superbowl teams it would be emmitt. he was the perfect fit for that team..i agree with rooks posts 100%

edit for typo

dave

zimmy3

I would hardly call Barry a "what if". This is not a TD situation where he had like 4 great years, Sanders had like 9. Its not a "what if" situation, Barry already proved that he was one of the best, maybe the best of all time. Emmitt by hanging around and gaining like just over 1,000 yards every season is eentually gonna break Paytons mark. Pretty selfish I say. Clinging on just to break the record. He has been horrid the last 2-3 years

rooks

emmitt selfish? Hes not the one who just left his teamates hanging when things didnt go his way which led directly to the horrible state the lions are in now. Emmitt stuck with it throught the last few years when the cowboys stunk and now they are up and coming again and he will have a good season.

Brave

The Lions Offense sucked, and Sanders did make them better. BUT, I believe his running style caused the Offensive line to be under more stress than normal lines. They had to block 3 times longer than other lines while sanders ran sideline to sideline.

Emmitt is better. Runs straight= easier blocking

Bobstar

Both of these players are great RBs.They have both performed quite well for the years that they have played.It is too bad Barry decided to retire but I will respect him for what he did for the game.
Emmitt Smith is also one of the best ever.I,for one,am happy that he will break the record.It is well deserved for a player like him who has given it all for his team & this league.
Checking the latest Beckett,I didn't notice any down arrows next to Barry Sanders cards.He is still collected by many collectors & his cards are still bringing better prices than some of todays active star players.We are keeping all of our Sander cards as he is a future HOFer.Same with Emmitt Smith.After he retires,we'll still be happy when we get something of him.
We still collect Cal Ripken & are always happy when we find a card of his we don't have.We feel the same way with Barry & Emmitt.

Who's better? As far as we are concerned, WE are BETTER off for having the privilege of watching them both play.

Belfan

All I have to say is this number : 2,053

What did Emmitt average in his many, many years, behind 5 pro bowl lineman, a pro bowl QB, a pro bowl WR, a pro bowl TE and an overall better team that allowed him to carry the ball nearly 30 times every game because they were leading.

Sanders would get lucky to carry the ball more than 20 times because the Lions had to pass alot to play catch up. Sanders single-handedly carried the Lions to the playoffs when they had no business there. They did meet in the playoff once, remember 1991?

rooks

No, no one remembers 91 cause the lions got smoked by the skins the next game. People remember winners, not teams that made the nfc championship game. Sanders also had help. Herman moore was one of the top recievers in the leauge and scott mitchell had some great seasons. Sanders also did most of his damage agianst weak teams like the bucs. Emmitt did his damage in the playoffs