barry sanders overrated???

ldferg · October 15, 2007 2:23PM

do you feel the same as sal that barry is overrated because he did reach a superbowl? i'm not in agreement with his conclusion.

overrated????

elsnorto · October 15, 2007 2:29PM

So if Sweetness did not have that magical run with the 85 Bears he too would have been overrated? No way. Barry was incredible, especially because he suffered on some truly awful teams. I do agree Deion was somewhat underrated however. His flash got most of the attention, but he had the substance to back it up.

Snorto~

Cokin75 · October 15, 2007 2:32PM

Strongly disagree with the article. The reason Sanders played so poorly in those playoff games is because the other team was not going to let him beat them - and the Lions QB failed to step up to the task. Sanders only played in 6 playoff games, which is a very small sample. That said I would like to see the stats of Erik Kramer, and Dave Krieg and Scott Mitchell in those games. With the possible exception of Kramer, I'm sure they were abysmal. Ask the Bears and Tampa how well Barry played on grass.

If one were to judge the career of a player based solely on playoff stats, I guess that Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez are highly overrated.

lawnmowerman · October 15, 2007 2:35PM

Barry Sanders??

Isnt he the fast food chicken dude??

edit: yes I voted Who is Barry Sanders. He's no Emmitt Smith

Carew29 · October 15, 2007 2:36PM

I won't even dignify that with an answer---Just go watch some highlight films of him with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other clicking Forward/Backwards as to how he faked out that defender.

Carew29 · October 15, 2007 2:39PM

Exhibit #1

Barry at his best

TomGshotput · October 15, 2007 2:50PM

The Lions have proven to be the absolute worst franchise in sports. Add Barry Sanders and they are consistently a playoff team. There is no other running back in football history capable of that. He was the best ever

thehallmark · October 15, 2007 2:51PM

Wins are a team stat. Playoff wins are a team stat. It would be ridiculous to judge an individual football player that way.
Football players have tasks to accomplish on every single play. The best players are the ones who excelled at their job with the most consistency. Barry was the biggest homerun hitting running back of his era (maybe ever), an adequate blocker, and not much a factor in the passing game. It's unclear how much he was asked to be a blocker and a pass catcher.

A couple of things to consider...
Contrary to popular belief, Barry did have a decent line in front of him throughout most of his career, in comparison to the other teams in the league. Detroit's line was nothing like Dallas's line in the early 90s or Minnesota's line in the late 90s, but they had a couple monster players. Kevin Glover and Lomas Brown were blocking for Barry for quite a few years and they were elite. Detroit also had an average to EXCELLENT passing game through the first half of Barry's career. It isn't entirely clear to me how good the o-line and passing game were because they had Barry. Did he make the lineman look better than they were? Was it wasy to pass because defenses were keying on Barry so much?

The Lions never had a dominant defense with Barry...which accounts more for their losing than anything, I think. If Chris Spielman could've found a way to avoid injury and if Bryant Westbrook would've fulfilled one-third of his potential and if Reggie Brown hadn't suffered a tragic spinal injury...the Lions could have really been a powerhouse in the late 90s. That's a lot of "what-ifs", though.

The playoff argument is laughable. Watch those games. Not even Barry Sanders can run against 9 men in the box. The Lions got outcoached AND outplayed in those games. To blame Barry is badly missing the point of the game.

envoy98 · October 15, 2007 3:02PM

Barry overrated? That is laughable.

The guy had everything ~ breakaway speed, he could stop on a dime and get back to full speed in 2 steps, he could spin, duck, juke better than just about anyone to ever play the game and he had a gamebreaker ability. He could take one to the house at any time. You never knew what would happen when he touched the ball. Absolutely amazing to watch and I'm glad I had the luxury to watch him play.

Hallmark is right too, his o-line wasn't as bad as some people make it sound. Yes, I would have liked to watch him run behind that Cowboys line for a couple years and play on a team like that too.

Thanks for the link to youtube too. That was fun to watch. I smiled the entire time!

recbball · October 15, 2007 3:33PM

SECOND ONLY TO WALTER.
AFTER WALTER RETIRED I ENJOYED WATCHING HIS CAREER.
HARD FOR ME TO SAY AS A BEARS FAN.

TheThrill · October 15, 2007 4:01PM

Overrated? Are you kidding me? I feel stupid even answering this.

If thats true, there are a whole hell of alot of Hall Of Famers that are in the same boat.

GDM67 · October 15, 2007 5:34PM

<< Barry overrated? That is laughable. >>

Indeed. I have a three way tie at the top of my list with him, Mr. Payton and Mr. Brown.

TNP777 · October 15, 2007 5:41PM

<< Exhibit #1

Barry at his best >>

ArnyVee · October 15, 2007 9:13PM

<< The Lions have proven to be the absolute worst franchise in sports. Add Barry Sanders and they are consistently a playoff team. There is no other running back in football history capable of that. He was the best ever >>

Exactly. Imagine playing against a Lions team with Scott Mitchell at QB and Barry Sanders at RB. You think that you'd stack the line? For sure!

When people say, "he put it into another gear!" they are truly talking about Mr Sanders. Barry could hit the gas and he was gone. He got dropped for lots of little or no gain runs, but boy could he destroy you in one or two runs.

Emmitt is the consistent run forward type of guy, but Barry was the one that everyone loved to watch run because of his jukes and speed. Love 'em both, but Barry is just a notch ahead IMO.

shagrotn77 · October 15, 2007 9:36PM

Thank God! For a second I thought I was gonna have to rip some momo a new one for agreeing with Sal, but I see we're a smart group on this thread!

Barry was just the man. Period. It's not his fault his asenine coaching staffs robbed him of dozens of TDs. The guy set the 1A single season record for TDs (37 I think?), scored 17 his rookie season, and then all of a sudden a few years later some genious coaches decide that he can't find the endzone any more. I've always been bitter about that.

PS - I still wear my Barry Sanders jersey on fantasy football draft day.

ElectricPrune · October 15, 2007 9:49PM

Being from Detroit, I was able to see Barry play many times live and on TV. He is probably not overrated by much, if at all. However, Barry had an Achilles Heel in the NFL- power running. Betweeen the 10s, BArry was as effective as anybody. However, inside the 10s, Barry was not as effective. It wasn't unheard of for Barry to be sitting on the sidelines in a "goal to go" situation. This would rarely, if ever, be said about Smith, Payton, and Brown.

Barry did play for some poor coaches, and average or below average teams. Had he played for Dallas during the same time, his numbers might be unreachable. My vote is only very slightly overrated.

gonzer · October 15, 2007 10:39PM

Barry and Gale Sayers are arguably the two purest running backs ever IMO.

perkdog · October 15, 2007 11:57PM

Barry Sanders was one of the best IF NOT THE BEST RB ever, any other "theory" on him is 100% moronic.

envoy98 · October 16, 2007 12:28AM

<< PS - I still wear my Barry Sanders jersey on fantasy football draft day >>

Andy, I did as well, until my wife put my reversible jersey in my sister in-laws garage sale for $5. ARGH! Sold my Terrell Davis reversible jersey too. Now I'm mad at her again...thanks a lot.

Barry was the man, yes, he did have some "goal to go" problems, but the fact he could score from anywhere on the field at any given time, far outweighed that IMHO. Two travesty's in football, Barry Retiring so early (with all do respect to Mr. Brown, he played long before my time) and Walter being supplanted at the goal line by the Fridge in the Super Bowl.

Emmitt was great, but I never got the same level of excitement watching him as I did Barry. I am an Emmitt fan too, lucky for me I grew up and watched football at a time when I could see some of the greatest play the game. Rice, Montana, Elway, Marino, Emmitt, Barry and Walter. I love football...

BobaFett72 · October 16, 2007 1:30AM

one the only reasons to watch football on thanksgiving was watching Barry!

TomGshotput · October 16, 2007 1:34AM

One important point: Beign overrated or underrated has nothing to do with a persons ability. It is completely based around how others view him. If someone is great, yet everyone views him as great, he is probably not overrated, but the idea does have merit

Of course the original auther made that same idiotic mistake. If you believe someone is overrated, don't tell me how good he was, I already know. Tell me the mistakes others have made in their analysis

thehallmark · October 16, 2007 1:38AM

Wow...you're so right. Barry on Thanksgiving. geez.

Being in Chicagoland, I can tell you that in the 90s, when the Bears had virtually no talent throughout the entire decade, Detroit Lions games on TV were such a treat. I used to be so excited to watch Barry. My Dad and brother couldn't stand me on those weekends when I rooted for #20.

Salinas · October 16, 2007 1:47AM

I wonder what Sal would say about Jim Brown, who left before the end of his prime.

JasP24 · October 16, 2007 2:03AM

Barry is one of the all-time greats no doubt about that, but when he is placed or spoken of as THE greatest RB of all-time, then yes he is being overrated. Not only was he weak in short yardage, he was the king of negative yardage plays..For every 50 yard run, there were three 2 yard loss, drive killing runs...Barry is the ALL-TIME Leader in LOST yardage. 446 times he was dropped for minus yards that totaled 1,114 yards.

I don't want to hear how bad his O-Line was either. During his playing years, he played with 4 different Pro Bowl caliber OL- Lomas Brown, Kevin Glover, Bill Fralic and Jeff Hartings. The majority of his lost yardage plays were because Barry was dancing around looking to break a 50 yarder. Yes he had bad QBs, but he also had good WRs on his team. Teams could not and did not ALWAYS stack 8-9 in the box to stop Barry. Herman Moore was one of the best in the league for a few years.

If I were rating the top RBs of all-time, absolutely I would put Barry in the top 5, I don't think that is overrating him. But top 1 or 2? Thats overrating him.

Jason

Edited to add: Anyone that puts Barry at #1 all-time has never watched Jim Brown. He had ZERO weakness to his game.

baseballfanatic · October 16, 2007 4:04AM

Jim Brown is number one.
Two through ten are just opinions.....

Carew29 · October 16, 2007 5:05AM

The only man to give more than one meaning to the words Zig Zag

gonzer · October 16, 2007 9:00AM

<< one the only reasons to watch football on thanksgiving was watching Barry! >>

The truth be spoken!

TNTonPMS · October 16, 2007 9:41AM

I loved watching him play . . .

Overrated ? Naaaaa

When Barry Left football , and I don't know why he did . .

Football for me lost a lot of it's excitement .

Thankfully there was still . . . .

( The Elway & Davis Show )

I think Davis was a better running back than Sanders and if he could have lasted . . . .well he didn't , But that guy was fun to watch too .

barry sanders overrated???

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