Barry Sanders - Great Read On His Untouchable '88 Season

[ChiTownDoc 21101]

5 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

And at no point would anyone with a functioning grey cell ever argue that the Lions' OL was even good, let alone great. That's the point. 

How many of the Detroit OL have even been seriously considered for nomination? Just Brown, right?And far beyond the OL, the surrounding skill players and QB were an outright joke. The reason Emmitt did so well is because that OL didn't have to deal with constant disadvantages in the numbers game. If you stacked the box with 8-9 guys against Dallas, yeah you might hold Emmitt to under 100 yards, but they'd still whip your ass for doing something that stupid. Detroit's offense was supposed to work like that on paper, but the collective suckitude of those skill players quickly took away what should have been an obviously inherent advantage.

 

I grew up a die hard Dallas fan.  But there’s a dozen + backs  in NFL history that could have done what Emmitt did on that team.  Nobody in NFL history could have done what Barry did on that dogshit Detroit team.  

Edited August 27, 2018 by ChiTownDoc

[kopp0e 1135]

10 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I agree abou the relative talent levels of the lions and cowboys in the 90s, but the Dallas offensive line wasn’t considered great before emmitt got there, with a fair amount of the same guys, and the kervin richards’ of the world weren’t piling up the yardage when they played. And, how many of the Dallas OL are now in the HOF?  Just Allen, right? And he starred a little later on in emmit’s career. 

More to the point of the thread, sanders was ridiculous and so much fun to watch. 

Some backs mesh with there lines & lear where to expect to see holes, while some lines have an idea what tendencies a runner has and tries to open paths in that direction...

[oSuJeff97 3435]

On 8/25/2018 at 2:33 PM, bamachine said:

No doubt in my mind, Barry is the GOAT RB in CFB history. I have Bo and Herschel as a toss up for 2nd and 3rd.

Of course I'm biased toward Barry, but it's a tough comparison when you look at him vs. Ricky, Bo or Herschel.  The latter three certainly had better total careers, just because their impact was spread out over multiple seasons.

Barry had this crazy, out-of-this-world season that I don't think anyone will ever touch... Of course he was also really good in '87, it was just that his impact was more as a kick returner.  But as a feature back he had one season. And man was it ever a season.

So it's tough to compare that with those other guys who had multiple great seasons.

['stache 21774]

On 8/26/2018 at 7:56 AM, mr.goodkat said:

they can wear whatever they want for their beatdown . 

imgur

[bamachine 1230]

3 hours ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Of course I'm biased toward Barry, but it's a tough comparison when you look at him vs. Ricky, Bo or Herschel.  The latter three certainly had better total careers, just because their impact was spread out over multiple seasons.

Barry had this crazy, out-of-this-world season that I don't think anyone will ever touch... Of course he was also really good in '87, it was just that his impact was more as a kick returner.  But as a feature back he had one season. And man was it ever a season.

So it's tough to compare that with those other guys who had multiple great seasons.

I don't quantify it by raw numbers alone, I go off of pure talent. Sometimes a great can be stuck in a bad situation or behind an incumbent starter. Barry, then Bo and Herschel are really the three best pure RBs in cfb history, in my mind. Ricky is right there knocking on the door of the top 3. Derrick Henry now owns the SEC single season rushing record, note I did not put him up there with Bo or Herschel. He would come in around the borderline top 10 and I consider him to be the best RB Bama has ever had(just a hair ahead of Shaun Alexander). The thing that Barry and to a little lesser extent, Bo and Herschel had, was that backfield elusiveness to go along with being a physical beast. Very few have both.

Edited August 27, 2018 by bamachine

[Shmitty 112]

3 hours ago, bamachine said:

I don't quantify it by raw numbers alone, I go off of pure talent. Sometimes a great can be stuck in a bad situation or behind an incumbent starter. Barry, then Bo and Herschel are really the three best pure RBs in cfb history, in my mind. Ricky is right there knocking on the door of the top 3. Derrick Henry now owns the SEC single season rushing record, note I did not put him up there with Bo or Herschel. He would come in around the borderline top 10 and I consider him to be the best RB Bama has ever had(just a hair ahead of Shaun Alexander). The thing that Barry and to a little lesser extent, Bo and Herschel had, was that backfield elusiveness to go along with being a physical beast. Very few have both.

I'd consider Saun Alexander to be the better back.  BTW, I went to high school with his fullback.  

[bamachine 1230]

1 hour ago, Shmitty said:

I'd consider Saun Alexander to be the better back.  BTW, I went to high school with his fullback.  

Shaun had a little more wiggle and was little shiftier. DH is stronger, faster and more durable. The one knock on both was their first step was/is slow, as both were/are big guys, Shaun a little wider, DH a little taller. I assume you went to school with Dustin McClintock. I think he held or may still hold the Alabama record for most consecutive starts(back when they still used a FB).

[Shmitty 112]

5 minutes ago, bamachine said:

Shaun had a little more wiggle and was little shiftier. DH is stronger, faster and more durable. The one knock on both was their first step was/is slow, as both were/are big guys, Shaun a little wider, DH a little taller. I assume you went to school with Dustin McClintock. I think he held or may still hold the Alabama record for most consecutive starts(back when they still used a FB).

I did. He graduated 2 years ahead of me at Ford high school in Quinlan.   Dustin was actually the last Texas player recruited by Gene Stallings.    He was an all-state tailback with incredible natural athletic ability.  

Edited August 27, 2018 by Shmitty

[bamachine 1230]

2 minutes ago, Shmitty said:

I did. He graduated 2 years ahead of me at Ford high school in Quinlan.   Dustin was actually the last Texas player recruited by Gene Stallings.    He was an all-state tailback with incredible natural athletic ability.  

Him and Chris Samuels opened up some nice holes for Shaun, on that left side of the line.

[Shmitty 112]

3 minutes ago, bamachine said:

Him and Chris Samuels opened up some nice holes for Shaun, on that left side of the line.

He was also a badass linebacker.   Certainly did.  I remember him saying that the holes he had to run through at BAMA were bigger than what he had in high school.