Genghis Khan
The worst version of myself
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
- Messages
- 38,207
Emmitt is the GOAT hands down, not just because of the pure stats but because they won 3 in 4 years, in arguably the most dominant 4 year stretch in NFL history, with an offense that completely revolved around him. Then what makes it a no argument for me is the fact that he consistently dominated en route to those SB wins in a manner we'll likely never see again over a multi-year stretch.
And here's the thing, this supposed superhuman OL that he ran behind was really just a bunch of JAG's for the most part. Guys like Newton, Tuinei and Gesek were complete JAG's and in their 30's by the time Emmitt got to Dallas. Erik Williams was a monster, yes, but Emmitt only played with him for 3 years before the car accident, Larry Allen is probably the GOAT OG but he didn't even get to Dallas until Emmitt already had 2 SB's under his belt. Stepnoski was gone by 1995 and was also mostly a JAG for the first few years of his career seemingly.
This myth of the Cowboys OL being this otherworldly dominant group is some weird amalgamation of Allen's dominance throughout the 2nd half of the 90's combined with how good Emmitt made guys who were more or less JAG's look with his vision. I honestly believe that it was more Emmitt making them look better than they were than the other way around.
Hell, I'd argue that Tyron Smith and Zack Martin are better than any OL we had during that era except Allen (who again wasn't even on the team in 92 and 93), you can probably throw Frederick in there too. Pre-injury Williams was up there with them but again, that player was out the window by 94.
They basically only had one truly dominant HOF-level OL on the team at any given time, Williams pre-injury in 92 and 93, and Allen starting in 94.
I think you are underrating that line a bunch, but your point is well taken.
Case in point is guys like Derrick Lassic and Chris Warren didn't light up the league when they ran behind the same line.
And they were 0-2 without Emmitt in 93, then went I think 12-2 and won the super bowl once he returned.
I think those things are pretty telling for how good Emmitt really was.