Sturm: NFL 100 - At No. 29, Emmitt Smith did what he did for longer and better than anyone

[Genghis Khan]

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.

 

[Cotton]

This is what I was talking about in side to side movement. He was the best to ever carry the ball and make people miss like this. He did it his entire career.

 

[Genghis Khan]

One other thing about Emmitt, and this was a huge deal.

He just had an absolute nose for the end zone when he was inside the 5 or so yard line. We were spoiled for a long time.

When we were down near the end zone we rarely had to settle for field goals. He was pretty unstoppable.

 

[Simpleton]

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.

They were a really good unit and I'm definitely exaggerating somewhat for effect but guys like Tuinei, Newton and Gesek really were JAG types who had been in the league for nearly 10 years before Emmitt came around and suddenly they were Pro Bowlers for the first time at the age of 32.

It's just amusing to me how people just write off Emmitt's success as a function of some GOAT-type OL.

We've had at least 2 HOF-level OL in Smith/Martin at the same time, and potentially 3 in Frederick, during the 90's we never really had more than 1 at any given time.

 

[boozeman]

One other thing about Emmitt, and this was a huge deal.

He just had an absolute nose for the end zone when he was inside the 5 or so yard line. We were spoiled for a long time.

When we were down near the end zone we rarely had to settle for field goals. He was pretty unstoppable.

He can thank Michael Irvin for about a billion gazillion set ups inside the 5.

 

[Cotton]

This video is one of the best I have seen that exemplifies exactly what Emmitt was as a runner. It shows the vision, side to side movements, the acceleration out of those movements, and his toughness. The dude was the best RB to ever play the game.

 

[Cotton]

One other thing about Emmitt, and this was a huge deal.

He just had an absolute nose for the end zone when he was inside the 5 or so yard line. We were spoiled for a long time.

When we were down near the end zone we rarely had to settle for field goals. He was pretty unstoppable.

Dude, if we got inside the 10 I would just go grab a beer and expect a TD when I got back.

 

[Cotton]

He can thank Michael Irvin for about a billion gazillion set ups inside the 5.

Like Geng said, all GOATs enjoyed some sort of help when it came to their craft. But, I would argue that Emmitt could have done it without as many distractions as the others. He would have suffered for sure, but he would have succeeded more with the Lions than Barry would have with the Cowboys.

 

[Smitty]

It's fucking dumb.

He wasn't just hanging around accumulating junk yards.

In fact, the true sign of his greatness to me is what he did once he got into his 30s.

At 30, he led the NFL in 100 yard games. Had he not gotten injured, he probably breaks Walter Payton's single game rushing record, plays a full 16 game schedule, and leads the league in rushing.

And at 31 and 32? How awful were those Campo teams? No talent to keep the defenses honest, no all pro O-line, and he still breaks a thousand yards both seasons.

At 33 in 2002, he went into the final game only needing roughly 40 yards to break 1000 again, but he had nowhere to go.

The point is, his excellence continued even when he was older and on awful teams.

Anyone who slights Emmitt Smith clearly never watched him play.

I watched his entire career nearly and I am sure I don’t love him quite as much as you.

 

[data]

I'll take 12 years over 9 years all day.

There was an advanced stats/analytics website that argued Barry Sanders’ last season was his statistical worst (going beyond just YPC @Genghis Khan) and that it’s possible Barry felt this, playing a part in his early retirement. Its widely believed Barry retired 100% because his disgruntlement with the Lions, but this group claimed that there might be more to it.

I do think fans romanticize Barry more than most because he retired before stringing it out. No memories of bad seasons to tarnish

 

[Cotton]

I watched his entire career nearly and I am sure I don’t love him quite as much as you.

Correct, counselor.

 

[boozeman]

Like Geng said, all GOATs enjoyed some sort of help when it came to their craft. But, I would argue that Emmitt could have done it without as many distractions as the others. He would have suffered for sure, but he would have succeeded more with the Lions than Barry would have with the Cowboys.

He definitely would not have scored 164 touchdowns without a huge chunk of that being credited to Irvin for rumblin' bumblin' stumblin' at lot. I bet he had to have set up at least 20-30 times.

 

[boozeman]

I do think fans romanticize Barry more than most because he retired before stringing it out. No memories of bad seasons to tarnish

Feh. Sanders is probably the only back who legitimately scared me going into games.

Two totally different guys though. Sanders on pretty bad Detroit teams save one season, Smith on great to good for the same chunk of their careers.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

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.

Yeah, gotta disagree with that. They may not have had the pedigree and draft status but they were damn good, especially Tuinei. And they did open big holes for Emmitt.

 

[boozeman]

And I still have to admit, I didn't care for the "diamonds amongst trash" statement.

But in retrospect, near the end of his time in Dallas...he was right.

That was in my homer period, when I actually thought for one fucking second that we were going to reboot ourselves after Switzer got canned.

 

[Texas Ace]

And I still have to admit, I didn't care for the "diamonds amongst trash" statement.

But in retrospect, near the end of his time in Dallas...he was right.

That was in my homer period, when I actually thought for one fucking second that we were going to reboot ourselves after Switzer got canned.

When it happened, I was really pissed about it.

But now I don't care.

 

[boozeman]

Yeah, gotta disagree with that. They may not have had the pedigree and draft status but they were damn good, especially Tuinei. And they did open big holes for Emmitt.

They functioned extremely well as a unit. Take each guy off that line and you see what happened.

Gesek, Gogan and even Stepnoski to an extent were not dominators elsewhere.

 

[boozeman]

When it happened, I was really pissed about it.

But now I don't care.

Yeah, me neither. In fact, I am amusing myself that I gave as much of a shit about it at the time that I did.

 

[Texas Ace]

Yeah, me neither. In fact, I am amusing myself that I gave as much of a shit about it at the time that I did.

I was the same way back then.

I was still very much a homer.

In hindsight it seems so silly because by that point, we had already been through the latter Switzer seasons, 2 Chan Gailey seasons, and the dreaded Campo teams.

And yet, I still actually thought we were better than we really were and couldn't wait for Parcells to prove it.

I actually thought we had something in the likes of Derek Ross, Markus Steele, and Willie Blade.

 

[Sheik]

I was the biggest Emmitt fanboy on earth for a long time. I lost a lot of respect for him when he was a few games out from establishing the record against Seattle. I accepted the fact that he wasn’t a young man and had lost steps by the time he made it within a few 100 yards of the record. That said, I saw him giving way more effort and finishing off runs like he hadn’t in at least a season or two. Maybe he was tired of being on bad teams, trying to keep himself from getting injured, whatever it was, I didn’t like seeing what I saw, especially against Seattle. This is most likely an unpopular opinion, ~shrugs shoulders~.

He should get a ton of credit for his ability to stay healthy for as long as he did. He did his job, not the flashiest player to do it, but the most consistent, and his teams won championships while he was doing it.


If there’s a running back rated higher on this list, you can flush it after you wipe your ass with it.