barry would have put up incredible numbers and emmitt would not be remembered except by a few lions fans who would still to this day make fun of the selection of such a worthless little runningback.

If you looked at the highlights of Barry Sanders's career,you'll see that he was always making something happen BEHIND the line. One time I saw a highlights of him breaking tackles 5 yards behind the line and somehow made a gain out of it.

barry was the best of all time. imagine if he had the dallas cowboys or denver broncos o-line blocking for him.

There is a reason Emmitt has the rushing yards record and rushing tds record? Didn't Barry quit on the Lions?

Longevity is a large part of Emmitt Smith holding so many rushing records.

the cowboys had a better 0-line for years. maybe emmitt loved breaking records and loved $$$$$$$$$$ more than barry did.

And plus,would you want to play for the Lions for over 10 years? They should thank him for all of the work he gave there

barry wasnt greedy and didnt have a huge ego. i respect barry for that. i wish we could have seen him play a couple more years on a superbowl contending team however.

barry sanders was a thing of beauty. He was and is head and shoulders above emmitt smith on very many levels.

Emmitt Smith have 3 superbowl rings. How much does Barry Sanders have? Nada. That must mean something right.

Trent Dilfer has a ring and Dan Marino doesn't.

c'mon,do you really expect one running back to carry one of the worst franchises to the Super Bowl. Emmitt also had Hall of Famer Troy Aikman in the Backfield with him and Michael Irvin lined out Wide. Who did Barry Sanders have? himself,himself, and oh yeah himself.

And if you take Super Bowl rings as your only thing,Kevin Faulk would be as great as Emmitt.

I think AD is unique in that he can juke guys out of their jocks and break tackles equally well. It's kind of rare to see a guy who can do both - most runners are either juke-first or break tackles as their primary mode of running. CJ is a guy who can take a small crease and turn it into a big gainer by virtue of his speed and vision, but he's not what I'd consider a guy who will break many tackles or make something out of nothing. As long as CJ gets good blocking he's going to make some things happen. If he doesn't get that blocking I don't see him being able to compensate for it to the same degree AD can with his ability to break tackles.

From my perspective AD's multiple abilities as a runner are what separate him from most other backs. If he gets the blocking he lacked last year we'll get to see more of the juke-first AD that regularly scores on the long TD runs instead of the AD that primarily had to break a lot of tackles and grind through last season. He's a special talent and with all due respect to the other top backs in the NFL, I think he's the best back in the game right now for that reason.

i havent seen anyone run like adrian since bo jackson. CJ is faster, but if he had a poor runblocking 0-line he wouldnt have 1300 rushing yards. adrian is getting better and better at pass catching and in the redzone.

nope, doesn't mean a thing. I don't understand why people attempt to measure a players greatness by the number of championships, particularly in team sports and especially in team sports where about 30 guys are on the field per team during the course of the game. Its just not logical.

Two words. Scott. Mitchell.

had to look him up doesn't look too bad,but again he's no Aikman

alot of so called "experts" on espn and nfl network say that cj is better than adrian, because cj is faster and doesnt have fumble-ITIS. i would rather see cj heading towards me if i was a defensive back than adrian peterson. the only reason adrian is easier to bring down in the backfield is because the vikings line is piss poor at runblocking. i think adrian is a better runner thru the tackles than cj, is but cj gets more holes to run thru because the titans have a better o-line. put AP on the titans. and i bet he doesnt have as many fumbles, doesnt get tackled in the backfield as much, leads the nfl in rushing and gets even more touchdowns than he gets already.

lol....VY is a beast dude. Yes he strikes fear. Through all his issues he creates things out of nothing and has quite a few come from behind wins under his belt.

Honestly I would take Barry sanders as my all purpose back.

Earl Cambell as my power and goal line back.

I think these two did those roles as good as anybody ever has in the NFL.

i would take marshall faulk as my all purpose back. he could do it all.....catch. block, and run.

earl campbell is my favorite running back ever. Earl and Barry would be my team at RB as well.

Chris Johnson and Emmitt Smith sounds nice together right?

Speaking of those two wasn't Emmitt stronger, didn't he have more endurance, and was more of a power maker. I know Barry was a bit faster and was good, but was there really any competition between Emmitt and Barry. I mean Barry had more football smarts in my opinion and used his strength, heart, soul and intellect to obtain every yard he ever ran. Same as how Chris Johnson was doing in his career as oppose to Adrian Peterson. Agree or Disagree?

adrian does more than just run. he's better in the red zone than cj also imo.

disagree. Emmitt smith ran through enormous holes for most of his career and typically got tackled by the first guy to touch him.

I think your memory is playing tricks on you. Smith had huge holes to run through but he broke a LOT of tackles.

Jim

not that many. you could watch whole games and see the first guy to touch him bring him down every time.

well because when you get huge holes, you gain momentum and its easier to break tackles. When you have Linebackers charging at yo before you even get past the line of scrimmage its a lot harder to break tackles but Barry did it

They both did it. However, for the record, I think Sanders was the better back.

Jim

I think Smith is a very good back but not the best. To me its either Barry,Jim Brown,or Gale Sayers