Best ever NFL running back

[Magox]

Brown

OJ

Barry sanders

Eric Dickerson (in his best 5 years)

Walter Payton 

[badassgixxer05]

4 minutes ago, TOboy said:

Sanders is the best I ever saw, but I'm too young to have seen Brown or even remember OJ (started watching football religiously in the late 80's). 

Same ?

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

42 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

Walter Payton

 

...fun to watch.....tragic loss to liver ailment.........Emmitt was a durable grinder....Sayers' career was cut short.......there have been plenty of good ones....tough call on GOAT..

[row_33]

14 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

In Buffalo we have had our fair share of phenomenal RB’s.  So, think league wide who was the best ever?  I would have to vote for Barry Sanders.  The guy really had no other real help in his career.  It is simply amazing to see some of the moves he could make.  Take a look at his highlights then tell the rest of us who has your vote.

 

http://www.nfl.com/videos/all-time-greats/0ap3000000940393/Barry-Sanders-career-highlights-NFL-Legends

 

 

 

impossible to pick just one

 

those that carried their lousy teams on their backs to some kind of playoff or national glory get higher billing than others who played for good teams

 

 

so....

 

 

 

Juice

Barry Sanders

Walter Payton

Earl Campbell

 

are my four top picks for watching since 1973.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by row_33

[Shaw66]

I love this discussion every time it comes.  Obviously, there's no right answer to the question, but looking at the posts, I've clarified my thinking about it.  

 

I've seen them all.  I've always said Brown is the best, and I'm still there.   I've also always said that if I had to watch one running back play, it would be Sanders.   It sort of comes down to you standard of measurement.  If you want the most exciting running back, it was Sanders.  Sanders has the best highlights.   He did stuff on the field that no one else ever has done.   (In fact, one thing I like about Shady is in his prime, he was about the most-Sanders like of any back I can recall.   Start stop, change direction, amazing acceleration.  But in that category, Sanders is in a league by himself. 

 

However, Sanders isn't my greatest back ever.  Football is about production and making plays, and if you want a back to make plays for you, consistently, it isn't Sanders.  I know it sounded like heresy, but whoever said OJ made Sanders look like a gadget back was correct.  May have overstated it, but he had the right point.   OJ was elusive in a different way than Sanders was, but he had an astounding ability to make people miss.   OJ had better speed than Sanders; Sanders regularly got caught from behind on long runs, but no one caught OJ.   And Sanders simply was not a good receiver.   He didn't catch well, and he never seemed to produce in the passing game, even though the Lions tried for years.   OJ was devastating in the passing game.  Bills fans don't like it when I say it, but OJ was a better receiver than Thurman.  THe Bills didn't throw to him as much as to Thurman, because it was a different era, but he was deadly as a receiver.  Excellent hands, and give him the ball in the open field - wow!

 

And Brown was better than both.  He was the fastest guy in the NFL.  He may have been the best pure athlete to play in the NFL, ever.  (He was so good at lacrosse that they actually had to rewrite some of the rules to neutralize his style.)  He had incredible strength and amazing balance.  He beat you with speed, with power and with finesse.  And HE was an excellent receiver, too, although in those days running back routes were primarily swing passes in the flat.  

 

Brown retired at age 30, in 1965.  Brown was the league leading career rusher for about 15 years, when Walter Payton closed in on him and passed him.   Brown, who has a big ego, didn't like the fact that someone was taking his record, especially a guy who, as great as he was, was a compiler, not a back breaking, power back or a great break away threat.  (I'm pretty sure it was Payton, but it might have been Franco Harris, who ultiimately didn't pass Brown.) Brown was 45, and he said he was still better than anyone in the league.   He said he was going to come out of retirement to preserve his record.  Now, the interesting thing about that was not that Brown was being a loudmouthed egomaniac, like TO or someone.   The interesting thing about that was that Brown was so good, so dominant that FIFTEEN years after he retired there was SERIOUS discussion in the press about how good Brown would be if he came back.  NOBODY in 2013 could suggest that Barry Sanders at age 45 could come back and do what he did.   

 

Brown may have been the greatest athlete of the century.   The only guy I can think of who could challenge him was Bo Jackson.   

[hemma]

21 minutes ago, Mojo44 said:

 It was sad. He retired in his prime at the end of the 1965 season to focus on acting in movies. I was a kid growing up in Niagara Falls. Maybe you remember that back then both the browns and the bills were televised every Sunday in western New York. I’ve always been a bills fan. For a while the Browns were my second team. 

 

If Brown had played out his natural physical career they would still be chasing him for the all-time leading rusher.

 

One of my best years as a fan was 1964 when the bills one the AFL championship in the Browns won the NFL championship.

 

I also remember that Lee Roy Kelly took over for brown after he retired and was a great running back for several years after that.

 

 

I'm not sure why, but your comment made me think of Ernie Davis (the Elmira Express). 

Browns had both him & JB him for a short time before Ernie's death.

 

Anyone want to watch some old-timey football, here's a game from 1961 -- Syracuse vs Maryland.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=ernie+davis#id=1&vid=416b3aabfbcf2569dadfc37321a5ec87&action=click

[Shaw66]

28 minutes ago, Mojo44 said:

 It was sad. He retired in his prime at the end of the 1965 season to focus on acting in movies. I was a kid growing up in Niagara Falls. Maybe you remember that back then both the browns and the bills were televised every Sunday in western New York. I’ve always been a bills fan. For a while the Browns were my second team. 

 

If Brown had played out his natural physical career they would still be chasing him for the all-time leading rusher.

 

One of my best years as a fan was 1964 when the bills one the AFL championship in the Browns won the NFL championship.

 

I also remember that Lee Roy Kelly took over for brown after he retired and was a great running back for several years after that.

 

 

You're like me.  It was the Browns and Giants on TV every week in the late 50s, and we were a Browns family.  The Browns were my first team until the Bills came along.

 

One of the greatest weekends of my liife was going to War Memorial Stadium on Saturday to see the Bills beat the Chargers for the AFL championship, then sit at home on Sunday and watch the Browns beat the Colts for the NFL championship.  Gilchrist and Brown would have made for a GREAT first Super Bowl.  

 

I was crushed when Brown announced from England that he was retiring.  LeRoy Kelly had been returning punts for the Browns, and Brown said the Browns will be fine without him, because they have LeRoy Kelly.   I remember wondering what he was talking about - a punt returner replacing the greatest back ever, but Brown was right.  Kelly was amazing.  

Edited March 29, 2019 by Shaw66

[Buffalo Junction]

5 hours ago, BillsFan1988 said:

Barry a gadget back? I don't know if I should laugh or cry of laughing. ?

The only real argument against Sanders is all the negative runs. People definitely recall the highlights, but what the don’t recall are the 3-4 carries before the 50 yard touchdown. He’d average 5 yards a game, but he had a penchant for negative yardage which was often caused by impatience and a desire to hit home runs. It’s why he often got pulled in short yardage situations and the red zone. Of course people also forget how good a lot of those 90’s defenses were. 

[hondo in seattle]

I get the Jim Brown votes.  But after watching OJ play, I don't get any other RB getting votes.  

 

Back in the 1970s, teams ran to establish the passing game.  RBs were the kings of football.  Folks didn't talk about "franchise QBs" in those days.  Back then, you needed a guy to tote the ball.  And you needed a defense to stop the other team from running.

 

The Bills didn't have a good D in '73.  Fergy was still raw as a QB.  We had one weapon:  OJ.  If opponents could stop OJ, they won.   But they couldn't stop OJ.

 

Usually the winner of the rushing title rushes for 50 or 100 yards more than his nearest competitor over the course of a season.  That year, OJ outrushed the next best back by nearly 900 yards.  He wasn't simply the best RB that year.  He was at another level.  He was multiple levels above other backs.

[K-9]

Another futile GOAT argument. 

 

Like I always say,  all the greats have a seat seat at the table. And it’s a round table.

[Chandler#81]

14 hours ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Watching the NFL for 50 years, in my opinion:

1. Barry Sanders - unequivocally the best that I've ever seen

2. Earl Campbell- nobody could tackle this beast and he was very fast as well.

3. OJ Simpson - simply unstoppable on a one dimensional team (no passing game)

 

He didn’t really hit his stride until ‘72. By ‘74, the Bills had the #1 offense with Ferguson passing to Rashad, Hill & Chandler -along with a 2-Headed Monster RB tandem of Braxton & OJ. 

 

Marion Motley was a man among boys in his era and some guy named Thurman led the League in total yards from scrimmage an unprecedented 4 Straight Seasons. So it’s really just in the eye of the era’s beholder.

[Augie]

Hard to judge across eras. Jim Brown was a man among boys. Barry Sanders the most exciting, but I’ll go with OJ. Maybe just because I saw more of him, and in person. 

 

I do wish we had a chance to see more Bo Jackson. 

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

4 minutes ago, Augie said:

Hard to judge across eras. Jim Brown was a man among boys. Barry Sanders the most exciting, but I’ll go with OJ. Maybe just because I saw more of him, and in person. 

 

I do wish we had a chance to see more Bo Jackson. 

 

...good call Augie.......still remember his sprint down the sideline as a Raider........

[Logic]

It is so hard to think of just ONE all time greatest running back.

It's easier (and more fun) for me to imagine my dream running back depth chart.

Jim Brown
Barry Sanders
Thurman Thomas

You've got your big bruiser, your change of pace and home run guy, and your 3rd down back and expert pass blocker. 

A guy can dream.

[Augie]

Not putting him in the greatest conversation, but Marcus Allen was a lot of fun to watch too. 

[Rufridr101]

Bo Jackson 

Terrell Davis was a shortened career also 

[Buffalo Junction]

30 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I love this discussion every time it comes.  Obviously, there's no right answer to the question, but looking at the posts, I've clarified my thinking about it.  

 

I've seen them all.  I've always said Brown is the best, and I'm still there.   I've also always said that if I had to watch one running back play, it would be Sanders.   It sort of comes down to you standard of measurement.  If you want the most exciting running back, it was Sanders.  Sanders has the best highlights.   He did stuff on the field that no one else ever has done.   (In fact, one thing I like about Shady is in his prime, he was about the most-Sanders like of any back I can recall.   Start stop, change direction, amazing acceleration.  But in that category, Sanders is in a league by himself. 

 

However, Sanders isn't my greatest back ever.  Football is about production and making plays, and if you want a back to make plays for you, consistently, it isn't Sanders.  I know it sounded like heresy, but whoever said OJ made Sanders look like a gadget back was correct.  May have overstated it, but he had the right point.   OJ was elusive in a different way than Sanders was, but he had an astounding ability to make people miss.   OJ had better speed than Sanders; Sanders regularly got caught from behind on long runs, but no one caught OJ.   And Sanders simply was not a good receiver.   He didn't catch well, and he never seemed to produce in the passing game, even though the Lions tried for years.   OJ was devastating in the passing game.  Bills fans don't like it when I say it, but OJ was a better receiver than Thurman.  THe Bills didn't throw to him as much as to Thurman, because it was a different era, but he was deadly as a receiver.  Excellent hands, and give him the ball in the open field - wow!

 

And Brown was better than both.  He was the fastest guy in the NFL.  He may have been the best pure athlete to play in the NFL, ever.  (He was so good at lacrosse that they actually had to rewrite some of the rules to neutralize his style.)  He had incredible strength and amazing balance.  He beat you with speed, with power and with finesse.  And HE was an excellent receiver, too, although in those days running back routes were primarily swing passes in the flat.  

 

Brown retired at age 30, in 1965.  Brown was the league leading career rusher for about 15 years, when Walter Payton closed in on him and passed him.   Brown, who has a big ego, didn't like the fact that someone was taking his record, especially a guy who, as great as he was, was a compiler, not a back breaking, power back or a great break away threat.  (I'm pretty sure it was Payton, but it might have been Franco Harris, who ultiimately didn't pass Brown.) Brown was 45, and he said he was still better than anyone in the league.   He said he was going to come out of retirement to preserve his record.  Now, the interesting thing about that was not that Brown was being a loudmouthed egomaniac, like TO or someone.   The interesting thing about that was that Brown was so good, so dominant that FIFTEEN years after he retired there was SERIOUS discussion in the press about how good Brown would be if he came back.  NOBODY in 2013 could suggest that Barry Sanders at age 45 could come back and do what he did.   

 

Brown may have been the greatest athlete of the century.   The only guy I can think of who could challenge him was Bo Jackson.   

Shaw, the biggest argument against Brown is the era. When you consider a guy like Peterson you have to wonder what his stats would look like if he’d have played against the smaller and less athletic guys in the 50’s through 60’s NFL. As a result you have to have this argument defined by era. Maybe construct a “lineage” that starts with Jim Thorpe and goes up to Adrian Peterson. ?‍♂️

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Buffalo Junction said:

Shaw, the biggest argument against Brown is the era. When you consider a guy like Peterson you have to wonder what his stats would look like if he’d have played against the smaller and less athletic guys in the 50’s through 60’s NFL. As a result you have to have this argument defined by era. Maybe construct a “lineage” that starts with Jim Thorpe and goes up to Adrian Peterson. ?‍♂️

Shaw and I have the privilege of watching guys from Brown's era and beyond.  So many greats.  No doubt Peterson would thrive back in Brown's day.  But the reason I'd put Brown at the top of my list is if you took him and put him into any other era he would be the best of that time. 

[Chandler#81]

4 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Shaw and I have the privilege of watching guys from Brown's era and beyond.  So many greats.  No doubt Peterson would thrive back in Brown's day.  But the reason I'd put Brown at the top of my list is if you took him and put him into any other era he would be the best of that time. 

Purely opinion based. I, too, lived through that era. He fit THERE. Period.

 

The Kansas Comet, Gale Sayers, was a true marvel to behold!

[CommonCents]

34 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Another futile GOAT argument. 

 

Like I always say,  all the greats have a seat seat at the table. And it’s a round table.

Makes a ton of sense. Trying to compare greats across different eras is impossible.