Thurman Thomas was far faster than I thought he was...

[Buffalo716]

25 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

Thurman had very good speed, not elite speed. IIRC he played his entire career with a severely damaged ligament in his knee, which is the only reason why he fell to us in the second round. Lord knows how good he would have been if that knee was 100% healthy.

 

I think what made Thurman great was his sense of balance. He was able to absorb huge hits while being able to recover his footing without falling over. Very low center of gravity and the man was an absolute nightmare as a receiver. Had he not played RB, I feel strongly that he could of played WR.
 

Even in today’s NFL, Thurman would very likely be one of the top 2-3 receiving RBs in the league right up there with McCaffery and Kamara.

I think he is a better receiver than BOTH those 

 

Nothing against them ..  but they are more short route specialists 

 

Thurman would run routes 25 yards downfield and catch it over his shoulder laying out 

 

He is one of a kind 

[Big Turk]

13 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

I think he is a better receiver than BOTH those 

 

Nothing against them ..  but they are more short route specialists 

 

Thurman would run routes 25 yards downfield and catch it over his shoulder laying out 

 

He is one of a kind 

 

Ronnie Harmon was every bit as good as a receiver as Thurman was(hard to believe based on his infamous drop in the end zone), but for RBs with at least 200 receptions, he is the career YPC leader with over 11.5

[ghostwriter]

22 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

I think he is a better receiver than BOTH those 

 

Nothing against them ..  but they are more short route specialists 

 

Thurman would run routes 25 yards downfield and catch it over his shoulder laying out 

 

He is one of a kind 

Yes, but you knew what I meant by that.

[skibum]

On 2/3/2022 at 3:37 PM, Starr Almighty said:

Does anyone else remember how after being tackled he would lay on the grass for a while and scare you into thinking oh no 34 is hurt. He used to take a long time to get back up as I recall. Then he would get up do something huge and lay there for a minute again

That was Jim Brown's move - He acted like he might have been hurt after every play, that way if he was actually hurt, nobody would know the difference. 

[BMWR100RT]

Kent Hull and Thurman came to a small party I was at during the season in 92. Got pretty hammered with those two while the snow fell. Nicest guys. Laughed so much my face hurt. There limo got stuck and the host had to pull them out with a tractor.  Those teams had high character guys and I feel the same about the current group. For all the skill Thurman had, his pass blocking was so lunch pail. Just a hard worker. Both were special. 

[RobbRiddick]

I haven't read the replies but I bet a lot of them will echo what I say here.

 

First of all, yes he was very quick. I think Kenny Davis was faster although that's just from my memory of the way he ran, that great high step he had. Not sure if he was in fact faster.

 

Secondly, it's funny when I think back to Thurman's OTT entrance to Super Bowl 26 because looking here it really stands out how he tended to do the Barry Sanders thing of scoring a spectacular TD and then just tossing the ball to the ref. I always like it when great players do that.

 

Thirdly, man I loved the NFL back then. Maybe it's because I was so young and the Bills were so good but the whole thing was better for me. From the announcers to the way the game was played. 

 

And finally. Thank GOD for Josh Allen. I was really beginning to lose my passion for watching this sport until he turned up. The guy is so much fun to watch and the way he plays in many ways makes him a throwback - that Jim Kelly-like linebacker attitude to playing QB where he will happily truck a defender to gain an extra couple yards.

 

Looking back at these great Bills teams of yesteryear, Allen is already my favorite Buffalo player of all time and is probably now above Brett Favre as my favorite NFL player of all time

[BillsPride12]

22 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

It pains me to hear people say Faulk was the greatest all around RB. Marcus Allen started the trend. Thurman took it to another level

FWIW I would have Walter Payton above any of them as the greatest all around RB....Thurman at #2.  I don't remember Faulk or Allen being able to pick up blocks the way Sweetness or Thurman could.