respk Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 I'll take Thurman for the following reasons. - more versatile, better receiver, better blocker. - not much drop off in yardage from Simpson. - Salary not as big of percentage of team salary as simpson. This allowed the Bills to fill other spots with high salaried players. - more consistent. Thurman always got 3-7 yards and a cloud of dust. Simpson might break the 90 yarder, but he also might not get the 3 yards needed. when the simpson bills teams needed 3 yards they often gave it to Braxton.
JAMIEBUF12 Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 ill take thurman as well.......as a pure runner i'd say oj but thurman the blocker pass catcher game changer was definately a championship player.
Pyrite Gal Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 There is a reasonable football comparison here, but OJs sin of almost certainly murdering his ex-wife and an innocent bystander is so huge that footbsll comparisons of the Juice simply leave a foul taste and smell. All players are human and transgress and have failings. However, the difference between stupidly loading yourself up on steroids, thowing drinks in women's faces, or forgetting your helmet in the SB (this last one is an actual TT sin) simply does not compare to the transgression of taking someone's life. When I compare TT and OJs stats I always am led to the conclusion that TT is a player who has more impressive accomplishments IMHO because I like his diverse style and I hope OJ burns in nether world forever.
Buftex Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 OJ was not exactly a slouch when it came to receiving. Throwing the ball to the RB was just simply not as common a part of the game as it is today. Thurman was a terrific running back, but OJ is one of the very greatest of all-time, top 10 easy. That being said, I would still take Thurman. I don't necessarily think he was a better running back than juice, but just like you can't seperate OJ's crime from his name, you can't seperate that Thurman represented a large portion of the success of the Bills offense, when the team was at its' most potent. While it is true that Thurman played with much more talent around him, it is hard to gauge just how much of that talent blossomed, because of Thurmans' prescence. I would still take Jim Kelly as the all time greatest Buffalo Bill, but everything in that offense was predicated on Thurmans' versatility. Kind of like Marshall Faulk/Kurt Warner did for the Rams...only better, because they played in Buffalo!
Pyrite Gal Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 OJ was not exactly a slouch when it came to receiving. Throwing the ball to the RB was just simply not as common a part of the game as it is today. Thurman was a terrific running back, but OJ is one of the very greatest of all-time, top 10 easy. That being said, I would still take Thurman. I don't necessarily think he was a better running back than juice, but just like you can't seperate OJ's crime from his name, you can't seperate that Thurman represented a large portion of the success of the Bills offense, when the team was at its' most potent. While it is true that Thurman played with much more talent around him, it is hard to gauge just how much of that talent blossomed, because of Thurmans' prescence. I would still take Jim Kelly as the all time greatest Buffalo Bill, but everything in that offense was predicated on Thurmans' versatility. Kind of like Marshall Faulk/Kurt Warner did for the Rams...only better, because they played in Buffalo! 715534[/snapback] OJ sliced his ex-wife and a passer-by up. this is all the football you need know about this comparison.
obie_wan Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 OJ was arguably the best runnig back -ever. His stats would have been mind boggling, except that another in the long line of incompetant head coaches chose to use him as a decoy his first few years. He was so good that he forced the league to change how they defended him. His ability to turn the corner led to the development of the 3-4 defense to contain the sweeps. Thurman may have fit better in the k-gun, but OJ was the better individual back.
Buftex Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 OJ sliced his ex-wife and a passer-by up. this is all the football you need know about this comparison. 715570[/snapback] Yeah, I know, I made that distiction, as did you, and I am sure a number of other responders will...
stuckincincy Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 OJ was arguably the best runnig back -ever. His stats would have been mind boggling, except that another in the long line of incompetant head coaches chose to use him as a decoy his first few years. He was so good that he forced the league to change how they defended him. His ability to turn the corner led to the development of the 3-4 defense to contain the sweeps. Thurman may have fit better in the k-gun, but OJ was the better individual back. 715643[/snapback] Ah...Johnny Rausch. Raush used the Slasher on KO returns from time to time. IIRC, he had some sort of unbelivable average...40+ yards per.
Pyrite Gal Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Yeah, I know, I made that distiction, as did you, and I am sure a number of other responders will... 715664[/snapback] I know I'm on a bit of a high horse, but OJ's recent money-gribbing activity and some societal acceptance of fame for any reason has just triggered me to respond to even reasonable discussion of his past on the field accomplishments with efforts which attempt to never forget his off the field hiorrible acts. I can live in a world where the footbsll facts of OJ are discussed as long as the moral issues are also raised and not simply set aside as though life and killing do not matter.
K-9 Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 With all due respect to the young turks around here, it's not even close. OJ was BY FAR the better running back of the two and is in the top 4 all time (brown,sayers,sanders). There are only a few backs all time that, when they got the ball, you actually FELT IN YOUR STOMACH that they would take it the distance, EVERY TIME! OJ was one of those few. Great hands, a good blocker, and (don't know what respk was referring to) when they needed tough yards, OJ got the ball FAR, FAR more often than Braxton. Between the tackles or around the corner, OJ got his yards. Big, strong, with world class (yes world class) sprinter's speed (his college 4x100 relay team once held the record), back like OJ come around once in a generation. And we were lucky to have had him. Too bad his first three years were wasted by sh*t coaching. Anyone who would inject his status as a murderer and let it cloud their opinion of him as a player isn't being fair to the discussion. GO BILLS!!!
RuntheDamnBall Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 I'll take Jonathan Linton. 715703[/snapback] Darick Holmes by a country mile, my friend, and you know it.
H2o Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 I'd take OJ. Thurman was a great RB for our team, but OJ hit 2,000 yards in 14 regular season games on teams that weren't good. Can you imagine if he was in his prime on the teams of the early 90's? I know I'd take him in the Super Bowls because I bet you he wouldn't have fumbled as much as Thurman.
Buftex Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 I know I'm on a bit of a high horse, but OJ's recent money-gribbing activity and some societal acceptance of fame for any reason has just triggered me to respond to even reasonable discussion of his past on the field accomplishments with efforts which attempt to never forget his off the field hiorrible acts. I can live in a world where the footbsll facts of OJ are discussed as long as the moral issues are also raised and not simply set aside as though life and killing do not matter. 715675[/snapback] Well, whatever. I don't think anyone forgets that, anyone with an IQ (I am sure there are a few of them here ) is mindful of that. Should we preclude every argument with "who is the greatest running back/football player of all time?" with a litany of the subjects crime record? OJ would be out of the running (although, he was never convicted), but Jim Brown would get a pass? Because Browns' transgressions were longer ago, and because he was never, ultimately, successful in his muliple attempts to kill females, he is often called not only the greatest running back of all time, but the greatest football player of all time. I believe he even topped the list of a couple of "greatest athlete of the 20th century" lists 5 or 6 years ago.
H2o Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Yeah!!! And free Tookie!!!......... ..........my bad, I forgot Tookie ain't here no more
BillsGuyInMalta Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Darick Holmes by a country mile, my friend, and you know it. 715706[/snapback] Psshh...puh-lease. You are totally underestimating Linton's never say die scrappyness! He'd run circles around Holmes and send him packing to Green Bay.
Pyrite Gal Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Well, whatever. I don't think anyone forgets that, anyone with an IQ (I am sure there are a few of them here ) is mindful of that. Should we preclude every argument with "who is the greatest running back/football player of all time?" with a litany of the subjects crime record? OJ would be out of the running (although, he was never convicted), but Jim Brown would get a pass? Because Browns' transgressions were longer ago, and because he was never, ultimately, successful in his muliple attempts to kill females, he is often called not only the greatest running back of all time, but the greatest football player of all time. I believe he even topped the list of a couple of "greatest athlete of the 20th century" lists 5 or 6 years ago. 715712[/snapback] No these discussions and even specifc tribute being paid to OJs tremendous virtually unparalled on field accomplishments should not be squelched at all. However, what also should not be squelched are rememberances also of his almost certain crimes against humanity. I think it is a fair solution which does not ignore either fact to see the usual TSW lusty debate about all things football, but to also hae inserted in the particular case of a great travesty against man and society mention that I hope OJ burns in Hades for a good long time. He deserves both to be praised for being an outstanding RB for the Bills and to chastised, pilloroed, his name spit upon and be laughed at as a walking sick joke for getting away witout long term incarceration or maybe the death penalty for a double murder. I do not see why one would have any problem with this bow to reality.
H2o Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 I hope OJ burns in Hades for a good long time. 715722[/snapback] Well I can promise you one thing. If that's where OJ ends up when he "breaks on through to the other side", as a man named Jim Morrison once said, there will be no change of scenery for him ever again Scary, but true.
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Another OJ factor: Unlike Thurman, who had a HOF QB and (maybe two) HOF receivers, OJ did not have the benefit of a passing game to keep defenses honest. Joe Ferguson was a rookie QB who threw barely 15 passes a game. The receivers were JD Hill and Bob Chandler who struck fear into nobody. Everyone knew what was coming, and the fact that OJ did what he did was all the more impressive.
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