VABills Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I think my question is being missed... I am not saying that Thomas Smith is best of all time I am just stating that I personally believed he should be a choice along with Winfield and Clements. Though thomas smith didnt get many intercecptions I have this memory of him defelcting a ton of passes each and every year. So i did some scanning and found that one season in 1995 he knocked down a team high of 16. Im just wondering why hes not a choice. Personally I felt he was a better player than clements and I really liked winfield as well but he wasnt a big int guy either he was abig hitter and tackler. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/28/sports/s...omas-smith.html Winfield while smaller than Smith was a better player than Smith. he too like Smith never caught balls though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Paulson Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Is my memory escaping me. I thought thomas smith was one of our best CBS I really liked him but i dont see him on the CB choices. Am i mistaken here someone clarify this for me. thanks you mean 'toast'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderweb Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 he definitely should've been on the list...while he wasn't known for making lots of picks, mostly because opposing QBs didn't throw his way, he could make some big plays at times. In 1996, when we faced off against the Cowboys, a play after Bryce Paup played leapfrog over Emmitt Smith to sack Aikman, Thomas Smith jumped in front of a pass intended for Deion Sanders which sealed the win Philster, while the ball was more often thrown away from his coverage, his lack of INT's had more to do with his hands of stone. He had the worst hands I've ever seen from an NFL player (well, maybe Perry Tuttle's were worse - ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Best ever, or best you have seen? Best ever is a matter of opinion, obviously. Especially when comparing across eras. Up until Sanders, the best CB I ever saw play was Robert James. Like VA says, you just lined him up against the other team's best WR and forgot about it. He simply took away your best WR option on offense. Sanders IS the best that I've ever SEEN. Both personnally and via coaches tape. I respect VAs opinion on James but James lacked Sanders' overall ability to LITERALLY take away a third ALL BY HIMSELF. James took away a player. Sanders took away an entire AREA. He was just so fast and quick and smart. Perhaps the biggest reason I put Sanders at the top IS the liberalized offensive era he played in. No bump and run, etc. No head slaps by pass rushers to get to QBs. So many rules designed to open up the offenses. So yeah, best I've ever SEEN. Best EVER will always be open for debate. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Best ever is a matter of opinion, obviously. Especially when comparing across eras. Up until Sanders, the best CB I ever saw play was Robert James. Like VA says, you just lined him up against the other team's best WR and forgot about it. He simply took away your best WR option on offense. Sanders IS the best that I've ever SEEN. Both personnally and via coaches tape. I respect VAs opinion on James but James lacked Sanders' overall ability to LITERALLY take away a third ALL BY HIMSELF. James took away a player. Sanders took away an entire AREA. He was just so fast and quick and smart. Perhaps the biggest reason I put Sanders at the top IS the liberalized offensive era he played in. No bump and run, etc. No head slaps by pass rushers to get to QBs. So many rules designed to open up the offenses. So yeah, best I've ever SEEN. Best EVER will always be open for debate. GO BILLS!!! I can accept that- I always put Rod Woodson ahead of Sanders though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endzone Animal Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Robert James was the best Bill ever? What, did he have 3 years of top play before he was finished with the knee injury? Gotta say he was a quality corner, but let's not get ourselves carried away. BTW, I was at that pre-season game in 1975 when he went down, and you could see right away it was one of those ugly, ugly injuries that was going to ruin his career. Crowd was in a stunned silence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Robert James was the best Bill ever? What, did he have 3 years of top play before he was finished with the knee injury? Gotta say he was a quality corner, but let's not get ourselves carried away. BTW, I was at that pre-season game in 1975 when he went down, and you could see right away it was one of those ugly, ugly injuries that was going to ruin his career. Crowd was in a stunned silence. His short career doesn't negate the fact that yeah, he WAS that good before the injury. Better than anyone else I've ever seen on this team. Likewise, I still believe Jerry Butler had Hall of Fame potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Robert James was the best Bill ever? What, did he have 3 years of top play before he was finished with the knee injury? Gotta say he was a quality corner, but let's not get ourselves carried away. BTW, I was at that pre-season game in 1975 when he went down, and you could see right away it was one of those ugly, ugly injuries that was going to ruin his career. Crowd was in a stunned silence. So was I. It was 1974 against the Rams in the rain. Still probably the Bills best corner with Byrd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endzone Animal Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I thought the injury was in the '75 pre-season because he played through '74... Anyway, he was great in his brief time. Who knows how many wins we didn't get that season because of his injury. I think the best corner since his time was probably Winfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I thought the injury was in the '75 pre-season because he played through '74... Anyway, he was great in his brief time. Who knows how many wins we didn't get that season because of his injury. I think the best corner since his time was probably Winfield. I'll have to check my Relentless book..hold on....August 23rd, 1975. You are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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