Let me start by saying I LOVE LISTS. Ask my friends they’ll all tell you. I’m always asking them to rank experiences, to rank likes, and dislikes. I’m always asking them to put a numbers on everything. How much did that hurt? Put a number on it. How cool was that movie? Put a number on it. How much do you like me? Put a number on it. Also I love football. I’ve been in love with it ever since I saw the blue star on the side of the Cowboys silver helmets when I was 3 years old.
February is the worst month of the year for me; because I’m going through Football withdraw then. That's how much I love football.
So it’s hard for me to juxtapose hating a list about football history. I applaud the concept of the list. I appreciate the congregation of “blue ribbon” panelist that the NFL Network put together to work through the list. I love the show and I TIVO it every Thursday. I’m sure a lot of work went into it, and I must admit 95% of the list works for me. . The remainder however has my proverbial boxers in a bunch. Let me start with a minor omission.
Warren Sapp was the best interior defensive tackle of his generation. He was the leader of a Tampa Bay team thats entire identity was defense. His defense, on the road, held the “greatest show on turf” to 11 points in an NFC Championship game. He should be somewhere on this list with his partner in crime Derrick Brooks. My best guess would be somewhere between 90-100 on the list. He should definitely be above number 100 on the list, and the person who is the MOST overrated football player ever!
Joe Namath; how long can this man live off of his “Broadway Joe” reputation. Okay he banged a lot of women. Okay he quietly guaranteed a Super Bowl III victory over the highly favored Colts, but come on! This man threw more interceptions in his career than touchdowns. He had one extraordinary season. Look he got his reward. He somehow got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Let it rest now. No way he should be on this list.
Now on to the biggest omission, Terrell Owens, this one is just pure dislike for an individual overshadowing his career. Yes, he is a quarterback killer. Yes, he wants the ball on every play. Yes, he thinks a lot of himself. Most of the time he says the things that most are afraid to say. Look I’m just going to put pure numbers out there. I’m going to compare his numbers to another wide receiver from his era that is on the list.
Terrell Owens
Catches 1046
Total Yards 15515
Yards Per Catch 14.8
Total Touchdowns 150
WR (X)
Catches 947
Total Yards 14770
Yards Per Catch 15.6
Total Touchdowns 153
The stats are remarkably similar. They look like twins actually. WR (X) was 65th on the top 100 list. His name is Randy Moss. There were three other receivers on the list after Randy Moss at 65, and Terrell Owens wasn’t one of them. To pad Owens’s case, he runs routes over the entire field not just outside the harsh-marks, and he never quit on his team. He was selected first team All Pro 5 times, and Randy Moss was only selected 4 times. This means in 5 NFL seasons Terrell Owens was considered one of the top 2 receivers in the league, while Randy Moss was only considered top 2 in 4 seasons. Sports writers vote upon this honor. Terrell Owens omission from this list is borderline criminal.
Okay this next part is tricky because it’s mostly subjective, and I have to use my Biggie vs. Jay-Z argument for this to make sense.
In my opinion, Biggie Smalls is the BEST Rapper of all time. If my life depended on someone delivering a sick rap that is lyrically superior, and becomes an instant classic I would choose Biggie. Hands down. No contest. But if you ask me who is the GREATEST rapper of all time? I have to say Jay-Z because his body of work is vastly superior. He’s been at the pinnacle the longest. He has more classics. He has sustained a level of excellence over a substantially longer period of time.
Having said that, Tom Brady has had a terrific career but in no way should he be ahead of John Elway and Dan Marion on this list. John Elway single handedly took 3 inferior Denver Broncos teams to the Super Bowl. Dan Marino obliterated all the passing records. He destroyed them. Tom Brady being ahead of these guys is a little premature. I’m not saying he won’t eventually pass them but not in the fall of 2010. Sidebar: How the hell can a Guard albeit a terrific Guard be ahead of Dan Marino? John Hannah was great but come on son! That is nucking futs! Which leads us to the final atrocity on the list.
Full disclosure I’m a huge Cowboys fans, which some will use to disqualify the following statement. Emmitt Smith should be way higher than 28th on this list.
He is the all time leading rusher in NFL history. At the time this is being posted the top 20 haven’t been revealed, however if my assumption is correct the "blue ribbon" panel has Smith as the 5th best running back behind; Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, and Gale Sayers. So let's look at each of these comparisons indvidually.
Sayers v Smith
Sayers had 5 fantastic seasons. He was an excellent running back and return man. And if this were the list of 100 most electrifying players, or the 100 best players, or the 100 players that got cut down in their prime, he’d be at the top of the list. However he is not one of the top 25 greatest and should not be ahead of Emmitt Smith. Sayers numbers are comparable to Terrell Davis’ numbers. He too had his career cut short due to injury. He has never and will never be seriously considered for the Hall of Fame, and Sayers probably shouldn't have been either.
Sayers ran for 4, 956 yards and had a total of 48 touchdowns in his career. Smith ran for 18,355 yards in and 175 touchdowns in his career. That’s 3(x) as much on both count. Look, life dealt Sayers 2-7 off-suit but don’t discredit Smith because he got dealt Aces.
Advantage Smith...
Sanders v Smith
I don’t kid myself with this one. If Sanders had not retired early he would be the all time rushing leader. He would have run for 20,000 yards and put the record out of reach forever. The only thing I can say here is he didn’t care about being the greatest so why should we make him the greatest. The record meant nothing to him. He had another 3-4 years in the tank and he walked away. Smith loved the game had passion for the records, and from day 1 of his NFL career wanted to own them all. He wasn't as fast as Sander, didn’t have the moves like Sanders, wasn’t as explosive as Sanders but he wanted it more than Sanders.
Advantage Smith...
Payton v Smith
We all loved the man they called “Sweetness”. We feel for him because he was a great playing on a bad team, much like his Bears brother Gale Sayers. He was taken from the world far too soon, and we have a romantic place is our heart for Walter Payton, but if you look at the numbers He retired at 33 years old with 16, 726 yards, that was the rushing record at the time. Smith broke the record at age 33 and in the same number of seasons, and played an addition 2 seasons. Also Smith was the driving force on a team that played in 4 consecutive NFC championship games, and won 3 out of 4 Super Bowls.
Advantage Smith...
Brown v Smith
Brown is the GOAT. No contest.
Browns numbers are absurd. If they had played 16 game seasons in his time, and barring injury, he would have ran for 15, 030 yards in 9 seasons. That’s an average of 1,670 per season. He would have had (2) 2000 yards seasons. Amazing! He played 9 seasons was a pro-bowlers in all 9 and was All-pro in 8 of them. Enough said!
No one is in Browns class but Smith should be right behind him as the #2 greatest running back of all time, and that should have been good enough to place him in the top 10 of the NFL’s greatest players of all time.
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