I would put him in the top 5 all time. Outside of LT, I don't think you can find a better linebacker in their prime. Ray was freakishly good.
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As Terrell Davis Gets Inducted into the HOF...
- Thread starter JoeyFlex5
- Start date
redrum52
Hall of Famer
He's top 2 LB to me with LT first.. It's more about his position than his play but I struggle with the choice because of intangibles.
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Sledge Hammer
Pro Bowler
TD was the best player on that team. AND arguably the best player in the NFL. He was the piston on a great offense. Without him it doesn't work. He missed a quarter in that first Super Bowl. And the offense gained something like 3 yards that complete quarter or so. Not to mention many feel TDs career was cut short by a knee injury that kept returning. So many feel he was an all time great but was robbed of a complete career. He was the fuel behind a ball control/high octane offense that won consecutive championships. The ball control part covered up a suspect defense. And he is a genuine great character that everybody likes. Whereas Jamal robbed himself many voters would say. With drugs, off field drama and bulking up to much. And his defense carried the offense. But I agree he doesn't get enough credit for his crappy pathetic supporting cast.
How so with regards to Sanders? He had one of the best RB seasons of all time in 1997, with 2,053 rushing yards and a 6.1 YPC on his way to the NFL MVP throphy. The year before, he had 1,553 rushing yards, 1,500 the year before that. And he finished his career with 1,491 in 1998. Those were Davis' first and only 4 full seasons, so a good portion of Sanders' best performances came in the same span. Marshall Faulk was also in his mid-twenties, same goes for Eddie George and Jerome Bettis (Who were arguably in a lower tier than the likes of Sanders, Smith and Faulk). But it doesn't seem like the era was short on talent, and to Davis' credit, he earned first-team All-Pro nods in 3 of those 4 years, along with the MVP award the season after Sanders won his. I don't want to hinge the argument on All-Pro votes as they aren't always perfect. But I do feel like he had a good deal of talent to compete with.
Im saying that carrying a team to 2 super bowls means something more then just being a good player on one of them. The results do matter and the results were Davis 's best seasons getting the Broncos 2 super bowls and Lewis getting 1 SB as a rookie and then his best year had him getting knocked out in the 1st round against the Titans.
Ah, Barry Sanders. The legend to lead the NFL in all time yardage lost, but still rank third in YPC.
I didn't realize Gale Sayers had only essentially played five years. He's often considered one of the best ever in five seasons of work.
That article was pretty compelling.
Crazy, right? He's arguably my all-time favorite running back, but that's more of a stylistic choice. You could basically pick a name out of a hat of 5-10 RBs.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
I only said that about Barry because it's not like TD was competing with him throughout his career, TD had 2 seasons as a premiere back before Barry retired. pointless thing to say I guess but it's like it wasn't a competition between emmitt and Jamal because their careers just BARELY overlapped. I know Barry still retired producing at a high level, and maybe this is stupid, but I feel like to declare a competition between 2 guys they should have a little more overlap in their careers
Lewis is a great back, but TD carried his team and thst Broncos team wouldn't have won those Super Bowls without him. Our defense was the team MVP that season. That is why we won that Super Bowl.
Btw, the scheme was not Kubiaks stretch zone. It was Mike Shanahans and Alex Gibbs zbs scheme.
The Raven
Veteran
It's the same thing. Who do you think Kubiak got if from? Remember that he was the OC on that team.
Prino61
Practice Squad
I hope you're talking about Ray Rice
That's true, yes. But Davis' career basically spanned four seasons. By that logic, who was he competing with on that scale? The Smith-Lewis comparison can't be used as a parallel example because both played at least 8 near-full seasons. Davis had a terrific rookie season but likely wasn't considered an elite back. However, that being said, all three of his following seasons were competing directly against Sanders. Davis came away with the Offensive Player of the Year award in 1996 and 1998, with Sanders winning in 1997, and they traded MVPs awards in the latter two seasons. Both were on All-Pro teams, Davis on the first ballot in the final three years, Sanders on two firsts and two seconds. Each was in direct competition with their counterpart while earning their respective honors. The overlap of two players' careers is a palpable aspect when we're arguing between who's the better RB. But the point being established here is whom Davis played against during his prime seasons and whom he had to beat out for the awards he won; and in that case, the career overlap loses relevance. We're only quantifying the accomplishments of a single player. In his four seasons, Davis he played a position with the same four Hall of Famers, a rather difficult path. So the fact that he was considered one of the Top 3 RBs by the panel in three of his four seasons and the best offensive player in two of them is difficult to discount given the context. I don't know that it's possible to exempt Sanders from the list of Davis' direct competitors.
Yes, but the godfather of the zbs is Alex Gibbs. Shanahan and Gibbs deserve the credit. I agree it's the same thing. anyway we are getting off track. I'm typically not a fan of players getting in the HOF with short careers, but TD deserves to be a hall of famer. I don't need to say anything more than what @Truth laid out in his first four seasons.
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Yep, Barry Sanders ran more yards backwards and sideways than he ran forwards. He's my favorite back of all time. He maybe more plays out of nothing than any running back in the history of thr game.
He's my favorite, up there with Ladanian Tomlinson.
I think Sanders is the greatest running back ever. If he plays for just three more years, I bet he's the all time leader in rushing yards and I bet he could have broken Jim Brown's record for YPG, or at least topped 100 YPG. Probably wasn't going to have left with more touchdowns than Emmitt Smith or LT (I know he was later), though. Smith's touchdown number will be hard to beat.
But who the hell makes 10 straight Pro Bowls and 10 straight All-Pro teams? That's unreal.
He was CJ2K before there was Chris Johnson.
Totally agree and he did it on the lowly Lions. He found his way out of more paper bags than I can imagine and they have had lots of paper bags in the Silverdome stands while Sanders was playing. If they could have shown a little more potential towards the end of his career, I think he would have played a little longer.
He and Walter Payton are right up there with my favorite running backs of all time.