SACCAT66 said:
Barry Sanders was the greatest RB in the history of football playing, and retired early because the Lions drove the will to play the game out of him... the Lions did the same to Calvin Johnson... Being a life long Lions fan is really tough...
I don't disagree at all. Dude was a flat-out football game player. I grew up in the time when we always got the Dallas games on TV, so even though I was a Seahawks fan, I thought Emmitt was the business. But, I always knew deep down that Sanders was better, and Emmitt really benefitted from his OL through the years. Reminds me of a certain FCS team in BFE.
As for Sanders, I think he had the best CFB season of all time in 1988 with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,248 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, 37 rushing touchdowns, 5 consecutive 200 yard games, at least 2 touchdowns in 11 consecutive games, and 9 games with at least 3 touchdowns. Modern stats including bowl games would have him at 2,850 rushing yards that year. (Had to look this all up on Wiki). Having to play for Detroit was a disservice to him, but at least you got to see him do it. The crazy thing is he was a backup to Thurman Thomas early on at OSU. Imagine having Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas on your roster. Shit, Mr. Titleist could probably QB that team to a few wins.