Jim Brown still tops the all-time RB lists
Written By: Mike | Category: Cleveland Browns | Comments: 4
This week some experts over at ESPN decided to rank the top-10 running backs of all time and Jim Brown was placed at the top of the list. Considering that the guy has often been called the greatest player ever, this shouldn’t really be any surprise.
However, it’s still kind of amazing if you think about it. The guy hasn’t played in over 40 years, the league has gotten bigger and faster, he’s fallen from first to eighth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list over the past two decades, and (thanks to longer schedules) the league’s yearly statistics have grown infinitely in comparison to Brown’s day and he’s still without a doubt the best ever. Period.
Following Brown on the list are, in order: Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Gale Sayers, LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, O.J. Simpson, Lenny Moore, and Eric Dickerson.
I have to admit, I’ve never looked at Barry Sanders in quite the way others do. If you needed a big carry with the game on the line who from the above list would you call on after Brown? Would you really pick Sanders ahead of most of that list to juke and dance his way around a defense while risking a loss of yards, or would you rather just let O.J., Walter or Emmitt just get the damn yards and win the game? On that theory alone, I can’t rank Sanders higher than 6th on this list after Payton, Smith, Simpson, and Tomlinson.
If anything, it is sort of ironic that the top two on the list both retired in the prime of their careers. I’m sure that only helps their legondary status due to the fact that voters will never have images of them struggling to stay in the NFL at the end of their careers like O.J did with the 49ers, Johnny Unitas with San Diego, or Jerry Rice did with Seattle or Denver. Dr. Evil once said that there’s nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster, and the same can be said for that superstar who hangs on way too long.
After all, it did work out better for Jim Brown. While other former stars were running Oklahoma drills in their late 30’s, Brown was making out with Raquel Welsh on camera. Who’s place would you rather be in? I thought so.
I love LT (I actually own a powder blue LT jersey, only because its the best uniform in all of sports), but I don’t really know what he has done to merit such a high ranking, ahead of guys like OJ and Dickerson. LT is very good and has been the best back in the NFL for a couple of years now, but he hasn’t done a thing in the playoffs. You can say the same about Barry Sanders, but he put up way better numbers than LT and his teams sucked – LT is on stacked Chargers teams, and he didn’t even play in the AFC Championship game for some tiny injury. No injury would have kept any of those other guys from playing. Not that this rant has anything to do with Cleveland or Jim Brown, but just saying
I wish I had been alive to witness Jim Brown play, and not his movies. Mars Attacks nearly ruined cinema for me. But your point is right on about players retiring early. As Neil Young said, “Better to burn out than to fade away” (i think that fits). Although I still contend that Jerry Rice could still play when he retired
Well, you have to assume OJ was knocked down a few pegs – as he will be forever. I would actually be OK swapping him and LT.
With all of the two-back systems that a lot of teams are going with, I hope I didn’t take guys like Sanders for granted when they were playing. You can’t get much better than that.
And Ricky, I completely agree on your “alive” comment. Videos don’t do him justice.
However, Brown came in third in wife beating behind O.J. and Lawrence Phillips………such douchebags.
Wow, I didn’t know a Dr. Evil quote could fit so well in a serious column