A top five of my own
Congratulations to Emmitt Smith for becoming the NFL’s all time leading rusher this weekend. Of course, this has opened up all sorts of debates about whether or not he should be included when talking about the top three or five running backs of all time. But, if you are like me, then you are getting really tired of all these tops and seeing every NFL “expert” from here to Pluto coming out of the woodwork with their top five list. So, in order to change things up a little bit, and I feel staying on this subject is necessary because it is a rather big deal, here are my Top Five biggest busts at running back, as well as another five who could have achieved greatness if not for injury.
Bust #1 ? Blair Thomas. The first back I can remember for being absolutely horrible. Another astounding talent to come out of the Joe Paterno factory for creating terrible NFL players. Yes, that even goes for you LaVar Arrington, because anyone who gets kicked off the sidelines at his alma mater’s homecoming game for screaming at the ref deserves to get ripped.
#2 ? Ron Dayne. Heisman trophy winner, breaker of Ricky Williams’ all time rushing record for Division 1A. He is terrible. Supposedly a bruiser, Dayne couldn’t bruise a twinkie unless he was eating it, in which case the twinkie would only be out a quarter or so.
#3 ? Sherman Williams. Being a Cowboys fan, I just had to throw this one in. Now, of course, as he was a backup to Emmitt Smith he was never supposed to really be a super star, but he acted as though the football were going to transform into a monster and eat his brains if he held onto it for very long. Talk about a fumble.
#4 ? Lawrence Phillips. ‘Hi, my name is Lawrence and I like free pudding so much that I go to jail as much as I possibly can.’ And has anyone else noticed Nebraska offensive players suck almost as bad as Penn State ones in the NFL?
#5 ? Akili Smith. Now, I know he’s not a running back, but I just had to put him in here. I can’t believe the Bengals drafted him. He actually said he called plays at Oregon by ‘drawing them up in the sand.’ Absolutely ridiculous.
Now, for the lost greatness.
#1 ? Gale Sayers. Now, I have never seen him play in realtime, but if you watch old tapes they show on ESPN, he looks like Barry Sanders and Marshall Faulk all rolled into one. He had seven seasons of greatness, and ended up playing only two more injury riddled years.
#2 ? Bo Jackson. I remember watching the game that Jackson injured his hip. Seeing his face, and the way the end of the play played out, I knew right then that something was really wrong. This was the only man ever to play in a baseball all-star game and an NFL pro bowl. He was the best athlete any of us had ever seen, and now he’s just disappeared.
#3 ? Jamal Anderson. Anderson was the single reason that the Falcons made the Super Bowl in 1998. I don’t care about Chris Chandler’s career year blahblah, without Anderson running the ball that wasn’t possible. Two torn ACL’s later he can’t get a job, and ran sporadically last year at best. Who knows what he could have done had he not torn his ACL that night at Texas Stadium.
#4 ? Terrell Davis. One of only four men to ever run for 2,000 yards in a single season, Davis got John Elway the Super Bowl that had always eluded him. He struggled with migraines early in his career, and tore up his knees at the end. He is currently still on the Bronco’s roster on one of those unable to perform type lists, but his career is over. 6,000 yards in four seasons would have him being where Emmitt is right now in 12 seasons, which is certainly possible for a running back to do.
#5 ? Ickey Woods. The Ickey Shuffle. I just want to see it one more time.
