I heard on Around the Horn just now that Emmitt will likely retire this week. Most people, like my dad are happy about it but I am pretty disappointed. Stay Emmitt, stay! If you read this message board take my advice and get to 20,000 yards then retire! Unless they add games to the regular season, if you retire with 20,000 yards noone will ever break it. If you retire with 20,000 yards you will also retire as the first person to do so, you still have some gas left so PLEASE, PLEASE dont retire.
if barry sanders hadn't retired early emmitt would still be a distant second. and if barry sanders had played on the calibre of team the emitt did in his prime, his career rushing totals would be measured in light years.
i think emmitt should reitre because its kinda sad to watch him slowly fading away with the cards, very much like watching michael jordan with the wizards.
You are out of your mind, Fricko. He would have played only 3 more years. He has 15,500 yards. Emmitt has 18,350. He would have gotten the record, but I think that if Emmitt didnt have the record yet, he wouldnt have retired, the Cowboys wouldnt have let him go, so who knows what would have happened, I guarantee Emmitt still would have been the champion.
Forget about Barry Sanders, if Jim Brown wouldnt have retired so early, he still would be the champion, not Payton, not Emmitt, not Sanders. None of them would be. Jim Brown could have been the immortal NFL Rushing Champion if he hadnt retired.
Barry Sanders retired in 1998 when he was 30-years-old. He averaged 1,527 yards per season in his career and showed no signs of slowing down. I think he could have maintained that average over the next three seasons ('99-'01). That would give him 19,849 at the age of 33. Throw in a 1,000-yard season and a 500-yard season in '02 and '03, and you would have 21,350 at the age of 35, Emmitt's current age. What Barry Sanders accomplished is amazing, considering the lack of talent he had around him. If Sanders and Emmitt swapped careers, I believe Sanders would have come close to eclipsing the 25,000 yard plateau.
That said, Sanders is the second-best running back of all time in my opinion. There is no doubt it my mind that Jim Brown was the best. He rushed for 12,312 in nine years, even though the regular season was only comprised of 12 and 14 games at the time.
I agree that Jim Brown was the best of all time, but Emmitt would have had more yards than Barry Sanders even if Sanders had stayed in. Here are the Running back rankings.
1. Jim Brown 2. Emmitt Smith 3. Walter Payton 4. Barry Sanders 5. Tony Dorsett
What makes you say that Emmitt would have more yards if Sanders would have stayed in? My argument is Sanders never had a QB like Aikman, never had a great offensive line and never had a great defense. I think if Sanders played for Dallas instead of Emmitt, he would come close to 25,000 yards.
1. Jerry Jones wouldnt have let Emmitt go, putting him on a team that has a better offensive line, and would give him the ball more, which would have given him 1,000 yards the last two years he was here.
2. He wouldnt have retired until he got the record, so he could have been with us up to like 2006 or 2007.
I agree that Sanders would have had more yards if Sanders went to Dallas and Emmitt went to Detroit.
