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a big hole. Emmitt Smith often had holes in the defense he could run through with his arms outstretched and still not touch anyone. With the openings he had to run through, there is not a running back in the league who would not have had 1000+ yards in a season. Dallas also had a great passing game as well. Defenses could not stack up against him like they could in many of Barry Sanders seasons. When Dallas was at the goal line, they had the great offensive line that could get a push for Smith to get his touchdowns. Detroit's line was usually pushed back and so the coaches stopped using sanders in goal line situations, not because he wasn't good enough but because they were afraid of getting him hurt. If the two running backs were switched around, what would have been? Would Emmitt have gotten near as many yards in his career if he was behind Detroit's line? As many touchdowns? Would he have won any Super Bowls? Likely not! Yet Sanders would have gained far more yards per season if he had Dallas's line to open holes for him. The one season he had a lineman blow open holes for him he ran for over 2,000 yards. That one big lineman injured his knee that year and never was good again. Sanders would have had far more touchdowns and won Super Bowls. There was always an on going debate on who was better of the two. Yet if they were on each others teams, there would never have been a debate. The fact Sanders was on a pitiful team and Smith on a great team and yet there was still a debate on who was better, proves in itself that Sanders was better.

Jim Brown was great, but would not have been near as good in todays game. Gale Sayers was possibly the greatest, but we will never know for his career was cut short. Yet that in itself speaks against him because one needs to stay durable to be great as well. If we didn't use durability as a requirement, then how many others might have been better? I think the two greatest of all-time were Walter Payton and Barry Sanders. Many would put Payton above Sanders but again, I have never understood their reasoning. Both played for lousy teams. Sanders retired while still in his prime, gaining 1491 yards the previous season and would easily have broken Paytons record if he stayed in football. Sanders had a better yards per carry average than Payton and only 11 less touchdowns though he retired early. As exciting as Walter Payton was said to be, most any analyst who watched them would say that Barry Sanders was the most exciting running

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