OJ Simpson

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GophersInIowa said:
I don't know how it can be argued that Simpson was a better player than Sanders was. I know stats aren't everything but comparing the two they aren't really close. OJ had a total of five seasons where he rushed for 800+ yards in the NFL. He was very dominant over that 5-year span but was very average over the other 6. Barry was dominant all 10 years he played. Simpson didn't dominate long enough IMO.

If you're only looking at college, I can maybe see an argument. However, Barry's final season was one of the greatest seasons a college player has ever had at any position.
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My dad argues Gayle Sayers was the most talented and would have been the best without injuries. I was not privileged to see him live..
 


spermophilus said:
Jim Brown and Barry Sanders both have their hands raised, and would like to ask a question.
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I was thinking Bo Jackson. I know his career lacked longevity, but man was he good when he was good! 3 of his 4 years in the NFL, his longest rush was 88 yards or longer (2 90 yard+ TDs).
 


spermophilus said:
Jim Brown and Barry Sanders both have their hands raised, and would like to ask a question.
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Barry was my favorite and in my opinion the most fun to watch. His offensive lines were horrible in Detroit, and I think that just added to the enjoyment. Having him pinned in for a 5 yard loss and then find a way to finagle himself out of it...
 
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The glove portion in the trial was the stupidest part of the trial. Of course the gloves are going to shrink a bit with time due to their condition. Jury overlooking the DNA portion was pretty bad in my opinion. OJ knew how to make money with a great agent, was a great football player with God given talent, but he didn't have a brain when it comes to making solid decisions.
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
Barry was my favorite and in my opinion the most fun to watch. His offensive lines were horrible in Detroit, and I think that just added to the enjoyment. Having him pinned in for a 5 years loss and then find a way to finagle himself out of it...
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If Barry Sanders played behind the line that Emmitt Smith had, he'd have averaged about half a million rushing yards per season, give or take 10,000.
 




Mulligan said:
One of the most memorable Gopher games I've seen in person. In the second half USC scored, took the lead, and kicked off. We had played them very tough and it was a close game. The Gopher return guy fielded it and started up field close to the sidelines. He stopped and threw an across the field lateral pass to a Gopher all by himself on the other sidelines. That guy caught and went down the field to score putting us ahead by 3 or 4 points (?). The whole place went nuts.

Then USC got the ball and marched down the field with O.J. doing the damage. I don't remember any long TD runs by him but he'd get big hunks of yardage. USC regained the lead and they might have gotten another TD also.
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On that kickoff, it was George Kemp who caught the ball. He ran a short distance and then passed back across the field to John Wintermute who took it to the house. It's definitely the most unexpected and exciting football play I've ever seen in person.
 


OJ was one of the greatest. He was always smiling and enjoying life.
 








#2Gopher said:
The glove portion in the trial was the stupidest part of the trial. Of course the gloves are going to shrink a bit with time due to their condition. Jury overlooking the DNA portion was pretty bad in my opinion. OJ knew how to make money with a great agent, was a great football player with God given talent, but he didn't have a brain when it comes to making solid decisions.
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We lived in So Cal when that was happening. I had a pair of my own gloves (which fit perfectly). I tried them on with my friends watching. I perfectly imitated OJ. Even made the facial expressions as I pretended that they were too tight. What a frickin joke.
 

Thinking from the Pair and a spare thought process, I think I'd go Payton, Bo Jackson, and Barry Sanders or Eric Dickerson.

If the strength of my team was defense, I'd push Earl Cambell to the front and add Robert Newhouse as a fullback.

If I were to go full passing attach, I think I'd go Lydell Mitchell, and maybe Franco Harris and or Reggie Bush.

I know that Gayle Sayers should be in here somewhere, but I didn't get to see him enough.
 

STPGopher said:
Thinking from the Pair and a spare thought process, I think I'd go Payton, Bo Jackson, and Barry Sanders or Eric Dickerson.

If the strength of my team was defense, I'd push Earl Cambell to the front and add Robert Newhouse as a fullback.

If I were to go full passing attach, I think I'd go Lydell Mitchell, and maybe Franco Harris and or Reggie Bush.

I know that Gayle Sayers should be in here somewhere, but I didn't get to see him enough.
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Marshal Faulk easily for me in a high passing offense. Tomlinson maybe second. Both incredible pass catching RBs.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Marshal Faulk easily for me in a high passing offense. Tomlinson maybe second. Both incredible pass catching RBs.
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True, I was focused on old school backs at that moment. Chuck Muncie was also a great all purpose back from that era. Hard to argue against Faulk and Tomlinson though.
 

USAF said:
Jim Brown is close.
Barry Sanders? LOL.
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I'm not old enough to have seen Jim Brown play, but I always got the impression it was more of a "Shaq" like thing where he was good simply because he was more physically dominant than those around him. I mean, wasn't Jim Brown bigger than most of the 11 defenders trying to tackle him, save for maybe the defensive tackles? How would he play in modern football? Couldn't someone like Adrian Peterson easily accomplish what Jim Brown did if Adrian played back then? Or Jerome Bettis, or M. Lynch?

In the same vein, I never thought Shaq had much talent - just an imposing body that no one can stop since they let him hip-check the defender out of the way.

Not trying to argue, just looking for feedback.
 



GophersInIowa said:
I don't know how it can be argued that Simpson was a better player than Sanders was. I know stats aren't everything but comparing the two they aren't really close. OJ had a total of five seasons where he rushed for 800+ yards in the NFL. He was very dominant over that 5-year span but was very average over the other 6. Barry was dominant all 10 years he played. Simpson didn't dominate long enough IMO.

If you're only looking at college, I can maybe see an argument. However, Barry's final season was one of the greatest seasons a college player has ever had at any position.
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I am too young for a lot of this discussion - I never saw OJ, Gayle Sayers, or Jim Brown play. I feel the best running backs in my lifetime are Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, and Adrian Peterson. I have never seen someone straight up run the ball like Peterson, Faulk was great in ever facet of the game, and Barry was just Barry.

One impressive thing about OJ that gets overlooked often was rushing for 2000+ yards in 14 games. That is impressive, especially in that time period when passing games weren't great like they are today.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
I'm not old enough to have seen Jim Brown play, but I always got the impression it was more of a "Shaq" like thing where he was good simply because he was more physically dominant than those around him. I mean, wasn't Jim Brown bigger than most of the 11 defenders trying to tackle him, save for maybe the defensive tackles? How would he play in modern football? Couldn't someone like Adrian Peterson easily accomplish what Jim Brown did if Adrian played back then? Or Jerome Bettis, or M. Lynch?

In the same vein, I never thought Shaq had much talent - just an imposing body that no one can stop since they let him hip-check the defender out of the way.

Not trying to argue, just looking for feedback.
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Brown was an anomaly. I wrote a page back that he was bigger than most LBs and much faster and he could run over or by DBs. An athletic marvel, especially for that era. 4-sport lettrman at Syracuse (football, basketball, track, and lacrosse). Athleticism aside, Brown had a feel for the game and didn't just plow over people.

It's really difficult to compare across eras in any sport, but Brown has been largely forgotten except for us oldsters. Of the guys you mention, I think Peterson would have had the best chance to duplicate Brown's performance. Brown was a much better player than either Bettis or Lynch. Brown is the only RB in NFL history to average more than 100 yards per game as his career average. Never missed a game in his 9-year career.

Eric Dickerson put up big numbers for a few years, but I thought he was really one-dimensional. He'd line up seven hards deep as the tailback and just long-stride his way along. Another guy who just ran by people if he hit the second level, but I didn't think he was that elusive.

Gayle Sayers was in some ways the precursor to Barry Sanders in terms of style. Elusive. Great stop-and-start and could accelerate out of a cut as good as anyone in the history of the game. Blew out his knee and never really recovered. Only played seven seasons (and sporadically in two of those seasons at the end of his career).

Game has become so pass-oriented that the era of the running back may as well be told through cave paintings. But growing up in an era when the game was ground game-centric, a very good running back was absolutely crucial and every team tried to have one.
 


Big Dawg said:
We lived in So Cal when that was happening. I had a pair of my own gloves (which fit perfectly). I tried them on with my friends watching. I perfectly imitated OJ. Even made the facial expressions as I pretended that they were too tight. What a frickin joke.
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