Barry Sanders -- Overrated

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
Barry Sanders, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 (his first year of eligibility), scored one touchdown for every 35 touches in his 153 regular-season games, but just one touchdown in 112 postseason touches in six playoff games.

Indeed, Sanders' only career playoff touchdown was a 47-yard run against the Dallas Cowboys in a 1991 divisional-round playoff game in the Pontiac Silverdome. The Lions won that game 38-6. Sanders' touchdown came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter with Detroit already leading 31-6. The following week, the Lions went on the road to play the Washington Redskins at RFK Stadium. Sanders was not a factor. Detroit took a 41-10 beating.

Barry Sanders wasn't the same player away from home.
Sanders' postseason performance supports the notion that he was a product of the cozy, climate-controlled Silverdome. Nice carpet for easy, stop-on-a-dime maneuvering. Seventy-two degrees. Detroit faithful keeping the defensive line off balance with high decibel support.

In four career outdoor postseason games, Sanders averaged a paltry 2.8 yards per carry. He never scored a touchdown. And he never ran for more than 65 yards in a single game. With Sanders, the Lions went 0-4 in outdoor playoff games, losing by an average of 17 points.

Nobody is suggesting that a bust of Barry should not be in Canton. He's the third-leading rusher of all time with 15,269 yards. He holds the all-time NFL record for consecutive 1,000 seasons with 10, from 1989 to 1998. Sanders was the first player to rush for 1,500 yards in a season five times. He was selected to 10 Pro Bowls. In 1997, when he rushed for 2,053 yards, he was NFL co-MVP, an honor he should have not had to share with Brett Favre that season. In 1988, Sanders won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma State.

But this picture of perfection has a nasty blemish. Once Sanders got to the big stage, and got out of the Silverdome, he was a bust.

Take the wild-card playoff game at Lambeau Field in 1994. That season, Sanders averaged 5.7 yards per carry -- the second-highest total of his career. In the first round of the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers, on Lambeau Field's frozen tundra, Sanders set an NFL postseason record for rushing futility. He had 13 carries for minus-one yard. He had four catches that day -- for four yards. Which means he had 16 touches for a total of three yards -- 2.7 yards less than he averaged per rush in the regular season.

Now, the spirited defense of putting him in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot always includes the theory that Sanders was the only thing the Lions had going for them in The Barry Sanders Era. That's exactly what it is -- a theory, and a bad one at that.

Did we forget about wide receivers Herman Moore and Brett Perriman? The Lions stretched the field for Sanders -- especially in the Dome. This helped him be wildly successful -- in the regular season. And in the years when the Lions went to the playoffs, their defense was not awful. It was middle of the pack -- ranked 11th in 1991, 15th in 1993, 19th in 1994, 14th in 1995 and 10th in 1997.

There is another ugly scar on Sanders' career: His Greta Garbo act on the way out the door.

After rushing for 1,491 yards in 1998, Sanders abruptly and mysteriously retired. At the time, he was 1,457 yards shy of Walter Payton's all-time rushing record. His defenders say Sanders -- who played the game with dignity and class -- did not owe anybody anything. As long as he was at peace with the decision, that was enough. That's bunk.

Here was a man who benefited greatly from the support of his teammates, his organization and his fans -- and he just turned his back on them without a word of gratitude. He left his teammates and a franchise in the lurch, to the point that the Lions demanded he return $7.3 million of his signing bonus.

Years later, when it was time for him to become eligible for Canton, Sanders had to be coaxed into providing some kind of explanation for his untimely retirement.

It was too little, too late.

OKay this article section or whatever really got be burning big time.

First, everyone knows that Wayne "moron" Fontes would take Barry out of the game when the Lions were in the red zone for fear of getting him hurt.

Second, he wasn't given much a chance in the post season games. In the six games in the Post Season he only had the ball more than 20 times, ONCE and guess what, he amassed 169 yards. Four times he had less than 15 carries in the game.

Barry was one of the biggest reasons the Lions made the playoffs and Wayne Fontes was an idiot, he should have rode Barry into a Super Bowl, well, tried to. Instead he gave him the ball 3 - 4 times a quarter! IDIOT!

No, Barry was not great at catching the ball out of the backfield.
No, Barry was not the best at picking up the blitz.
Yes, Barry was the best pure running back to ever play the game. No one can or will match his electrifying style of running that had fans of either team on the edge of their seat just waiting to see what would happen. Would it be a bust out play or a play of negative yards.

With Barry, you never knew, but you had to keep giving him the rock because he would eventually break the long one. Wayne Fontes failed in that concept MISERABLY.

[flash width=480 height=360]http://youtube.com/v/yifWMmU7cSM.swf[/flash]
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
The guy that wrote that is an IDIOT!
Sanders was Detroits ONLY offense. He didn't do well in playoff games? Uh, could that be because of the last statement i made??? When it was playoff time, the Lions were going up against the best teams, which KNEW all they had to do to win was stop Sanders to beat the Lions. That doesn't mean Sanders wasn't the best RB! It meant the other teams centered their whole game plan into stopping him.
The guy should be wearing a Rex Grossma........I mean, DUNCE cap!!!
 

PackerChick

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
3,143
Reaction score
1
Location
Ashland, WI
The guy that wrote that is an IDIOT!
Sanders was Detroits ONLY offense. He didn't do well in playoff games? Uh, could that be because of the last statement i made??? When it was playoff time, the Lions were going up against the best teams, which KNEW all they had to do to win was stop Sanders to beat the Lions. That doesn't mean Sanders wasn't the best RB! It meant the other teams centered their whole game plan into stopping him.
The guy should be wearing a Rex Grossma........I mean, DUNCE cap!!!

Barry Sanders was the whole Detroit team. We could have had him if we didnt get Manarich.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
cheesey said:
The guy that wrote that is an IDIOT!
Sanders was Detroits ONLY offense. He didn't do well in playoff games? Uh, could that be because of the last statement i made??? When it was playoff time, the Lions were going up against the best teams, which KNEW all they had to do to win was stop Sanders to beat the Lions. That doesn't mean Sanders wasn't the best RB! It meant the other teams centered their whole game plan into stopping him.
The guy should be wearing a Rex Grossma........I mean, DUNCE cap!!!

Barry Sanders was the whole Detroit team. We could have had him if we didnt get Manarich.
Yup....i always hoped he would get tired of the losing and come here.
You know, maybe getting Mandarich was good though. Had we not had that 100% loser, maybe we wouldn't have got Ron Wolf as our GM, and we never would have had Favre.
I mean, if Sanders would have been here, and we had stayed just mediocre enough to not have to make all the changes we did, like GM, head coach, and so on, maybe we never would have had Brett here.
 

spardo62

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
559
Reaction score
0
Location
Iowa
Sal certainly is not a Barry Sanders fan.

I personally would place him top 5 of all time. As stated earlier, he played on bad teams, where he was the only offense and still was able to put up numbers. He was electric in the open field and was very good at making people miss tackles. Somewhat lacking in pass protection and not very strong, but still definately a top 5 back of all time.
 

PackerChick

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
3,143
Reaction score
1
Location
Ashland, WI
PackerChick said:
cheesey said:
The guy that wrote that is an IDIOT!
Sanders was Detroits ONLY offense. He didn't do well in playoff games? Uh, could that be because of the last statement i made??? When it was playoff time, the Lions were going up against the best teams, which KNEW all they had to do to win was stop Sanders to beat the Lions. That doesn't mean Sanders wasn't the best RB! It meant the other teams centered their whole game plan into stopping him.
The guy should be wearing a Rex Grossma........I mean, DUNCE cap!!!

Barry Sanders was the whole Detroit team. We could have had him if we didnt get Manarich.
Yup....i always hoped he would get tired of the losing and come here.
You know, maybe getting Mandarich was good though. Had we not had that 100% loser, maybe we wouldn't have got Ron Wolf as our GM, and we never would have had Favre.
I mean, if Sanders would have been here, and we had stayed just mediocre enough to not have to make all the changes we did, like GM, head coach, and so on, maybe we never would have had Brett here.

Very good points you have there cheesey. the one about getting manarich and then getting ron wolf then favre.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
cheesey said:
PackerChick said:
cheesey said:
The guy that wrote that is an IDIOT!
Sanders was Detroits ONLY offense. He didn't do well in playoff games? Uh, could that be because of the last statement i made??? When it was playoff time, the Lions were going up against the best teams, which KNEW all they had to do to win was stop Sanders to beat the Lions. That doesn't mean Sanders wasn't the best RB! It meant the other teams centered their whole game plan into stopping him.
The guy should be wearing a Rex Grossma........I mean, DUNCE cap!!!

Barry Sanders was the whole Detroit team. We could have had him if we didnt get Manarich.
Yup....i always hoped he would get tired of the losing and come here.
You know, maybe getting Mandarich was good though. Had we not had that 100% loser, maybe we wouldn't have got Ron Wolf as our GM, and we never would have had Favre.
I mean, if Sanders would have been here, and we had stayed just mediocre enough to not have to make all the changes we did, like GM, head coach, and so on, maybe we never would have had Brett here.

Very good points you have there cheesey. the one about getting manarich and then getting ron wolf then favre.
Thanks PC! After having the luxery of hindsight, that the way i thought of it. At the time of course, we as Packer fans were excited about Manderich, as he was so highly touted as being the best o-lineman ever. But we didn't know he was all steroids.
But now being able to look back, the Packers losing caused the organization to shake everything up, and it ended up making us one of the strongest teams of the 1990's. And, it has allowed us the probably once in a lifetime chance to see a guy like Favre playing for us. We lost not having Sanders, but won BIG with what happened afterwards. We probably never would have had Reggie White come here either! Now he is also a part of our team's storied history. And that SB 31 trophy sure looks pretty added to the other 2 that were there previously! :wink: :D
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
Sal certainly is not a Barry Sanders fan.

I personally would place him top 5 of all time. As stated earlier, he played on bad teams, where he was the only offense and still was able to put up numbers. He was electric in the open field and was very good at making people miss tackles. Somewhat lacking in pass protection and not very strong, but still definately a top 5 back of all time.
I always wondered what kind of stats he would have put up had he been on a GOOD team. I mean, look what he did with NO help. Can you imagine what it would have been like had their offense had ANY other playmakers??? If teams couldn't have just schemed to stop Sanders, he would have probably put up numbers that no one would have ever caught up with. Of course thats just my humble opinion. We will never know what could have been. Imagine how that digs at Lions fans? They had Sanders, and with all his talent, it was just wasted.
 

Timmons

Cheesehead
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
623
Reaction score
0
Location
Phoenix, AZ
The author of this article should lose his writing privileges forever.

Herman Moore and Brett Perriman helped Barry Sanders? Please. Who the hell is the second guy anyway? And how much did Herman Moore stretch defenses?
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
The author of this article should lose his writing privileges forever.

Herman Moore and Brett Perriman helped Barry Sanders? Please. Who the hell is the second guy anyway? And how much did Herman Moore stretch defenses?
Moore was ok, but sure no super star! Plus, i can't even name a QB for the Lions from those years. And Perriman was a good #4 WR.
 
OP
OP
Zero2Cool

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
*****!!

I thought this was just a bad dream, but no, this article DOES exist.

I'm still just,... blown away by it.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
*****!!

I thought this was just a bad dream, but no, this article DOES exist.

I'm still just,... blown away by it.
Don't sweat it Zero........everyone has an opinion. This guy has his, and he's just plain wrong!
 

jdlax

Cheesehead
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Messages
818
Reaction score
0
Location
Burnaby, B.C.
I'm glad the Packers took Tony Mandarich that year. Like someone alluded to, who knows what happens if they take Sanders instead? Didn't do the Lions any good in the end. I'll take the honest to God Superbowl over any and all speculation. A bit off topic there I guess.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
I'm glad the Packers took Tony Mandarich that year. Like someone alluded to, who knows what happens if they take Sanders instead? Didn't do the Lions any good in the end. I'll take the honest to God Superbowl over any and all speculation. A bit off topic there I guess.
Not really that far off topic. After all, it is still Sanders related!
 

big3

Cheesehead
Joined
May 10, 2005
Messages
784
Reaction score
0
Location
Novi, MI
that story is such BS. He wrote it for publicity. nothing more. get attention to his book. so apparently qb's like scott mitchell and great recievers (lol) like herman moore and Brett perriman made Barry look good. HAHAHAHAHAH. I think this dude had it backwards. Barry would hold all the running records had he not retired early. Who can blame him for being tired of being on a mediocre team? carrying a team for a decade? Barry was the best running back to ever play the game. period. 10 conecutive years of a thousand yards. 5 of those over 1500. no one can top that. I wish he would have played longer. then we wouldn't have arguments who the greatest ever was.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
porky88 said:
He also said Favre is the 2nd most overrated QB of all time.

And he was wrong... Favre is #1
Sounds like sour grapes from a Viking fan who only gets a chance to SEE a great QB twice a year, when his Vikings get thrashed by said "overrated" QB.
 
OP
OP
Zero2Cool

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
BARRY SANDERS
[align=center]BARRY SANDERS[/align]
[align=right]BARRY SANDERS[/align]

BARRY SANDERS
[align=center]BARRY SANDERS[/align]
[align=right]BARRY SANDERS[/align]

BARRY SANDERS
[align=center]BARRY SANDERS[/align]
[align=right]BARRY SANDERS[/align]
 

Greg C.

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
2,856
Reaction score
0
Location
Marquette, Michigan
Yeah, it's a stupid article. The Lions did not have good O-lines or good QB's or TE's when he was there. Herman Moore was good for a few years, but that was about it. And Brett Perriman? I remember him being okay, but nothing special.
 

Zombieslayer

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 13, 2006
Messages
4,338
Reaction score
0
Location
CA
that story is such BS. He wrote it for publicity. nothing more. get attention to his book. so apparently qb's like scott mitchell and great recievers (lol) like herman moore and Brett perriman made Barry look good. HAHAHAHAHAH. I think this dude had it backwards. Barry would hold all the running records had he not retired early. Who can blame him for being tired of being on a mediocre team? carrying a team for a decade? Barry was the best running back to ever play the game. period. 10 conecutive years of a thousand yards. 5 of those over 1500. no one can top that. I wish he would have played longer. then we wouldn't have arguments who the greatest ever was.

Big - I've watched Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, LT, Ahman Green, and a slew of other exciting RBs in their prime. Sanders was hands down the best, as much as I loved Wally (yes, I loved a Bear).

If we had Sanders and Favre on the same team, we'd have 3 SB rings in the 90s AT LEAST, plus Sanders would be #1 RB of all time in both yards and TDs. He wouldn't have retired when he still had three or four good years left in him.

Don't take what this ******* said personally. he's a *****. He probably didn't get enough attention from his dad, that's why he needs attention so badly.
 

DakotaT

Cheesehead
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
810
Reaction score
0
Location
Bismarck North Dakota
Timmons said:
The author of this article should lose his writing privileges forever.

Herman Moore and Brett Perriman helped Barry Sanders? Please. Who the hell is the second guy anyway? And how much did Herman Moore stretch defenses?
Moore was ok, but sure no super star! Plus, i can't even name a QB for the Lions from those years. And Perriman was a good #4 WR.

The hell with the skill players, can anyone name one of the offensive lineman Barry ran behind. I dont think any were named Larry Allen, who the national sweethart Emmit got the pleasure of running behind.

The writer of that article is a *******, hands down.
 
OP
OP
Zero2Cool

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
cheesey said:
Timmons said:
The author of this article should lose his writing privileges forever.

Herman Moore and Brett Perriman helped Barry Sanders? Please. Who the hell is the second guy anyway? And how much did Herman Moore stretch defenses?
Moore was ok, but sure no super star! Plus, i can't even name a QB for the Lions from those years. And Perriman was a good #4 WR.

The hell with the skill players, can anyone name one of the offensive lineman Barry ran behind. I dont think any were named Larry Allen, who the national sweethart Emmit got the pleasure of running behind.

The writer of that article is a *******, hands down.

I agree. If I didn't just buy a new HDTV I'd be throwing things at the screen everytime I seen Sal on it!!
 

Members online

Latest posts

Top