10/26/2006

The true value of "great" running backs.
Q: How many NFL titles did the Cleveland Browns win while the great Jim "never threw a block for somebody else in his life" Brown was playing?
A: One
How many Super Bowl titles did the Bears win with the great Gayle Sayers setting all kinds of records?
A: None
Q: How many Super Bowls did the Bears win while the great Walter Payton was setting all kinds of records?
A: One
Q: How many Super Bowls did the Detroit Lions win during the time Barry Sanders was dazzling the world?
A: None

In fact you can go all the way back to the days of Ollie Matson and Hugh McElhenny and you will see the zero championship returns great running backs yield. BTW McElhenny was so good that the LA Rams tried to sign him straight out of high school. The joke in all the high school locker rooms was that the University of Washington was paying him more money, probably true at the time. But zero NFL titles.

The reverse can be said about the great quarterbacks, all of whom won titles---or it might more correctly be said that if a quarterback didn't win a championship nobody called him great.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Same for OJ

Chuck Simmins

Howard said...

Right, but Simpson played for a really bad team, as did the now forgotton Ollie Matson (Rams once traded eleven players for him)and probably a few others; Earl Campbell comes to mind.