The Bo Jackson overhype is ridiculous

[LaserFocus]

For younger fans who missed Bo Jackson in action, I do believe YouTube has those games. We're talking about a back with a significant body of great work at Auburn, and with little football conditioning, could make defenses look foolish with the Raiders. It just didn't make any sense for the Raiders to pile on the carries to a player who was an MLB outfielder so recently.

Sure, any player needs health in the NFL. Who really knows if Jackson would have pulled the plug on his MLB or not? What is blatantly obvious however, is the talent. When you saw Jackson truck NFL defenders one week, then turn the corner, and take away the angle from defensive backs, that's special. It was simply a confirmation of the Heisman Trophy winner we saw at Auburn.  30 years later, those NFL highlights are still breathtaking.  

  

[NFLExpert49]

17 hours ago, Nabbs4u said:

Both of those players Started over Allen because of Al Davis's hatred/vendetta towards Allen, not because of his ability or talent. You also keep making assumptions that because the infamous age of 30 was on the horizon ,Bo too would of fallen off a cliff like RB before/after him.

How do you know? Because we've seen dozens of RB's like him with his size, speed and power before in the NFL? Because of the enormous amount of wear and tear he didn't have on his body? The fact is we will never know just how good he could of been for two reasons. 

1. He didn't play full time (16 gm seasons) as the "Bell Cow" RB.

2. Career ending injury

Had Bo Jackson committed to playing in the NFL full time and everything that entails (OTA,TC,etc) and no MLB. He would of been downright scary!

He may have been an anomaly when it came to size/speed/power, but there's no evidence the same was true when it came to durability. And with his playing style, it's just common sense that he wasn't going to last. This is a guy who just put his head down and tried to run over any guy in his path. He wasn't even trying to break tackles, he was just trying to truck people and see what happened. Honestly, the pounding he gave himself at Auburn alone probably took some years off his career. 

[Nabbs4u]

4 minutes ago, NFLExpert49 said:

He may have been an anomaly when it came to size/speed/power, but there's no evidence the same was true when it came to durability. And with his playing style, it's just common sense that he wasn't going to last. This is a guy who just put his head down and tried to run over any guy in his path. He wasn't even trying to break tackles, he was just trying to truck people and see what happened. Honestly, the pounding he gave himself at Auburn alone probably took some years off his career. 

You just described Beast Mode, Eddie George, Steven Jackson, Earl Campbell, John Riggins, AP most of his career, list goes on. That's what RB with Size/Power typically do.

I've never said he would of been the GOAT but this is a player who never got more then 200 touches let alone carries in a season. Never played more then 10-11 games. While he did have a workload at Auburn he never had that in the NFL. Was never asked to. 

So this idea/notion his body would of broke down, fell off a cliff at 30 doesn't apply to him IMO.  He easily could of played into his 30's. Now whether or not he ever would of seen  300-400 touches in a season is up for debate. Most likely the answer is NO, because of Baseball. Had he though the numbers would if accumulated.

So once again We'll simply never know because he was a "two sport athlete". 

[Wolverine_Joe]

    growing up in 80's Bo was the guy.  Tyson, Bo,  Carl Lewis, and Jordan.   those 4 guys were probably the most talked about.   Bo was that guy who made a lasting impression.   his hype was justified because it felt like every time he touches the ball he would do something incredible with it.   Shame he got hurt, but what we saw was a greatness in the making.      in a way he is a victim of his own genius.   maybe he should've just stick with 1 sports.  maybe he shouldn't have run so hard.   just too bad we didn't see enough of him.  

you can keep playing your contrarian role. 

i'll always remember him as the super bo.  

 

 

[sryan66611]

I kind of agree with the overhype but just not to the extent that you took it to in this post...   but yea 

[NFLExpert49]

12 hours ago, Nabbs4u said:

You just described Beast Mode, Eddie George, Steven Jackson, Earl Campbell, John Riggins, AP most of his career, list goes on. That's what RB with Size/Power typically do.

I've never said he would of been the GOAT but this is a player who never got more then 200 touches let alone carries in a season. Never played more then 10-11 games. While he did have a workload at Auburn he never had that in the NFL. Was never asked to. 

So this idea/notion his body would of broke down, fell off a cliff at 30 doesn't apply to him IMO.  He easily could of played into his 30's. Now whether or not he ever would of seen  300-400 touches in a season is up for debate. Most likely the answer is NO, because of Baseball. Had he though the numbers would if accumulated.

So once again We'll simply never know because he was a "two sport athlete". 

George - broke down at 28. Campbell - broke down at 27. Jackson - broke down at 30. Lynch - broke down at 29. Peterson - broke down at 31.

Bo was going to turn 29 during the 1991 season. 

And no, it doesn't describe those guys. The guys you named knew how to use their power in ways that were more responsible as far as not putting themselves in danger and looking to gain more yards afterwards. Bo was just a crash dummy. He would just so straight on into a guy with no plan other than trying to run him over. He wasn't a stiff-arm/churn guy; he was a kamikaze. 

[Nabbs4u]

2 hours ago, NFLExpert49 said:

George - broke down at 28. Campbell - broke down at 27. Jackson - broke down at 30. Lynch - broke down at 29. Peterson - broke down at 31.

Bo was going to turn 29 during the 1991 season. 

Once again because it might be getting lost in translation. Those players were Bell Cows getting 300-400 touches a season for almost a decade. The most touches Jackson ever had in a season was a 172.

Meaning the wear and tear on his body was not the same as those listed above, who eventually broke down. Injury can happen to anyone at anytime. Doesn't matter the style of play. 

No reason not to think if given the carries like most Bell Cows, Jackson too could of been amongst the leagues best. We'll simply never know!!

[Mazrimiv]

It's pretty clear that the OP has no clue how good Bo Jackson actually was.

[NFLExpert49]

On 8/17/2018 at 3:40 PM, Nabbs4u said:

Once again because it might be getting lost in translation. Those players were Bell Cows getting 300-400 touches a season for almost a decade. The most touches Jackson ever had in a season was a 172.

Meaning the wear and tear on his body was not the same as those listed above, who eventually broke down. Injury can happen to anyone at anytime. Doesn't matter the style of play. 

No reason not to think if given the carries like most Bell Cows, Jackson too could of been amongst the leagues best. We'll simply never know!!

If you give Bo the number of touches those guys got, it's pretty easy to predict what would happen. He would break down the way they did. 

I mean, without giving him that number of touches, he suffered a devastating injury. We know that because it actually happened. 

[Nabbs4u]

54 minutes ago, NFLExpert49 said:

If you give Bo the number of touches those guys got, it's pretty easy to predict what would happen. He would break down the way they did. 

I mean, without giving him that number of touches, he suffered a devastating injury. We know that because it actually happened. 

Pure Speculation at best but I'll play. Give him the same amount of touches for a 8-10 year span as say Emitt Smith , AP, George, etc and tell me his numbers wouldn't be up there with the leagues best, please?

Then after he broke Down like the rest as you say, compare numbers. Suggesting he was more injury prone is ludicrous. Unlucky maybe, but that's with 100's of players. Case in point

Charles , Sproles or any other Scat Back "non pounder" like the above listed.

[Gannon12]

5 minutes ago, Nabbs4u said:

Pure Speculation at best but I'll play. Give him the same amount of touches for a 8-10 year span as say Emitt Smith , AP, George, etc and tell me his numbers wouldn't be up there with the leagues best, please?

Then after he broke Down like the rest as you say, compare numbers. Suggesting he was more injury prone is ludicrous. Unlucky maybe, but that's with 100's of players. Case in point

Charles , Sproles or any other Scat Back "non pounder" like the above listed.

You won’t be able to talk to him and get facts. There is a good George Carlin quote to go with this “expert”

[Pool]

On 8/17/2018 at 8:37 PM, Mazrimiv said:

It's pretty clear that the OP has no clue how good Bo Jackson actually was.

And even clearer he is just talking out of his ***

[Soko]

27 minutes ago, Nabbs4u said:

 Pure Speculation at best but I'll play. Give him the same amount of touches for a 8-10 year span as say Emitt Smith , AP, George, etc and tell me his numbers wouldn't be up there with the leagues best, please?

 

20 minutes ago, Gannon12 said:

You won’t be able to talk to him and get facts. There is a good George Carlin quote to go with this “expert”

This whole debate is pretty much speculation. We’re talking about a quasi dedicated athlete with ~500 career carries and a career ending injury being in the GOAT conversation with a bunch of If-statements. 

It’s all speculation.

[3rivers]

On 2018-08-15 at 12:25 AM, megatechpc said:

Gotta totally disagree with you here man.  Bo Jackson would've been one of the greatest RB's of all time had his hip issues not derailed his career.  He was just too good an athlete and natural runner to NOT be great.  

He could get to top speed in no time and would run people over . Never seen anything like it but the injury ended all that.  I doubt the league will ever see another RB with the same skill set of speed, weight and willing to run over people.  Not many RB's run people over anymore, and none of them are close to Bo's speed .  40 yard dash at the combine is one thing, but what about the speed you are at after 5 yards or 10 yards or after a cut with all the gear on?   Jackson might not have been the 400+ carry a year grind it out 4 ypc RB,  but he had his place as a home run threat that would also run people over.   On the old astroturf his speed was out there, see the seahawks game. 

[megatechpc]

Bo Jackson was like if LT had played on offense!