Who was a better RB: LaDainian Tomlinson or Emmitt Smith

[MSURacerDT55]

LT easily, brings more to the table.

Edited April 11, 2022 by MSURacerDT55

[El Ramster]

2 hours ago, ET80 said:

I’m not going to say no talent - he had his longevity and he had great vision at the LOS. He knew where the crease and cutback lanes were before they even developed, and made his plays on that.

Tomlinson had better vision, but Smith has him beat in longevity.

Of course I didn’t mean it like Emmit didn’t have talent… rice talent where he’s the greatest WR to ever play the game. 😂 sorry context. 

[El Ramster]

1 hour ago, Matts4313 said:

Tomlinson did not have better vision. Dont be silly. He had better athleticism and hands. 

Emmitt became the all time leader in rushing based on 2 things: Vision and durability. 

 

Also, Rammy just listed ES as like the 40th best RB in history, so take his comments with a grain of salt. He also *still* believes Wentz and Goff are better than Dak, and he regularly goes to the Eagles forums so that he can troll the Cowboys. 

Goff took us farther. Dak sucks! Dude runs a QB sneak with no TOs in a playoff game. That alone is disqualification! We smash y’all. This ain’t the year Matt’s. We eating good.. 

[El Ramster]

2 hours ago, ET80 said:

Not at the rate he was playing in those final two years - he was a shell of himself, 3.7 ypc on 280 yards? He’d need a significant bounce back in those two years to get on track.

Bodies break down at 30, it happens - especially when you’re getting physically beaten 300 times a year. Smith was able to defy that for a few years, that’s his calling card.

I believe that ACL tear robbed him of his explosion. He was never the same after that. Almost scared of getting hit and of course Father Time. One of the greatest I’ve ever seen… Just phenomenal blend of speed, size and athleticism. 

[biggie.]

@Matts4313Most of these cats are whippersnappers that never watched Emmitt play, especially come playoff time.

[Matts4313]

1 minute ago, biggie. said:

@Matts4313Most of these cats are whippersnappers that never watched Emmitt play, especially come playoff time.

Recency bias is very, very real in sports fans. 

[BullsandBroncos]

40 minutes ago, biggie. said:

@Matts4313Most of these cats are whippersnappers that never watched Emmitt play, especially come playoff time.

Most people outside the AFCW don't realize just how good LT was. There's more talk in this thread about how he was with Rivers but not enough talk about playing with Brees when he was the whole team. 

[Matts4313]

5 minutes ago, BullsandBroncos said:

Most people outside the AFCW don't realize just how good LT was. There's more talk in this thread about how he was with Rivers but not enough talk about playing with Brees when he was the whole team. 

We are discussing two all time greats, so I think we all realize how great LDT was. 

And the "AFCW" claim is straight silly, that guy was one of the faces of the league for like 8 years. Hell, one of my favorite spoof songs of all time is:

 

[biggie.]

1 hour ago, BullsandBroncos said:

Most people outside the AFCW don't realize just how good LT was. There's more talk in this thread about how he was with Rivers but not enough talk about playing with Brees when he was the whole team. 

First, please refrain from referring to Tomlinson as LT. Only Lawrence Taylor should have those honors.

Second, the vast majority of us are fully aware how dominant he was for most of the 2000's; he was a face of the decade.

However, the amount of hate Emmitt gets is ridiculous. It's always the same dumb "hE hAd ThAt O lInE!" argument that has debunked numerous times.

The biggest reason I'd rather have him over Tomlinson is because he routinely stepped up in the playoffs when Dallas needed him the most.

Edited April 12, 2022 by biggie.

[JohnChimpo]

On 4/7/2022 at 5:32 PM, ///mcompact said:

Regular season:  Tomlinson

Playoffs:  Emmitt

This is the correct answer.

[Mox]

19 minutes ago, biggie. said:

First, please refrain from referring to Tomlinson as LT. Only Lawrence Taylor should have those honors.

Second, the vast majority of us are fully aware how dominant he was for most of the 2000's; he was a face of the decade.

However, the amount of hate Emmitt gets is ridiculous. It's always the same dumb "hE hAd ThAt O lInE!" argument that has debunked numerous times.

The biggest reason I'd rather have him over Tomlinson is because he routinely stepped up in the playoffs when Dallas needed him the most.

That's a better argument then LT had to face less boxes because he played with 40 year old Doug Flutie for 6 games...

I don't think anyone would argue that Smith being better in the postseason is a valid reason to take him.

[Ozzy]

30 minutes ago, biggie. said:

 

However, the amount of hate Emmitt gets is ridiculous. It's always the same dumb "hE hAd ThAt O lInE!" argument that has debunked numerous times.

So Larry Allen is not one of the most physical and powerful guards in the history of the NFL?  Easily one of the best if not the best run blocking guard in the history of the NFL, oh and he is kind of strong, 705 bench press and 905 squat.   He had nothing to do with the success of the run game?  Having an all time great, first ballot Hall of Famer who is one of the best to ever play his position helps a bit.  

 

As for the OL in general, sure not great in pass pro always but from 1994-98, Larry Allen's Dallas Cowboys O- line allowed just 115 sacks, which comes out to 1.4 sacks per game.  Sure zero is better but 1.4 over that many years is not terrible considering it was not their strong suit.  

 

[///mcompact]

17 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

So Larry Allen is not one of the most physical and powerful guards in the history of the NFL?  Easily one of the best if not the best run blocking guard in the history of the NFL, oh and he is kind of strong, 705 bench press and 905 squat.   He had nothing to do with the success of the run game?  Having an all time great, first ballot Hall of Famer who is one of the best to ever play his position helps a bit.  

 

As for the OL in general, sure not great in pass pro always but from 1994-98, Larry Allen's Dallas Cowboys O- line allowed just 115 sacks, which comes out to 1.4 sacks per game.  Sure zero is better but 1.4 over that many years is not terrible considering it was not their strong suit.  

 

Just my opinion:

Larry Allen is one of the beset linemen to ever play the game, but there's 5 positions on the O-line.    Joe Thomas is a future HOF tackle, but there wasn't much he could do to elevate mediocre linemen play (outside of helping the LG).  Not saying the Dallas Oline was mediocre, just giving an example. 

 And an O-line can be good at pass pro but just "okay" at run blocking and vice versa.  Depends on the players.  

The 90's Cowboys O-line was average, good, or elite depending on the year and which players were in the lineup.  It wasn't elite for the whole of Emmitt/Aikman's tenure.   

In my opinion, the Cowboys Oline in 2014-2016 were more talented than any year of the 90's Cowboys.   The Jones' squandered that keeping Jason Garrett (who never should have been let back into the building after the 2013 season..).

Edited April 12, 2022 by ///mcompact

[Matts4313]

This argument is always the same against the Cowboys side. 

Troy sucks because Irvin was HOF

Irvin sucks because Emmitt was HOF

Emmitt sucks because Troy was HOF

and all 3 of the suck because of the OL

 

No amount of facts or reason will ever help the stupidity on this website when it comes to the 90s Cowboys. Mostly because it was 30 years ago and also general anti-Cowboys bias. Case in point, dude above trying to argue that our OL was great because of one singular player. Like WTF kind of logic is that? 

"20% of your defense is good, must be an elite defense" - - sound stupid? Yes? Then why would you apply it to the OL.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Matts4313

[BullsandBroncos]

4 hours ago, biggie. said:

First, please refrain from referring to Tomlinson as LT. Only Lawrence Taylor should have those honors.

Second, the vast majority of us are fully aware how dominant he was for most of the 2000's; he was a face of the decade.

However, the amount of hate Emmitt gets is ridiculous. It's always the same dumb "hE hAd ThAt O lInE!" argument that has debunked numerous times.

The biggest reason I'd rather have him over Tomlinson is because he routinely stepped up in the playoffs when Dallas needed him the most.

Ok and when Emmit was in the playoffs he was on loaded teams. Tomlinson was the team at least on offense. The receivers sucked 90% of his time there and Gates was a short to intermediate guy. 
 

people love to obsess with the 90s cowboys teams that were loaded and that's fine, but they were still loaded teams and Tomlinson was better than Emmit. It's that simple.