Better Player? Barry Sanders or Randy Moss

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

Moss was great, one of my favorite players to watch, but I’d go with Barry Sanders.

I remember as a kid staying up late watching the Lions when they were on MNF just to watch him play, and he never disappointed.  Literally every year in the league he was producing at a high level.  

Moss was a stud, but had some down years as well.  The only thing that could stop Sanders was retirement.

[MSURacerDT55]

Moss dominated a whole defensive backfield, Barry dominated a whole defense.

[Mox]

For the whole Barry's line wasn't that bad argument this should probably be brought up. They literally went from worst to first just by adding him as a rookie. This isn't an argument against Moss as he did similar things to the Vikings his rookie season and I don't know who I'd choose between them. 

1988

Lomas Brown (16 starts), Kevin Glover (16 starts), Steve Mott (16 starts), Joe Milinichik (15 starts), Harvey Salem (16 starts)

NFL Rushing Ranks

Yards: 27th

Carries: 26th

TDs: 28th (last)

YPC: 28th (last)

1989

Lomas Brown (16 starts), Eric Andolsek (16 starts), Kevin Glover (16 starts), Ken Dallafior (11 starts), Harvey Salem (8 starts)

NFL Rushing Ranks

Yards: 9th

Carries: 20th

TDs: 1st

YPC: 1st 

[JAF-N72EX]

On 2/14/2018 at 4:56 AM, Uncle Buck said:

While I loved Barry too, I don't think it's fair to say he was "head and shoulders above" Emmitt Smith.  Back in their day, they were pretty close.  Sanders was better, IMHO, but they were both very productive.

Similarly, Moss was the best receiver, but he also had a contemporary in TO who was also a dominant receiver. 

The thing that makes a Moss vs. Sanders comparison interesting is that both of them were able to do things from a physical standpoint that we had never seen before, and probably won't ever see again in our lifetimes.  This is a tough call because I love both of them as players.  I guess I'll just go the homer route and pick Moss.

I certainly agree wholeheartedly with your last statement. Both players raised the bar at their respective positions and that's something that nobody could possibly argue. Logically anyhow. I know that your an older cat like myself so I know that you watched Barry in his prime as well, and being a fan of a team in the same division, I think we both know first hand just how good Barry was while he tearing our teams apart.

I have, however, always disagreed with the bolded sentiment, personally. Barry had no contemporary during his prime, IMO. Not Emmitt, not Thurman, not Watters....nobody. The man was in a league of his own.

While I absolutely HATE the whole "look at Emmitt Smith's surrounding talent" argument that alot of people seem to use in order to discredit Smith and what he accomplished, there is some validity in that statement and one that certainly has to be taken into consideration when comparing him to his peers.

I only bring this up because of two specific(and very important) aspects that come into play here in regards to comparisons.

• 1) What do you think were the opposing defenses' primary focus in their pre-game game-plans heading into a Cowboys game during that time?

Was it primarily directed at stopping Emmitt Smith or was it to try to stop the passing game led by Aikmen? Or option 3, a little bit of both with the plan in mind that hey "we can't stop all of them, we can only hope to contain them" type of mentality?

My answer to this would be option 3, imo: Smith was great, don't get me wrong, but he did in fact benefit greatly from defenses having to account for not only a passing game that not ONLY featured 3 hall of famers in Aikmen, Irvin and Jay, but also Alvin (who was certainly no slouch himself  - I don't care what his stats say), who IMO, could have been a #1 in any system on any team at the time had it not been for his injuries. He was a Sydney Rice - since your a Vikes fan. 

***Now conversely, what do you think the primary focus on defense was for teams playing the Lions during that time? Was it to stop Barry Sanders or was it to stop the passing game led by a lonely Herman Moore and an underrated Perriman?

My answer to this seems pretty obvious as to which I would choose.

• 2) For the sake of argument, let's say that you do disagree with me regarding the 1st question and you do, in fact, think that alot of the focus was to stop Emmitt(which is not out of the realm of possibility given that the time frame was well before the pass-appy league). How much of that focus on the run game do you think was allocated to another hall of famer in the backfield in Fullback trucker Johnston who was Mike Alstott before Mike Alstott? I don't think I need to tell you how important fullbacks were during those times.   

I would say that it made things a little bit more difficult to prepare for, wouldn't you?

---------------------------------------------

Furthermore, just to prove my point that Emmitt was not in his league. Emmitt's production dropped alot after free agency was installed and he started to lose that elite line due to that, whereas Barry's production never did and still went on to get elected to 2 first team all-pros and 4 pro-bowls(when they meant something). Nor did he have a line to lose in the first place.

 

[JAF-N72EX]

On 2/14/2018 at 9:15 PM, Super4 said:

I'm not going to type them all out but in 1993 he had: Lomas Brown (7x probowl & 1 first team all-pro) , Kevin Glover, etc.

Stop right there. Not only do I have disdain for a player that intentionally TRIES  to get his QB hurt, like Brown did, but he also played on the left side of the line and Lions OL outside of him was VERY weak, so let's not exaggerate this and discredit his runs on the right side like this one here: AAnd FYI, this is not some cherry pick highlight by me either......ANYONE that watched him can attest that THIS is the type of **** that BArry did on a regular basis. FAST FORWARD TO 1:42:00(1hr,42min)-edit: 1:42:00

FYI, I have this game on VHS and it makes me sad to this is in MUCH better quality and condition than my version..........

 

 

[Ripline]

Barry Sanders was a stud at the position, was fun to watch and is a totally class act!!!

Randy Moss was a stud at the position, was fun to watch when he didn't take plays off, and was not so much of a class act.

 

Therefore, Sanders is my choice. 

[tyler735]

On 2/14/2018 at 8:15 PM, Super4 said:

I have to go with Randy Moss here, and for me it's not close.  I grew up watching football in Barry's era and honestly I'm a firm believer that Barry Sanders, while incredible, has his legend has been severely overhyped by things like people saying his offensive line being terrible.  

Barry Sanders having a bad OL is still the biggest widespread myth in the last few decades of the NFL.  People would counter this by posting videos of Barry's highlights and watching him embarass defenders.  You're falling into the highlight reel trap.  It looks like his OL was terrible because he would always dance back when he didn't spot a hole.  There will always be individuals that will compare his OL to what Emmitt had and admittedly, most OL's would look bad when compared to the Great Wall of Dallas... but they were far from bad.   The QB/lack thereof was the problem on offense in the 90s. I'm not going to type them all out but in 1993 he had: Lomas Brown (7x probowl & 1 first team all-pro) , Kevin Glover, etc.

He was absolutely amazing and that shouldn't be ignored, but Randy Moss is the choice in this debate.

Yeah that's not true..

[Super4]

12 hours ago, tyler735 said:

Yeah that's not true..

How are you going to tell me it's not true?  You literally quoted the only parts of my post that were opinion, and then told me it's "not true".  Argue the points I made that were based on facts and statistics and maybe you've got a foot to stand on, but when you only quote my opinions and tell me I'm wrong you look ridiculous.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

[MSURacerDT55]

17 hours ago, Ripline said:

Barry Sanders was a stud at the position, was fun to watch and is a totally class act!!!

Randy Moss was a stud at the position, was fun to watch when he didn't take plays off, and was not so much of a class act.

 

Therefore, Sanders is my choice. 

Why are people so caught up with "class", these are professional athletes paid to produce on the field. Also I voted for Sanders but name what Moss had done off the field that caused you to say he wasn't "classy". That whole argument is weak to me and im sorry but you are up in the air with both players but choose one because you perceive one as classy and one not? 

[LaserFocus]

4 hours ago, MSURacerDT55 said:

Why are people so caught up with "class", these are professional athletes paid to produce on the field. Also I voted for Sanders but name what Moss had done off the field that caused you to say he wasn't "classy". That whole argument is weak to me and im sorry but you are up in the air with both players but choose one because you perceive one as classy and one not? 

Randy Moss didn't play hard with the Raiders one season, that's about as unprofessional and classless as it gets. By contrast, Sanders always gave 100%, even during his last season, when he was very happy about the direction of the Detroit Lions.

[Ripline]

Taking plays off.

Imagine what he could have been playing hard all the time, like his mentor Chris Carter. I wouldn't bet against him being the GOAT.

[MSURacerDT55]

54 minutes ago, Ripline said:

Taking plays off.

Imagine what he could have been playing hard all the time, like his mentor Chris Carter. I wouldn't bet against him being the GOAT.

Still waiting on these things he's done off the field that makes him not a classy guy.Taking plays off is a pretty weak argument.

[theuntouchable]

On 2/14/2018 at 9:15 PM, Super4 said:

I have to go with Randy Moss here, and for me it's not close.  I grew up watching football in Barry's era and honestly I'm a firm believer that Barry Sanders, while incredible, has his legend has been severely overhyped by things like people saying his offensive line being terrible.  

Barry Sanders having a bad OL is still the biggest widespread myth in the last few decades of the NFL.  People would counter this by posting videos of Barry's highlights and watching him embarass defenders.  You're falling into the highlight reel trap.  It looks like his OL was terrible because he would always dance back when he didn't spot a hole.  There will always be individuals that will compare his OL to what Emmitt had and admittedly, most OL's would look bad when compared to the Great Wall of Dallas... but they were far from bad.   The QB/lack thereof was the problem on offense in the 90s. I'm not going to type them all out but in 1993 he had: Lomas Brown (7x probowl & 1 first team all-pro) , Kevin Glover, etc.

He was absolutely amazing and that shouldn't be ignored, but Randy Moss is the choice in this debate.

I’m gonna try and locate the video but it was 10 of Barry’s best plays. 2 of them ended up being passes (one screen and short pass). The rest were runs. Out of those 8 runs he was hit at or behind the LOS on 7 of them. In those 10 plays he made 27 people flat out miss. I’m not talking about people flying in trying to jump on a gang tackle type, I’m talking legit shot at tackling him and he made them miss. 

 

[theuntouchable]

14 minutes ago, theuntouchable said:

I’m gonna try and locate the video but it was 10 of Barry’s best plays. 2 of them ended up being passes (one screen and short pass). The rest were runs. Out of those 8 runs he was hit at or behind the LOS on 7 of them. In those 10 plays he made 27 people flat out miss. I’m not talking about people flying in trying to jump on a gang tackle type, I’m talking legit shot at tackling him and he made them miss. 

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GykaB6Fip8U

i was wrong in what I remembered from the video, it was 10 plays and 9 runs. 7 of them met at or behind the LOS. 34 people legit missed. There is only one play that you could argue he “danced” behind the LOS and it was one where he cutback to the right early because a DT beat the OG to the inside. Now I understand that this is a highlight tape but people try to argue the “he danced too often”. He ran the way he did because he HAD TO. If you watched him in college and the pros you would know that he changed his run style A LOT. 

Also, before it’s even brought up. People like to argue that Barry has the most negative yards but yet NO ONE realizes that Emmitt was actually caught at or behind the LOS MORE OFTEN than Barry was. And that’s not even counting Emmitts first or second season or his last 3ish years. 

For the topic at hand tho, it’s close. I don’t care about Moss’ work ethic because we’re just talking pure talent. Sanders and Moss are very very close and I would honestly have a tough time putting one above the other easily. I think Sanders had it tougher in regards to what he dealt with but speaking pure talent wise, they are close. 

[Ripline]

13 hours ago, MSURacerDT55 said:

Still waiting on these things he's done off the field that makes him not a classy guy.Taking plays off is a pretty weak argument.

I never reference off the field issues at all!!

If you think my argument is weak, that's fine. It's my OPINION that he did not even reach his true potential because he was so full of himself that he felt he didn't have to play all the time.

This is why I chose to select Sanders in this comparison. 

One player played 100%, 100%of the time. The other player played 100%, 95%of the time. 

Both are extreme talents at their positions!!!

Again, my OPINION!!!