By JJFmissing keyR
Published: November 19, 2008 PrintEmail
Curtis Martin and Emmitt Smith…….2 of the greatest running backs of all time. Pull either of their career highlight films and prepare to be amazed (or just to re-live their greatest plays if you’re as old as I am and had the privilege to watch both of their careers in their entirety).
Curtis Martin played 11 seasons in the NFL for 2 different organizations. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1995 draft by the New England Patriots after playing for Pittsburgh in college. In the midst of his 3 seasons in New England, Bill Parcells, the coach that drafted him, left the Patriots organization after feeling that he did not have enough control. Parcells immediately landed in New York with the Jets and when Martin became a restricted free agent, Parcells was more than happy to give up a 1st and a 3rd round pick to bring Martin to the Jets with him. Martin would spend his last 8 years in the league with the Jets, retiring after the 2005 season.
Emmitt Smith played 15 seasons and did not finish 2nd in career rushing yards. He finished 1st.
Emmitt Smith played 15 seasons in the NFL for 2 different organizations. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1st round of the 1990 draft after playing his college ball at the University of Florida. Emmitt played the majority of his career with the team of the decade in the 90’s before finishing his career with the Arizona Cardinals, finally retiring after the 2004 campaign.
Popular opinion says that Emmitt was a better running back than Curtis. Emmitt IS the all-time NFL rushing yards and rushing TD’s leader after all, right?
However, Curtis and Emmitt shared a lot of similarities. They were about the same size. Both won Offensive Rookie of the Year awards. They both earned several pro-bowl honors. Both of them were workhorse backs that their teams relied on week in and week out. Both of them had great vision while running the ball. Both weren’t afraid to drop their shoulder and drive for an extra yard. Both of them had quick feet, good stiffarms, spin moves, and breakaway speed. In addition, both were very good receiving backs, piling up about 500 receptions each during their careers.
Because both of these backs were very durable and Emmitt played an extra 4 years (some claim simply to get the rushing record), Emmitt finished with more total yards and a few more receptions. However, when looking at yards per game and yards per attempt, they are very similar.
However, among all of these similarities, there was one MAJOR difference. The difference between these 2 backs, and the reason Martin was actually the better back, is because Martin accomplished just as much without nearly as much help. Although Martin was fortunate to play for some ‘decent’ teams, he never had the extraordinary talent around him that Smith enjoyed for several years in Dallas.
Curtis Martin played 11 seasons in the NFL and finished 4th in career rushing yards
Other than his last 2 years in New England and his first year in New York, Martin never enjoyed good offenses around him. On most of his teams, he WAS the offense. Smith, on the other hand, spent a good chunk of his career behind possibly the greatest offensive line ever assembled. Smith played for the Cowboys of the early 90’s and many times he wouldn’t have a defender within 5 yards of him until he got to the linebackers 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Those of us that witnessed this with our own eyes can attest to it.
So, how can we measure this in some fashion to put it on paper? For fairness purposes, let’s eliminate any years in which either running back had the advantage of playing for explosive offenses, which we can define as finishing in the top 10 in the league in both points scored and yards gained. And, luckily, this gives us an equal data sample to choose from since both running backs played for ‘average’ or ‘poor’ offenses (outside of Top 10) in 9 seasons apiece.
Looking at the results in each of their 9 seasons with ‘average’ or ‘poor’ offenses:
The fact of the matter is this: If you had put Curtis Martin behind the offensive line the Cowboys had in the early 90’s, he probably would have put together a couple of 2000 yard seasons.
Throw Walter Payton behind that line? He might have put up a 3000 yard season …….. but that’s a discussion for a different day ……..
