Letters From Little Rock

My initial reaction was, “didn’t he retire about two years ago?” That’s really not a fair statement. His last several years with the Dallas Cowboys were not very productive because they had a wildly inconsistent passing attack, their offense was poorly game-planned and somehow he was expected to be the workhorse on a team that had done a horrendous job in maintaining its offensive line once its stars of the early 90’s became old, fat, and slow. The last couple of years with the Arizona Cardinals did not prove that Emmit Smith was still capable of carrying a team, but they did prove he was still a good football player. I’ve never liked Emmit Smith as a football fan and his record for rushing yards doesn’t compel me to regard him as the greatest of all time. Still, over the last couple of seasons as a Cardinal he has been more effective than I would have thought. The early part of his first season as a Cardinal I thought he was just a sideshow freak playing out the string, but this season particularly he demonstrated that he is still a solid back in between the tackles. Never a fast back he always had a knack for turning his shoulders and avoiding the worst of a collision. During his retirement announcement he made mention of offers to play for other ball clubs. I can believe it. Considering the rate at which running backs go down in the NFL these days I can well imagine a lot of ball clubs wanting an old pro who won’t fumble the ball to pick up a yard or two in the red zone if the need arises. I figure between now and his election to the hall of fame we will hear a lot of arguments that say he was the best ever. I really don’t believe that he is. Very good yes, and immensely fortunate to have been on a team that had probably the most dominating offensive line of all time, but pound for pound the best? No, not really. When you think back to all of those lousy Chicago Bears teams that Walter Payton played on, doesn’t it seem like they were always behind and passing? Which brings up another point; Emmit Smith was an acceptable blocker on passing downs, but nothing special. I think it is one of the most important yet least appreciated things an elite running back can do. If you want to really look at the great backs of all time none of the gazelles really compares to Walter Payton. A man listed at 5′9″ and around 200 lbs at his heaviest routinely took out linemen that weighed a minimum of seventy-five pounds more than he did. He was known for pancaking speed rushers from the end, and very few linebackers ever got around him. He’s number one in my mind as a pass blocker. Marcus Allen, who might have had a shot at the rushing record himself if Al Davis hadn’t benched him for no apparent reason, was a close second to Payton as a blocker, but he rarely pancaked anybody instead relying on his strength and agility to direct rushers around the pocket in a classic tight-end technique. That’s where I get stuck. Those two guys were so far above the average that it’s hard for me to come up with a clear third. I don’t count any of those ankle-divers as blockers, so that lets out the majority of backs that came of age in the 90’s. Jerome Bettis might be third on my list, but he spends a lot of third and long situations on the bench. Maybe Roger Craig, but he didn’t have to pick up the blitz nearly as often since he was usually a hot read outlet on blitzes. I don’t know, maybe Emmit would be a good third choice as blocking back. He certainly got in the way.

I don’t know. I have a hard time putting him in the same category as the elite hall of fame caliber backs. He had a nice long consistent career. I just don’t think he was the same kind of natural graceful runner that Eric Dickerson was for example. Or Marcus Allen, or Priest Holmes, or Earl Campbell. Well, okay, Earl had the grace of a water buffalo, but something that big moving that fast has its own aesthetic, so who’s to say it ain’t grace?

At any rate, Emmit Smith retired, whatever else you can say about him at least he made the most of the opportunities given him to achieve the stats he achieved. I have to respect the work ethic even if I don’t think he was on the same level as the real greats at his position. Come to think of it, when you see more and more guys like Randy Moss, who have the talent to accomplish great things, but refuse to use it, maybe that work ethic is the thing that he does share with the hall of famers.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 4th, 2005 at 4:10 am and is filed under NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.