You are down 34-3 in the SuperBowl. Who is the one player, in history–in his prime, you would like to have on your team to get you back in the game? I know who MY choice is…although now that I think about it, there are many choices.
Jim Brown.
brett farve:borg:
joe montana
nightmare, great pic…tj2k, great quote…
How about the ref.
elway.
Roger Staubach
Gale Sayers. I could use about six touchdowns right now.
elway and Bo Jackson
LOL
The head zebra!
But if a player, playing in the game like he dominated in his prime, none other than that burly fullback Jim Brown. To come back 31 points I need explosivness in an offense, and by no means can I risk an interception. With an average of 5.22 yards per carry, against the defenses he played against, he would probably rack up 7-8 yards per carry against today’s 7 in the box defenses. And as Knute Rockne said at the 1928 Army vs Notre Dame game, "We’re going inside of ‘em, we’re going outside of ‘em – inside of ‘em! outside of ‘em! – and when we get them on the run once, we’re going to keep ‘em on the run. And we’re not going to pass unless their secondary comes up too close. But don’t forget, men – we’re gonna get ‘em on the run, we’re gonna go, go, go, go! – and we aren’t going to stop until we go over that goal line! And don’t forget, men – today is the day we’re gonna win. They can’t lick us – and that’s how it goes… The first platoon men – go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, men!
“The truest measure of an athlete’s place in history is not obtained by standing him against athletes of another time. That’s impossibly subjective. It’s better by far to measure the athlete against his contemporaries. The best athletes are those who most surpass their
contemporaries. In Jim Brown’s case, he stood alone with no rivals for supremacy…Brown won an NFL championship in 1964 and led the league in rushing eight of his nine seasons. He was All-NFL eight times, NFL MVP in 1958 and '65 and was Rookie of the year in 1957…He played in nine consecutive Pro Bowls and added 262 receptions out of the backfield for 15,459 combined net yards and scored 126 TDs.”
It should also be remembered that Brown played at a time when defenses played the run first and the pass second, which adds all the more to his records IMO.
I agree with Clemson and nightmare on this one. Joe handles the ball on every play, and his coolness and confidence has taken him to the top again and again. The ultimate pressure player.
Re: Jim Brown…he would still be very good TODAY…better than Emmitt, although that’s not saying much…however, Jim ran against much slower and smaller men (yes, his blockers were slower and smaller, too)
Jim Brown. Though he might not be as dominant, he’d still be incredible. All- American at Syracuse in both football and lacrosse, I believe.
JB was a rare player in his day. He was probably one of the biggest fastest players in the league. Not taking anything from him but I don’t think he would have put up those numbers today. Case in point. Bo Jackson was bigger and faster than JB and he couldn’t dominate. The speed of the game is unreal. You have D ends who could run the 40 faster than JB. It is too hard to compare era’s. How many yards would Barry Sanders have put up in Brown’s era? Scary thought. He may have scored every 2 or 3 carries. Lets just say thwey were the best of their times.
Thats why I said in my post playing in the game like he dominated in his prime :saint: Meaning, he would be as dominant now as he was then. Of course you cant compare a player from 40 years ago, when there was barely a concept of strength training at all, against the players of today.
I agree with most that has been written here. I don’t doubt that Bo was faster but I don’t think he was any bigger than Brown. Also, as several of you have alluded to, Brown came through during a time where proper training for sports was nowhere to be found. With many of the HIT programs of today, I guess the same thing could be argued about many teams now.
I DON’T THINK BROWN WAS BIGGER THAN THAT. tHE SPEED WAS NO COMPARISON. jACKSON WAS WORLD CLASS. AS A FRESHMAN HE BEAT HERSCHEL WALKER WHO WAS A SENIOR IN THE 60 FOR SEC TITLE. WALKER WAS BEING TALKED ABOUT AS A POSSIBLE LEG OF 4X100 TEAMS FOR US.
If I was down 34-3 in the superbowl I think it would be time to start passing. I call a stop and go to jerry rice for a quick td.
I’m not disputing the speed part but size wise I read that Brown played as heavy as 235-240 but would come into training camp lighter so he would not lose to anybody in the 40y. I saw a quote by wide reciever Bobby Mitchell about that very subject. Bo was certainly a POTENTIALLY great player but I don’t think he was around long enough to be considered one of the greats. Though people are certainly entitled to their own opinion. Bo supposedly ran a what 4.17-4.19? Brown was said to run about 4.4. Speedwise, no dispute. Though Bo was certainly a great athlete, Brown was a better football player. As far as size, like I said, Jackson wasn’t any bigger than Brown.