The Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to settle this debate once and for all, because once upon a time, those two men were just as synonymous with Thanksgiving as gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. For a glorious decade, Thanksgiving was the all-American showcase of two first-ballot, can’t-miss, Hall of Fame running backs:
Our 1990s appetizer was Barry Sanders, the ankle-rolling, quicker-than-lightning running back for the Detroit Lions. He was the Michael Jordan of the NFL, capable of not just dominating a defense, but making defenders look so pathetic and helpless, it was almost embarrassing.
At any moment, he’d turn you into an ESPN SportsCenter highlight.
Then came Emmitt Smith, the tough, doggedly determined running back for America’s Team. He wasn’t as quick, explosive, or shifty as Sanders — but other than Gayle Sayers, who was? — yet he’d match Sanders yard for yard, bouncing off defenders with unworldly balance, always falling a few yards further.
Whereas Sanders was murder in the open field, Smith excelled inside the 20s. Whereas Sanders was uncatchable in space, Smith was unstoppable when he sniffed the endzone. To this day, Emmitt Smith is still the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns.
(As well as rushing yards.)
In fact, Emmitt Smith scored 65 more rushing touchdowns than Barry Sanders. That’s a huge difference!
But of course, football is the ultimate team sport. When Michael Jordan dominated the NBA, he was 1 of 5; a football player is merely 1 of 11. You could be the greatest RB in the world, but if nobody’s blocking for you, it’ll reflect in your stats.
And indisputably, Emmitt Smith played on better teams than Barry Sanders. For four straight years, his Dallas Cowboys reached the NFC Conference Championship. For three of those four years, Emmitt’s team won the Super Bowl.
Barry’s Detroit Lions never made the Super Bowl. He reached the NFC Championship Game just once.
It doesn’t seem fair to dock him points for his supporting cast.
But then again, during his ten years in Detroit, the Lions made the playoffs five times. So it’s not as if those Lions teams were particularly bad: Half the time, they were at least good enough to reach the postseason.
And during those playoff games, Sanders all too often disappeared. During the 1994 Wild Card battle against the Green Bay Packers, he was held to -1 yards on 13 carries.
Meanwhile, the playoffs were when Emmitt’s star shined the brightest, culminating in being named the MVP of Super Bowl XXVIII. In his 17 playoff games, Emmitt rushed for 1,586 yards and scored 21 touchdowns.
Only once in the playoffs did Sanders rush for over 65 yards. He retired with exactly one career playoff touchdown.
Still, the Sanders apologists argue that this underscores their point: Emmitt’s teams were significantly better than Barry’s teams. The Cowboys of the 1990s had a Hall of Fame wide receiver — Michael Irvin — to distract the defense. (Not to mention a Hall of Fame quarterback — Troy Aikman — to throw him the ball!) So let’s not pretend this is an apples-to-apples comparison, because it’s not.
Or is it?
It’s true: Sanders never played with a QB like Aikman. But he absolutely played with one of the game’s best receivers, Herman Moore, who was named to the Pro Bowl four years in a row. Moore’s best year was in 1995, when he caught an NFL-leading 123 catches for 1,686 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Sanders also benefited from the up-field blocking of one of the top centers in football, Kevin Glover, who made the Pro Bowl in 1995, 1996, and 1997. And the Lions’ left tackle, Lomas Brown, was even better, making seven Pro Bowls in a row between 1990 and 1996.
For all the talk of the “Great Wall of Dallas,” the Lions’ offensive line was one of the finest of its day. They certainly weren’t pushovers.
But what about the “eyeball test”? After all, there’s ample video footage of both running backs. Even if you weren’t alive in the 1990s, anyone can watch the YouTube highlights and decide who was better.
Most seem to agree: Barry Sanders was significantly better. (That’s the consensus, especially on social media platforms such as TikTok and Reddit that veer young.) In recent years, I’ve noticed that Sanders’ G.O.A.T. status has grown larger, while Emmitt has mostly been relegated to dancing in GEICO commercials.
I think that’s because Sanders’ highlight reel is far more jaw-dropping. As our memories fade, we rely more on highlight clips to tell the story.
And here, Sanders wins hands-down.
I’ve also heard the team-switching argument, which goes like this: “If you replaced Emmitt Smith with Barry Sanders, the 90s Cowboys would’ve still won a bunch of Super Bowls. But if Emmitt played on the 90s Lions, he wouldn’t have made them a Super Bowl team.”
And that’s at least partially true: During the 1990s, the Lions simply weren’t as good as the Super Bowl-winning teams, i.e. the Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, or the Green Bay Packers. With Emmitt or with Barry, the Lions weren’t gonna win the Lombardi.
And it’s also true that if Sanders was the starting RB for America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys would’ve still won the Super Bowl. Probably two of them.
But they wouldn’t have won three in four years.
Because without the unique skillset of Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl in 1993. The reason Dallas had homefield advantage that year was because Emmitt overcame a separated shoulder in week 18 against the Giants, rumbling for 229 yards of offense — with 40 of those yards coming in overtime.
Emmitt’s toughness was off the charts. Barry Sanders couldn’t have done that.
Emmitt was also far better at blitz pickup. (Sanders would get overpowered.)
When it comes to running with the football in his hand, Barry Sanders was, very possibly, the greatest of all time. Catching him in the open field was like trying to catch smoke with a butterfly net.
He was a legit phenom.
But Emmitt was better in short yardage situations, blitz pickups, and the less-glamorous RB work.
Plus, he was simply tougher.
Both men were amazing. During the 1990s, either Emmitt or Barry won the NFL’s rushing title eight times (Smith in 1991-1993 and 1995; Sanders in 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997). For a solid decade, they were both Thanksgiving Day staples.
If one was better than the other, it was not by much.
But after all these years, the biggest difference between Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders seems to be this: Emmitt Smith had the heart of a lion.
Barry Sanders only wore the jersey.
Advantage: Emmitt Smith.
