On Sunday Buffalo Bills running back Frank Gore passed Barry Sanders on the NFL’s All-Time rushing list to settle in at No.3 with 15,289 yards. The 36 year old former Miami Hurricane is now sitting behind No.2 Walter Payton (16,726) and the all-time leader, Emmitt Smith (18,355). That’s NUTS because when you think about the best running backs of all-time you don’t think of two of those three.
C’mon playa…let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! You’ve got to give Frank Gore crazy props for putting in the work to become the NFL’s third all-time leading rusher but he doesn’t come to mind when you start talking about the best running backs of all-time. Emmitt Smith isn’t even in the Top 10 and he’s No.1 on the list.
Let’s go down the list playa. There’s No.1 Walter Payton, No.2 Barry Sanders, No.3 Jim Brown, No.4 Bo Jackson, No.5 O.J. Simpson, No.6 Gayle Sayers, No.7 Tony Dorsett, No.8 Marshall Faulk, No.9 Earl Campbell, No.10A Eric Dickerson and No.10B Adrian Peterson. Now you can put these duns in any order after Walter and Barry but you get my point.
Let’s put it where the goats can get it. Both Emmitt and Frank simply played longer than every else. They were consistent and durable. I would even put Frank ahead of Emmitt because Frank never had the offensive line that Emmitt had. Smith literally played behind the best offensive line ever assembled for years. He was never even touched until he got into the secondary.
Big props to Frank Gore for leading the pack and getting to Hall of Fame status because some of the best running backs of all-time will never even sniff the Hall of Fame because they didn’t play long enough. Stop me when I start lyin’!