It's not so crazy to consider. Sanders for a career hit on 15 scores of 50 yards.
OBJ has I think 10 60 plus scores in 3 years.
I'll try and trudge up the articles - OBJ has an insane % of yards on YAC, so he's doing a lot of his big strikes with his feet.
Oh yeah? And how many guys did Odell have to beat on those? Generally two, but sometimes more. Barry Sanders had to beat damn near an entire team on all his runs. This is no contest. Barry is one of the great ones. Odell has played 3 years.
And again the question wasn't who's more talented, who has/had a harder job. The question was who's more exciting with the ball in his hands.
..it was amazing. Watching highlight reels doesn't do justice to the magic of watching him perform real time. His balance and escapability were awesome to watch.
was one of the most amazing running backs I ever saw. The OL loved him. Their assignment was to simply block the guy across from them and let Barry pick the hole.
RE: If you're too young to have watched Barry Sanders play
..it was amazing. Watching highlight reels doesn't do justice to the magic of watching him perform real time. His balance and escapability were awesome to watch.
Also, WR to RB isn't an equitable comparison.
this is true -- I went back and looked through his highlight reels and it really didn;t capture how amazing Sanders was through the course of a game -- Detroit was basically a non-team during the Sanders years and he made them fun to watch the ebb and flow of an entire game. It worth watching a Detroit game on thanksgiving just to watch him play - the moves this guy made were unreal -- and I guess you could compare his game seed to Odell but Sanders did it as someone else indicated above from the backfield through the line and then broke free and he did it artfully and beautifully time and time again and very consistently
Odell has. His brilliance was in his vision, and unbelievable quickness in tight space. I've never seen anyone like him. There is, however, a certain kind of beauty in seeing Odell explode into an open field.
His college stats would have been higher, but even back in HS when records were to be set, he was willing to sit if the game was in hand and let others play. Did so in college too.
If he wanted to keep playing, he could have broken the all time record and placed it far out of Emmitt Smith's reach EASY.
But he walked away from the game, polite but weary in some ways.
A great man, who you never had to worry about antics on or off the field. It was never considered in your thoughts.
Its nice to compare OBJ, but in Barry's era OBJ playing within the LT era of the NFC east. Think he would have been put in place in ways never has experienced yet. And the league would not have fined anyone back then like they do now.
Its not a close comparison. Barry by many, many miles.
of pure excitement with the ball in their hands (not in terms of value to the team, or production as a football players, I think I would add Devin Hester when the ball was in his hands after receiving a punt.
But since I've been watching football, no one comes close to Barry in terms of that kind of excitement.
RE: It's not an insult to come up second best to Barry Sanders
Sanders is a Hall of Famer, one of the best RBs ever, and in the conversation for the most exciting player in the history of the game.
No one deserves to be mentioned in his class after playing three years. It's absurd.
I didn't read the question as who is better. If it were, I would 100% agree with you. Odell has a ways to go approach Barry Sanders' careers; he's an all time great.
The question, however, was which one do you think was more exciting with the ball in his hands. While Sanders' uncanny ability to make guys miss in tight spaces was otherworldly, watching Odell break into the open field is amazing to watch. I'm willing to admit that my Giant bias may influence that, but it is, after all, a subjective exercise.
Quote:
It's not so crazy to consider. Sanders for a career hit on 15 scores of 50 yards.
OBJ has I think 10 60 plus scores in 3 years.
I'll try and trudge up the articles - OBJ has an insane % of yards on YAC, so he's doing a lot of his big strikes with his feet.
Oh yeah? And how many guys did Odell have to beat on those? Generally two, but sometimes more. Barry Sanders had to beat damn near an entire team on all his runs. This is no contest. Barry is one of the great ones. Odell has played 3 years.
And again the question wasn't who's more talented, who has/had a harder job. The question was who's more exciting with the ball in his hands.
Says the poster who insists that the 90s Dallas teams wouldn't win in this era because of the media coverage? Right.
Also, WR to RB isn't an equitable comparison.
Also, WR to RB isn't an equitable comparison.
this is true -- I went back and looked through his highlight reels and it really didn;t capture how amazing Sanders was through the course of a game -- Detroit was basically a non-team during the Sanders years and he made them fun to watch the ebb and flow of an entire game. It worth watching a Detroit game on thanksgiving just to watch him play - the moves this guy made were unreal -- and I guess you could compare his game seed to Odell but Sanders did it as someone else indicated above from the backfield through the line and then broke free and he did it artfully and beautifully time and time again and very consistently
If he wanted to keep playing, he could have broken the all time record and placed it far out of Emmitt Smith's reach EASY.
But he walked away from the game, polite but weary in some ways.
A great man, who you never had to worry about antics on or off the field. It was never considered in your thoughts.
Its nice to compare OBJ, but in Barry's era OBJ playing within the LT era of the NFC east. Think he would have been put in place in ways never has experienced yet. And the league would not have fined anyone back then like they do now.
Its not a close comparison. Barry by many, many miles.
But since I've been watching football, no one comes close to Barry in terms of that kind of excitement.
No one deserves to be mentioned in his class after playing three years. It's absurd.
I didn't read the question as who is better. If it were, I would 100% agree with you. Odell has a ways to go approach Barry Sanders' careers; he's an all time great.
The question, however, was which one do you think was more exciting with the ball in his hands. While Sanders' uncanny ability to make guys miss in tight spaces was otherworldly, watching Odell break into the open field is amazing to watch. I'm willing to admit that my Giant bias may influence that, but it is, after all, a subjective exercise.