Yes, he was one of the best to play the game but I already forgot about him.If you had to guess which running back had the most yards, attempts and hundred yard games and was second in 100 yard games in NFL history, who would you guess? Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown; well, THE DEFENSE IS WRONG. Emmitt Smith was the correct answer. Hearing him retiring, well it makes me feel old. I remember in the early 90s he was unstoppable, betting against him and the Cowboys was like driving with my mom after she’s had one glass of wine and she’s saying stuff like, "where did
that come from" or "is that a deer", just plain frightening. He was one of the greatest running backs in the NFL, number 22 was one of the most fearsome sights to see as a lifetime Giants fan but as great as he never passes an important test for me. Some day you will be bouncing your grandkids on your lap and telling them that you saw Emmitt Smith play? Absolutely not. Frankly though he was arguably the greatest running back in the game Emmitt Smith was one of the most boring runners I can remember.
Well, I’m sorry … I was alive and following football his entire career And during that entire time, I never heard anybody utter the words, "Emmitt Smith is coming to town!" In contrast, I’ll always remember what it was like to watch Barry Sanders on the field when he seemed a step ahead of every other player on that field, when he looked like a man among 16-year-olds, when he had you standing and cheering and screaming and saying to yourself, "What’s this guy capable of next?" Or even a Brett Farve, the way he looked on that field and the way he would command his players to follow him and how he always came through. Emmitt Smith? I have no memories. I’m a blank slate. I’m the guy from "Memento."
I think the best way to describe the difference between a Pantheon player like a Barry Sanders or a Brett Farve and Emmitt Smith is like the difference between Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Hanks. Both are great actors who have been in some amazing movies but you’re never going to show you’re kids "The Fugitive" and be like, "watch him play that role, wow". With Tom Hanks its completely different. The parallels between Smith and Tommy Lee Jones and Sanders and Hanks is quite consistent when you look at the later years also. Smith went on to play two undistinguished years with the Cardinals while Jones’ new move, Man of the House, looks like a disaster. Can you see Hanks in a role like that, never, much like Sanders retired when he was at the top of his game.
Smith chugged along for many years, and I was around … and I couldn’t tell you one thing that happened during that time. I remember him being consistently good, occasionally flawless and never breathtaking. He rated poorly in the charisma department. He wasn’t considered more or less clutch than anyone else who played during his time. Wonderful player. Splendid role model. Unparalleled consistency. Significant career. Carried himself with grace and dignity on a team that needed it. Broke The Record That Could Never Be Broken. First-ballot Hall of Famer. If anything, his career was defined by a certain steadiness, a game-after-game, "He’s always there" consistency that was strangely admirable.
Bottom line? Great … but not transcendent. Not the Pantheon.