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NFL
by Kyle Smith on October 18, 2007

The answer, of course, is no. Paolantonio conveniently leaves out some important details. First of all, he points out in the article that, "against the Green Bay Packers, on Lambeau Field's frozen tundra, Sanders set an NFL postseason record for rushing futility. He had 13 carries for minus-one yard." Though he fails to leave out that Sanders also rushed for169 yards in a playoff game the year before that.
In fact, Sanders averaged at least 4 yards per carry in all but two of his playoff games. And that includes one game of a 3.6 average. So, if you throw out the one game Paolantonio mentions, where Sanders gained -1 yards, he averaged 5.0 yards per carry in his postseason career.
Barry Sanders' rushing totals were not great in single games, as Paolantonio points out by saying, " he never ran for more than 65 yards in a single (outdoor) game." Well, yeah that's true. And maybe there's a reason for that - he didn't get the ball. Other than his 27 carry game, in which he rushed for 169 yards, Sanders carried the ball 12, 11, 13, 10 and 18 times.
What Paolantonio has done is make an argument based on one game, albeit a very bad game. He crafted an argument claiming Barry Sanders was overrated when the evidence says otherwise. We didn't even need to mention all of the regular season accolades Sanders compiled. It would take too much time. Debate can be fun, and it is interesting to hear other perspectives, but only when there are legitimate arguments to be made. Crafting an argument while leaving out pertinent facts isn't much of an argument at all - it's a waste of time.
(Photo: Wikipedia)
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/97348
Mr Wong
Vote for Debunking the "Barry Sanders was Overrated" Argument:
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Rating: 9.29 out of 17 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
NFL Adam
(10/19/07 4:52pm)
Response from:
Kyle
(10/19/07 5:05pm)
I get what you're saying, and agree to some extent, but Sanders was hardly the sole reason the Lions lost in the playoffs. Just look at his carries - he didn't get the ball much.
Response from:
ChrisVillain
(12/10/07 4:54pm)
the reason sanders didnt get the ball much is because
a)his style of running doesnt win playoff games....he was a silly runner in my opinion and took to many gambles
a)his style of running doesnt win playoff games....he was a silly runner in my opinion and took to many gambles
Response from:
Brad58
(11/07/08 2:29am)
I did read that Barry Bashing article and i want to puch that guy in the jaw! Get your facts straight Buddy!!! But your right he did take gambles everytime he ran the ball, BUT that was his style and it worked! One thing about Barry is, He was not just an amazing Back, He is an all around amazing person, A True leader on and off the feild. We should all follow in this mans foot steps, he grew up in poverty on thing i know about, and sometimes there are far greater things to people than football, even if you got 11 mil... Money wont buy happieness, maybe for a short period, one thing it wont provide is dignity!
Response from:
paul13127
(01/12/09 8:10pm)
You have to remember that their line was non existent; therefore, berry would have to take gambles to just make it back to the line let alone a gain of 3 yards. Their o-line was pathetic. You want a postseason win then build a good line because it lets your quarterback time to hit a receiver and for your back to work his magic.
Response from:
ksdae
(05/04/09 9:07am)
you should probably tag this entry as an Activism Game, since (1) it makes sense that way, and (2) you tagged "Disaffected!" (look http://rapid4me.com/?q=Disaffected
) as such.
) as such.
Response from:
Sanders fan
(10/03/09 4:37pm)
Also the lions quarterbacks were terrible during his career. The lions wouldn't have been in the playoffs without sanders. Paolantonio fails to keep in mind its hard to get your running back the ball if your team is down too much. And if you were gameplanning for the lions wouldn't you have just thrown 8 guys in the box and forced scott mitchell or rodney peete to beat you through the air.
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This is purely conjecture, but I'd rather have a running back that will pound out a victory.
But that's just me, and I'm writing a blog, not running an NFL team.