In a recent book, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio made an argument that former Detroit Lions Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders was overrated. And his argument consists of one point: He underperformed in the playoffs. And to that degree, Paolantonio is correct. Sanders only averaged 2.8 yards per carry in his playoff career, which consisted of six games, and scored just one touchdown. But does that make Sanders an overrated back?

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)