Barry Sanders (The Greatest Running back in NFL History)

[Music] [Applause] professional football in America is a special game a unique game played nowhere else on earth it is a rare game the man will play it make it so you you you you you you [Music] barry sanders is back one of the greatest running backs in football history when it came to ducking defenders nobody did it better first thing you do when the handling the ball is you stop breathing and your eyes get real big and you watch you sit move closer move closer to the TV or to the edge of your seat in the stadium and you just wait for something great to happen [Music] when the juices start flowing Barry Sanders becomes an athlete capable of stretching his sport against any conceivable round and he is gifted enough to push all athletic possibilities into some dizzy new dimension you almost had to stop what you were doing just to see what bears gonna do because you know he was gonna do something amazing [Applause] probably the only running back I would pay to see play sometimes you just gotta look to the heavens and say Wow [Applause] it could be calm right now and a storm can happen in the next five minutes way to bury off the right most dangerous back in the league [Applause] I think he's better for the way he runs I don't think there's anybody else who's ever run like him this style is so different you take his number off and put 45 on them that's Barry Sanders you know you just know that's Barry said that's him you know watch plays developing and to see the way they've had just cut and Juke people just who's insane you can't ask a person in Detroit what's your favorite run a barrier because that would say that you know that was just a handful and you can remember one this guy did something special you know every single Sunday can't say they got on because you know until the whistle blows they don't got that is one of the great ones you'll ever see but that one is a highlight real special he's the human highlight machine [Applause] [Music] [Music] freeze you and then beat you make you stop and while you were stopping to break down he was gone nobody could stop and start like that I'd never seen a player who is more entertaining to watch [Music] Gale Sayers once said just give me 18 inches of daylight that's all I need it would appear that Barry Sanders needs even less than that and Barry spurts to the left side breaks a tackle [Music] [Music] Mitchell gets the same Barry Sanders inside the tent shuts down I think Barry Sanders anybody who has his has him on his team has a chance to be a truly great team no matter what the down and distance on offense no matter what the offensive situation that once or twice a game Barry Sanders is gonna do something that resuscitates the offense that makes you go when we watch NFL Films and we see the great runs of all time most of them are Barry Sanders and a very 4540 big scoop [Applause] I tell you I want to thank Barry because you have a schoolteacher and it's not my lesson run short I put on his highlight from the kids [Applause] [Music] in college and you know I don't think we need out you should be number one [Music] no matter what year you could say 1920 and you could say 2012 he will still be best running back in the NFL any given time folks he's the best in the business [Applause] ever [Music] you it's now the end of another high school football season man as North High Barry Sanders puts his senior year away for good he can be proud he made it exciting for many wichita football fans 1417 total rushing yards for Barry in 1985 that means every time he touched the ball the average 10.2 yards you [Music] [Applause] the Cowboys open their season the nation's leading kickoff returner goes a hundred yards for a touchdown here's the ball up the middle Center so if and earth goes around the left five the nation's leading rusher Sanders had arguably the greatest collegiate season ever setting 34 records he rushed for two thousand six hundred and twenty-eight yards [Music] pwe record touchdown and scored 39 touchdowns in 11 games Barry Sanders explosive style his speed and determination Balai the quiet humble personality that lies beneath the cowboy helmet Sanders did not have all the national TV exposure like Troy Aikman and Rodney Peete he emerged as a candidate in midseason and then rushed his way to the top making a tremendous move on the outside with dead aim on the leaders as they come to the top of the stretch Barry just broke Salman's record as far as the school rushing record for he broke the record that Thurman said against Iowa State last year with 293 I was 300 and something if he wanted he wants to put his father because you know how I feel about him and my friends back home in Wichita but before it's ever I don't think I don't think he care about it foot cell you know I certainly had a lot of help doing so and you know something that you know everyone can be proud of you know as far as the team is concerned a lot of guys that have played this game up to this point and he just went by Rozier and Lydell Mitchell as far as touchdown scored in a single season and we've still got a couple of ball games left he was leading the nation in rushing and scoring kickoff returns an all-purpose running you the 1988 winner of the Heisman award is Barry Sanders Barry's Heisman Trophy still sits in William and Shirley's house behind his father's souvenir Oklahoma helmet this is an award for your teammates yeah it is you know it especially my offensive line fullback you know we can all take with us you know for a lifetime you set the record over 2,600 yards who held the record prior to that I absolutely knew who held the record before that obviously you without a doubt very sentence is the greatest runner back [Music] [Music] you the Lions needed a franchise player they need of brands and Barry had that flash he had that ability to light a place up at the best running back in football plays with the Detroit fire side Barry gets the call cuts it back to the right side [Music] did you go to the combine when you were coming out Oklahoma State I went and took physical I didn't I didn't do all my destiny I did all my testing in Stillwater do you remember your 40-yard dash yeah I would like I'm thinking my best friend was like a high 43 and I think there's no another you know I ran a couple four fours Rodney Pedro on a ferry very skirts to the 50 trying to tackle Barry is a frustrating and futile pursuit like whispering in the wind and perhaps that's how best to describe him like the wind for he moves as it propelled by forces beyond man's control with the sudden swirling power of a winter gale or the ethereal touch of a summer breeze Sanders ability as an elemental quality hard to articulate but easy to appreciate to the amazing [Applause] certain times almost felt like I could do anything with the ball you know where you can just flat-out running or can you give them a shorter fake or whatever and get around and doing I'm most successful I think is one guys um when they're coming fast and they're not really using any discretion when you played against him we had rules for our defensive ends they couldn't get too high up toward the quarterback because he had if you gave him a running Lane he was gonna take it Barry Sanders five yards per carry we saw how Barry Sanders head dude with their backs turned for cryin Allah they know where the hell he was that's how bad he was you know and you're almost had him on the stream and most running backs don't do that they stay on this front side right but you know Barry would be one of those guys can cut and see had great vision had strong legs was faster than what people thought it's all eyes on you your teammates your city another rules that we didn't fold early what do you mean meaning is so if I'm on the right side he's going to the left we stayed because he was going to come back [Music] but devilish the call couldn't bake there are some times when you'll get the ball and literally not get touched he's doing this against the best in the world how could someone be that much better than everybody else watch him make a play and still being disbelief and said no it didn't happen the way I think it happened and then you see it on film the next day and it's ten times better than you even believe what do you make something very runs when it comes up to go on come on around and I said Barry that was the best I've ever seen I said that maybe a hundred times already I'm sure I haven't seen the best yet I think he keeps getting better and better the thing that makes him a spectacular performer is a reason we can't they sector you know and I found that the greater the player the less he can tell you about what he does I don't say one more time he was getting his camera if he's not the best football player at this runner but the lawyers in the main the Lord has yet to make one 219 yards on 22 carries four touchdowns for Barry Sanders as the rest of the league has learned you can't tackle what you can't change [Music] Barry Sanders ran for 179 yards the second-highest total of his career then added 160 more a week later in a 31 to 3 and number 20 became the first non kicker in team history to score over 100 points in the season barry sanders has become the state of Michigan's greatest natural resource and he has done more than anyone to restore the raw downtown Detroit they had a big mural of him on one of the buildings and just signified you know how big he was in this city cuts it back to the right east of the 15th is 220 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns was the most ever by a lions running back it's Barry [Music] [Applause] teens have come back from greater damages but seldom has one team been so far behind so late in the game and bounced back to win for five seasons they've tried but stopping Barry Sanders may well be the toughest job in pro football gotta be honest I'm running run did you ever feel any pressure to make those highlight reel runs and Barry gets the call to the light breaks attack over the 25 30 35 . the right side like 40 50 I took great fried and running the ball I'm a kid who grew up watching Tony Dorsett Earl Campbell all the grapes that played this game I don't feel good with that knife and you were that big black guy I'm a jam it up your ass the most devastating ball carrier in the history of football I gotta tell you it's great to see you buddy but I just stopped having nightmares for a decade Sanders did his best to haunt every last creamsicle wearing defender he faced from 1989 to 1998 he tallied 24 runs of 20 or more yards and 12 runs of 40 more yards but I gotta tell you people ask me all the time who's the toughest player you ever played against and I said for me it's a no-brainer Barry Sanders you couldn't tackle him in a phone booth in a two-hand touch game I mean it was unbelievable the numbers are stunning in 20 games he gained more than 2,600 total yards only America but could do this remember these runs were against a division opponent a team that game planned for Sanders twice a year every year bear in mind this is against the defense that featured a young Derrick Brooks Warren Sapp and John Lynch that's to Hall of Famers and maybe one on his way averaged 5.7 yards per touch and oh yeah seven touchdowns 50 or more yards it meant a lot to me to show up every game and try to do something special not necessarily because of people watching just because I expected that for myself and that's a lot of what drove me it's prolific stretched by running back against a single team and NFL history Barry Sanders who has been a thorn in the side of the Buccaneers over the years Rosaria had no answer for number 20 in honolulu blue compare what Sanders did against Tampa to the numbers of these running backs against a single opponent it's really not that close he has never had the great offensive line this guy is something else it's a 20 game stretch we may never see again barry sanders became only the third running back in NFL history to run for over a thousand yards in each of his first five NFL seasons or barry did was set a team playoff rushing record with 169 yards to become only the third running back ever to run for 1,000 yards in each of his first five seasons [Applause] it was truly deja vu for the other Barry Switzer Sanders ripped the Sooners for 215 yards in his Heisman season the win over Dallas was yet another window onto the career of this back who has endured the run-and-shoot and musical quarterbacks to plant a unique signature on the game [Applause] outside seeks the first down [Applause] [Applause] [Music] battery to near midfield but he got away with a face mask [Applause] [Music] the first Woodsen and Brett Perriman little Brett Perriman first vintage batteries first down to the 45 of Dallas Kevin Smith made the tackle [Applause] Anders just another charge Bronson the Great Escape victimized by satyrs second best game as a pro a classic evening of darting evading eluding and frustrating the Superbowl champion won the playoffs against the Cowboys was probably the most important run but Barry Sanders could fill every spot on this list Jack Del Rio he almost says what if I just tackled Barry Sanders with this part of my neck he failed miserably [Music] [Applause] everything freezes around and he just assesses the situation he's like that way the way he was able to move was just superhuman and then Ken Norton jr. realized the plays going on and trips over ere backpedaling going oh crap and then Tony Casillas looks around his life the play is still going on six Cowboys Barry Sanders played basketball in fact given a choice Sanders would rather handle the ball for the Pistons instead of carrying it for the Lions [Applause] this play where he spun Harlan Barnett into the ground for the Patriots is still the single greatest play I've ever seen he didn't know which way he was going and I might mr. Barry knew which way he was going if you put the history of the great backs in a phone booth and said who could get out of his phone books without getting tackled Barry will be the guy probably had more amazing runs than any running back in NFL history you best runningback ever played against Barry Sanders [Music] [Music] defensive back is like a closer in baseball you have to be fearless rod had that personality where he was gonna go for during his 17-year career Rob Woodson had 71 interceptions the third most in NFL history made tackles interceptions and was probably as athletic as any player who's ever played in the defensive backfield and became the all-time leader in interception return yardage and interceptions returned for touchdowns in my era I would have to say he would be the best defensive back total that I've ever played against I could easily create an argument for him being the greatest defensive back of all time you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you during his two thousand yard season in 1997 he posted a record 14 consecutive 100-yard games [Applause] he really never had a real office I mean he was the guy [Applause] [Music] they did not have an offensive line these guys would like the worst office mine in the world he didn't have a great offensive line he would he would go to the hole and then there wouldn't be a hole there and then he would back up and then he would lose like four and then you know he'd gained two and then he would rip off 39 the 53-yard run assured Detroit a playoff berth as Sanders became only the third running back to break the two thousand yard barrier [Applause] and very didn't talk about Sanders is a modest a superstar as I have ever met in all of sport he was happy this is a player who was 11 yards away from winning the 1990 rushing title he was asked if he wanted to go back in the game he said no let me sit he wanted his backup to get some playing time he's a let everyone else talk about [Music] or every thrill Sanders gave the audience his most breathtaking move came when he walked off the stage retiring at age thirty third all-time leading rusher announced his retirement if the 31 year old would have tweeted the news out now broken the internet you played this game to win Super Bowls and when you had a taste of the playoff and you feel like the organization is not moving in that direction and you are the guy you have to play it for the love of it once dead leaves that I think it's unbeliev and you're risking your neck your body your mind and you feel like they're not putting out the same kind of effort and you lose it it's not fun you know I struggle with it I struggle with it all offseason and really just kind of waited to the last minute and once you start picking out of guys love for the game you lost them there was probably some players and I thought it was a big mistake to get rid of at the time good in while I played with definitely something that hurt I played the game long enough in that that real drive and determination and enjoyment of the game and it left you know the record for me wasn't important enough to to force myself to stay around and to try to get the record the only man who's ever gained 1,000 yards 10 straight seasons will retire Wednesday not with the press conference but with this statement and Barry will not be available for comments it's a great record to have that to play only because of the record is something that I didn't have it in me to do Sanders less than 15-hundred yards shy of breaking Peyton's career rushing records so barring injury this was really just a matter of time before the record was buried I understood full well who won't to Peyton ones would he have accomplished you had a lot of people that were mad at very wide never understood I'm pretty sure that I would have been disappointed as a fan had 20 Dorsett retired in his prime well Jay was my least favorite NFL runner but he only stabbed two people in the back I would have rather he'd been truthful upfront and he can kept his respect and his dignity after 10 years of professional football Barry Sanders earned more praise from his father for walking away from the game than he ever did by running with the football him to give it 10 glorious years the years that he gave that game you know they take guts I've done what he did last night because every guy will not a damn it Barry Sanders is a guy that no matter what you have to play it for the love of it and for the sheer thrill of competition that football player would have been trying to set records and trying to hang on to the end it's Barry Barry don't want a big retirement party you don't want to be on ESPN and ABC and all that stuff and he walked with his career and that really take guts [Applause] [Music] a lot of people look at it says oh well it's kind of an asterisk beside it you got it because berry no longer wanted to play otherwise berry would be the guy holding that crown the greatest running back of all time we posted this poll on Twitter it's a comparison on which Sanders will take a pass I've never really got into that argument you know I I've always distance myself from it the best is a personal choice you can always have difference of opinion did not play with a guy like Troy Aikman a quarterback and never had a true number one receiver like Michael Irvin and some folks would say I am so I'm gonna say I'm not excited cetera if Barry would have played 15 years that could have been twenty five thousand yards on the offensive side of the ball outside our Herman Moore who was a decent Steve within my receivers in the 90s he might be top ten that might be a stretch he might be top ten receiver in the 90 but he wasn't he wasn't like nothing up it wasn't doing anything he did not force through the double-team him so to say that Barry Sanders you know would have been better with the offensive line that Emmitt Smith played with that is a true statement if you don't have no weapons it's still gonna stack the Box it's not like too many people with double-teaming her more okay and when you don't have a quarterback the quarterback seat play with you play with Scott Mitchell you play with Charlie Batch you play with Mike like Cramer and all these other courts and Ronnie Pete he played with corvex that wasn't nothing so really how old they were you of these guys lighting up the skies because they were spreading offense out not too much my stats are what they are that doesn't necessarily mean I'm the best it means that I endure longer that's for sure there's no doubt in any of our minds that Barry would have been the we wouldn't even be talking about him it emitor be a second place it's no way that records been so far out there we knew that I think it knows that in them and always said yeah I'm glad he returned for me that that's very fulfilling and that's fulfilling enough to be satisfied with where I sit what I know about the Detroit Lions defense in the 90s was not phenomenal how many Pro Bowls did they have off that defense the whole time based teams are there how many all-pro selection do they have from the deep inside of all I would say not none zero zilch nada I remember watching the NFL Network and hope member Rod Woodson he was shocked about how many times the lines were in the playoffs in the early 90s so that should this be credit to base centers because again Bay says put the team on his back and got him to the playoffs time and time again that's what makes sports so great I'm in a special class in that category it has played this game [Music] Jim Brown at one time he was the one of the biggest guys on the field I think he would be different in today's game no one's talking about he took advantage of 175 pound guy did at the end of the day you know you gonna see him tell him that Barry Sanders when there was a gaping hole was still dancing around the backfield no he danced because he had to he wasn't dancing because he was trying to be a showman he wasn't dancing because I was just in his DNA he was dancing in the back though because he had to you look at Barry Sanders highlight tape and you tell me how many times he had to make people miss in the backfield and then boom take it up the sideline for 80 or take it up the middle of the field for 60 or this and that again for as great as Emmitt Smith's old line was he never wrestled no 2,000 yards and they were giving the ball to in the Smith they were just feeding him 25 30 carries a game here is no 2,000 yards Barry Sanders did and we can't name that one of this offensive linemen none of the Dolphins linemen in the Hall of Fame a none of them are really all pros anything like that they were garbage they were trash so the only thing that I'm saying for as great as that offensive lineman or all dolphins lineman were in Dallas you put that same orphans in line and he bade his sentence he rushed off like 2500 yards in the season just like he did in college in my mind I don't think I'm the best because I think when you look at Barry Sanders and even Walter Payton himself there are a lot of people out there that that I could point to and say man they were the very best Terrell Davis career ended too soon a lot of guys careers ended - someone's gear Sarah's career into to Sin Cara Dickerson Tony Dorsett Curtis Martin by Emma Smith ran behind from from 1994 all the way to 2003 he ran behind Larry Allen Larry Allen and my opinion is the greatest left tackle I mean left gorgeous you leave the greatest left guard that I've seen play now there might be some greater ones out there before him but in the 90s Larry Allen was that dude then are you having to sitting up there in the Hall of Fame nobody who play with Barry Sanders in the 90s is sitting up there in the Hall of Fame bottom line I just say the folks don't worry about who's the best appreciate the talent that you see and let that speak for itself you barrier in one of the most exclusive clubs in the world hall-of-famer Heisman Trophy winner can you talk a little bit about what all that means to use it still hard to believe at times that you went from Wichita Kansas to for that those Heights it is it is I'm looking back at you know the kid that I was just a kid that loves sports love competing and not highly recruited to being able to go to Oklahoma State you know really kind of under the radar and and you know and so you know having the chance to win the Heisman my junior year when you know going into that season everyone was saying whose number are we going to be able to replace Thurman Thomas and and having that happened to enter into the NFL where you know you again you you you face doubts and in a lot of battles you know going to the Lions who you know we didn't we didn't have a solid core that had won a lot of games and and so you know and having a chance to play for 10 years and win in you have the honor of been in the Hall of Fame I mean it still it still doesn't seem real a lot of times you know so so yeah it is kind of a remarkable journey I was tough going to those games for a lot of years it was brutal being a Lions fan so but I will say this that very Sanders I mean I was what kept people coming for a lot of years out on that field when they do alumni day guess the biggest year today you'll be able to say I saw the best running back in football ever you

Channel: Face PC Gaming

Views: 146,523

Rating: 4.858427 out of 5

Keywords: Entertainment, HD, 1080P, FACE PC GAMING, SPORTS, FOOTBALL, NFL LEGENDS, Greatest Running back in NFL History, NFL, Barry Sanders, HALL OF FAME

Id: JoEfA3jD1U4

Length: 45min 42sec (2742 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 15 2018