Oh, please. Adrien Peterson vs Barry Sanders.

I was listening to the pregame show tonight and they are saying this ROOKIE is better than Barry. Yeah, right. Barry was the WHOLE offense for Detriot for 10 years. And a Pro Bowler in EVERY year he played in the NFL, INCLUDING HIS ROOKIE YEAR:

en.wikipedia.org...

I've got no problem with Peterson but to replace the best running back ever with a rook is wrong. Barry would have SMASHED every record if he could have handled celebrity. It wasn't his skills that were lacking, it was his head.

I'm disgusted with how the media hypes up players, and degrades them instantly.

Last year they bashed Mario Williams like he was Ryan Leaf, and they scrutinized over his every play. He has a few games, and they're talking of him as if he's the greatest player ever on the defensive side of the ball. He goes from the biggest bust in recent history, to the next best thing since Lawrence Taylor.

One game, one year.. it's very little in the bigger scheme of things.

Greatness needs to be reserved for genuine greatness.

Adrian Peterson is really good. Really good! But he's not great. Barry Sanders was great.

Sports commentators and "experts" are notoriously guilty of flip flopping. You can easily take something someone says and find another thing they said earlier in the year or the year before that contradicts it.

They play to the hype. They play to the ratings. What ever the mainstream popular opinion is, they'll pawn it off as their own thoughts and ideas and act like "experts".

Then there's those that contradict themselves and slightly go against the norm to act like rebels for shock value.

I don't listen to any of the garbage that comes from these people's faces. These are the people that were saying Favre is washed up and constantly asking when he's going to retire. Now all of a sudden he can play for 2 or 3 more years and still be one of the three best in the NFL.

Well, which is it?

Adrian Peterson is good - yes. But wow...to compare him to Barry Sanders? I wonder what Barry could have done if he played for a good 90's team like San Francisco, Green Bay, or Dallas. But he played for Detroit and did all of that.

These people need to relax. Get back to us when Adrian Peterson finishes his career ahead of Barry in major categories and is known for completely carrying his team on his back.

Well, it could be argued that Peterson is Minnesota's whole offense as well... Other than that, I don't see any similarity

No way! Not to take anything away from AP but he's not even the best RB in the league, that honor is still LT.

Peterson if he can maintain healthy and that a big if due to he's style of running he probably will be one of the best, but Barry I mean he is the best I've seen at least.

Peterson style reminds me of powerful runners like Bo Jackson and Terrel Davis that saw their career cut short due to their running style.

With all due respect to Sanders, because he was a great back, was he really anything more than a one trick pony? Fact is he got caught behind the line of scrimmage more than any other running back in history with a comparable amount of carries. Fact is he was not a goal line back. More often than not he was pulled for a bigger, more bruising back down by the goal line. Fact is he was an average receiver out of the backfield. Basically he was a human pinball machine, and yes he did that better than any other running back.

Now, while I don't think it's fair to either back to put Peterson in the same sentence with Sanders as far as greatness, the fact is that Peterson is a complete back. Most compare him to Dickerson, but with a much better work ethic, I wholeheartedly agree. I would put Dickerson in the top 3 of all time. Peterson has sprinter's speed, power, and can hit the hole as fast as anyone. Durability will be a question, and in that specific area Sanders was one of the most durable, I'll give him that.

Just my opinion.

Peace

How is anybody going to compare Barry to Adrian right now? Come on!!



Adrian is very good but he hasn't even completed one full NFL season yet!!!

What is wrong with you people???!!!

[edit on 20-12-2007 by Conundrum04]

DrL: I don't think it's fair to call Barry a one-trick pony. After all, he played for 10 seasons. He is #3 in career rushing yards (behind Walter Payton who played 3 more seasons and Emmitt Smith who played 4 more seasons). He is #2 in average yards per carry (behind Jim Brown). He rushed for 1883 yards in '94, 1500 in '95, 1553 in '96, and 2053 in '97. I mean, at the very least that's gotta make him a four-trick pony, right?

Oh yeah, and even though he failed to top 1500 yards in '98, he did get 1491.

Anyway... I agree that it is far too early to talk about Adrian being better than Barry. I think what we can say is that he is having a comparable rookie year to Barry's.

/tn.

I think if Barry Sanders is a "one trick pony" there wouldn't be a team in the league that wouldn't want that pony on their team, including Minn who would trade todays Peterson for yesterdays Sanders in a heartbeat. I have nothing against Peterson. He had a great season but now he has to chain 9 more years of that to have Barry Sanders career. And remember that Sanders sits near almost every rushing record and he walked away from the game before he should have IMO.

Compare both players first year in the league.

Peterson:
Rushing Yards: 1341 TD: 12
Receiving Yards: 268 TDs: 1

1989 Sanders:
Rushing Yards: 1470 TD: 14
Receiving Yards: 282 TDs: 0


NFL RUSHING LEADERS:
1. Emmitt Smith 18,355 1990-2004
2. Walter Payton 16,726 1975-1987
3. Barry Sanders 15,269 1989-1998
4. Curtis Martin 14,101 1995-2005
5. Jerome Bettis 13,662 1993-2005
6. Eric Dickerson 13,259 1983-1993
7. Tony Dorsett 12,739 1977-1988
8. Jim Brown 12,312 1957-1965
9. Marshall Faulk 12,279 1994-2005
10. Marcus Allen 12,243 1982-1997

Career All Purpose Yards:
1. Jerry Rice 23,546 1985-2004
2. Brian Mitchell 23,316 1990-2003
3. Walter Payton 21,803 1975-1987
4. Emmitt Smith 21,579 1990-2004
5. Tim Brown 19,679 1988-2004
6. Marshall Faulk 19,172 1994-2005
7. Barry Sanders 18,308 1989-1998
8. Herschel Walker 18,168 1986-1997
9. Marcus Allen 17,654 1982-1997
10. Curtis Martin 17,430 1995-2005

www.pro-football-reference.com...




[edit on 1-1-2008 by zerotime]