HOF'er Jim Brown not impressed with Richardson

[dukes_of_maggard]

Originally Posted by DeepSpringsVol

That is shameful. For players who grossed more than like 5 million $ I would say you made enough to handle retirement healthcare. But old timers played for scraps. Doug Atkins is prime example. Poor guy got paid very little and his health is horrible.

Yeah, and they got beat up worse back in the day...now if you're a QB you get about as much contact as the kicker...Not only do today's players make huge money the risk of their long-term health detraining is reduced compared to their predecessors.

[NochNoch]

Originally Posted by milohimself

This thread... Wow.

Jim brown is a bitter old man, but he may be the most dominant player in the history of the game.

What he said

[GatorBill]

Originally Posted by milohimself

This thread... Wow.

Jim brown is a bitter old man, but he may be the most dominant player in the history of the game.

He may be. Or he may not be.


It is impossible to know either way. He certainly belongs in the conversation. If you took Escape Goat's top 5, put them in a paper back and pulled one out, you would have one heck of a player no matter which one comes out.

[milohimself]

For sure, but IMO Jim Brown was as elusive as Sanders and Dickerson and could truck people like Sweetness.

Point taken about his competition, but Brown played when he played and went against who happened to be in the NFL at the time, and nobody in the history of the game has been head and shoulders above every other single player like that.

[oskie_score]

Originally Posted by ORANGE & WHITE

Jim Brown not impressed with “ordinary” Trent Richardson | ProFootballTalk

Motivation

[oskie_score]

Can't help but speculate about Bo and his place in this discussion had he remained healthy.

[n_huffhines]

Originally Posted by milohimself

For sure, but IMO Jim Brown was as elusive as Sanders and Dickerson and could truck people like Sweetness.

Point taken about his competition, but Brown played when he played and went against who happened to be in the NFL at the time, and nobody in the history of the game has been head and shoulders above every other single player like that.

And nobody ever will again. Talent pool is too big.

I try to picture Jamal Lewis in Jim Brown's era. Ouch.

[hndog609]

Originally Posted by milohimself

For sure, but IMO Jim Brown was as elusive as Sanders and Dickerson and could truck people like Sweetness.

Point taken about his competition, but Brown played when he played and went against who happened to be in the NFL at the time, and nobody in the history of the game has been head and shoulders above every other single player like that.

I don't have any idea how you could possibly believe the boldened.

To me the most amazing thing about watching Brown's highlights is that while obviously strong his balance was simply otherworldly. There's been many big strong guys that can get yardage after contact and "fall forward". Watch this video. Obviously he had good speed, especially for his size, but he wasn't a burner by any means. He did have some elusiveness but that was nowhere near what he did best. Watch how often it looks like he should go down and simply doesn't.

Jim Brown highlights - YouTube

Dickerson probably doesn't get enough credit. He got to 10,000 faster than any of them. (only 91 games) He also had size (6'3"/220) while being way fast. (10.4 IIRC)

[milohimself]

For his time, I do believe that. All time? Probably not, but my point was we can only really judge people against their competition during the time they played, and I can't think of another player since football has been filmed that's looked like a man among boys at the highest level of the game.

[hndog609]

Originally Posted by milohimself

For his time, I do believe that. All time? Probably not, but my point was we can only really judge people against their competition during the time they played, and I can't think of another player since football has been filmed that's looked like a man among boys at the highest level of the game.

For starters the Sanders comparison would be without time considerations. He's as elusive as Sanders or he isn't. I don't think it's even close (in Sanders' favor) in that regard. Elusiveness wasn't even a particularly strong point of Brown's game. That's not to say he didn't have any, it just wasn't his strength. (the link, or any other vid of Brown, bears this out) Elusiveness and speed WERE the strength of Sanders' game however. (also readily observed on any Sanders highlight reel)

I have no argument with your second observation. Rice probably deserves some serious consideration. Perhaps a few others. (not sure if you were being position specific) At any rate it'd be a damn short list with Brown right at the top.

[milohimself]

Rice and a handful of others were completely dominant, but Brown just looked like he was playing a different game than everybody else.