Quote:
Originally Posted by Megatron96
D-9, I went through this about 25-30 years ago. For me, it was the fact that all these 'experts' kept saying that Gale Sayers was better than Barry Sanders. It irked me. Finally I began watching tape on Gale. This was a lot harder back then. The Al Gore's interwebs wasn't what it is today. I had to record shows, on VHS. I had to find and watch full games of Gale so I could understand the context of his play.
What I came away with was that he wasn't better than Barry, IMO. But he made a pretty good argument that he was as good as Barry.
But none of that can be seen in his stats. It was a different time. The game was different. Just watch him play. Forget the stats. Gale changed the NFL's perspective on how the RB position was played or could be played. He was kind of the MJ of his time in the NFL. And that sea change that Gale Sayers produced through his play is why he's in the HOF. Not his stats.
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I watched him. Players back then just weren't as athletic as they are now on average. Throw Jamaal on a team in the past and people would talk about him like they do Barry Sanders. Gale and Sanders had the benefit of playing lesser competition. Jamaal was playing in a time where some LBs were as fast as the RBs and he made guys look stupid.