i think sanders is another one of those guys that should be put in the topic of great players who u wish could have gotten a ring like marino and tarkenton(sp?). it's kinda suprising though that he never gets mentioned as a great player who never got a ring, but i guess thats probably cuz he retired pretty young and that it came out nowhere.

Sanders was definitely the better pure RB in my opinion over Emmitt. But it's hard to deny what Emmitt accomplished, gotta give him his props, he was very productive for a very long period of time.

Its an accomplishment just playing for that many year. I think we are nearing an end of players playing until they are almost forty, or over forty in some cases. I think the came has stepped up to a new level that just puts more wear on players, plus they are starting younger to.

I agree Barry Sanders was much more exciting to watch. But I have to disagree about Barry being better than Emmitt. Certainly from a team perspective, anyway. The reason I say this?

- Barry Sanders LOST more yardage on more plays AND a higher percentage of plays than ANY other back ever. That very often hurt the team. It was very exciting watching him run back trying to get big yardage instead of 1 or 2 yards gained. When he lost yards, it very often killed the drive.

- Emmitt almost always went forward, and consistently got what the team needed.

- I have many customers from the Detroit area. THEY - to a man - expressed openly after Sanders retirement, that they hoped he would not return. Of course, new coaching and management came in and totally screwed the team anyway, so it did not matter. But what impressed me was that so many diehard Lions fans did not feel he was good for the team.

But, that said, I would still rather watch Barry Sanders or Gayle Sayers run that ANYONE I have seen (except, of course, my all-time fav: the Diesel).