About 6:10 against the Rams. Put this dude in the Hall of Fame--this is a Cowboys fan saying this, by the way. The 10k yards marker is increasingly obsolete. Oh yeah--good morning guys.
When I saw the headline of your post, I knew what was in store. If you watch the run in real time it's all the more dazzling. That was a great way to start the day.
He was the first back to get 1000 yards rushing and 1000 yards receiving in the same year. Not sure, but I think he did it twice. As a kid, I had a special football card that said that that's probably worth 100 bucks today.
All the great running backs have very distinctive, stylized leg motions, particularly when they're in heavy traffic. Craig gets his knees up incredibly high. On that Sayers video, I noticed that his legs were sort of splayed, not parallel, enabling him to juke out defenders more easily. The short backs, like Barry Sanders, run in a kind of permanent semi-squat.
Couldn't agree more, and I say that as a Redskins fan. Of course, I spent 8 years blabbering to anyone who would listen that Art Monk should be in the HoF. That one seemed like a no-brainer, too.
My favorite run of all time was a Barry Sanders TD run against the Patriots. He had one of NE's defensive backs (I think it was Harlan Barnett) spinning in a circle.
Roger Craig was money, but this run ain't even in the same universe as Gale Sayers or Barry Sanders or even Chuck Foreman routinely trotting back to the bench.
btw: as per the comments above, I'm shocked that Craig's not in the HOF.
I'm going to echo the Earl Campbell mention above--I remember one where the defenders were practically tearing his jersey off him, and another where he leveled the defender, and then practically walked over him into the end zone. If you're talking about power, Campbell was fearsome.
Great site in general but I must protest your conclusion that Emmitt is the best ever--and this from a true Cowboys fan (both Dallas and Ok. State). Emmitt was truly a great back--but he couldn't carry the jock strap of Sanders, Brown, Sayers, Payton, Campbell, Bo Jackson, and probably a few others that have slipped through my memory membrane.
Roger Craig was the perfect back for the 49ers' Montana-era West Coast offense, but I have to agree with the commenter above that, as a pure running back, he's not even worth mentioning in the same sentence as Sanders. Sanders didn't just have amazing 60 yard runs, he had amazing 8 yard runs.
Roger Craig reminds me of some of the great Giants-Niners playoff contests, like the one where the Giants gutted out a win with 5 field goals and no touchdowns, or the one that featured the greatest hit in NFL history (post the link, Ta-Nehesi!), Giants NT Jim Burt knocking the stuffing out of Joe Montana.
I'm a 49ers fan and I remember how great this guy was. I hope he gets into the HOF. Nevertheless, for some reason, my lasting memory of the guy is his fumble against the Giants in the Championship game that might have cost the niners a 3-peat. I know he did so much more than that, but that's the one that really sticks with me.
"I must protest your conclusion that Emmitt is the best ever"
Not quite what I said. Specifically, I rank Payton and Brown above him. I love every other back you mentioned--but backs like Sayers, and Bo Jackson don't belong in the same conversation as Emmitt Smith. Bo Jackson may the most talented back I've ever seen. But you simply can't compare his careers with Emmitt's, or Barry's, or Jim Brown's or even Eric Dickerson. He just didn't play long enough. There's something to be said for repeatedly being money for your team.
Also, I'd love to post some other links. If you guys have ones you like better, I'll gladly throw them up. I've seen the Earl Campbell joint recently. I'll put that up next week.
Incertus:
Bingo!! I was a kid in Houston back then and still remember Earl Campbell like it was yesterday. Imagine what he could have done with Manning or Brady as QB and just one good receiver. Campbell was their whole offense back then and only the Steelers could stop him.
JK's conscience,
Me too! I grew up in Houston then, was a Longhorn fan and loved Earl (even though I went with the Cowboys over the Oilers). If the Oilers had any offensive support for him at all, Bum Phillips wouldn't have had to run him into the ground.
Point taken about Sayers & Bo. Accept my point about their superior athleticism. My opinion only, but Barry was a better running back that Emmitt and every bit the equal of Brown, Payton, Campbell, et al. Better? Who's to say?
Perhaps you've seen this but here's a link to highlights of Sanders' Heisman Year in '88. Unbelievable.
Greatest run of all time is a nice starting point for a discussion but I don't think there's ever going to be a consensus. I would submit
Marcus Allen's Superbowl run
Earl Campbell's headbutt knockdown/torn jersey run(also against the Rams)
Michael Vick running two defenders into each other
John Elway helicopter run
Pick any run in which Walter lowers his shoulder, bounces outside, highsteps, uses a stiff arm or leaps the pile at the goal line.
My feeling on Roger Craig was that he was a system guy, but he probably deserves to be in the Hall as the pioneering dual 1000 rushing/1000 receiving threat. Not sure about it, though.
David, that's a rather questionable list. Your top 10 greatest NFL RBs have a grand total of 2 Championship rings. Billy Sims and Christian Okoye are particularly egregious.
Roger Craig has become a distance runner, too. Sure, 3:50 in a flat marathon like Chicago is far from elite, but the ideal build for an NFL running back is pretty far from that of a marathoner (that and he was 45).
I grew up in the Quad-Cities were Roger Craig was a legend. He grew up in Davenport, IA and was sort of an urban legend, as much as anything in Iowa can be urban. In an area filled with Bears, and some Packer fans, he turned a lot of people in the midwest on to the West Coast offense.
Interestingly, Roger was not the best athlete in the family. He had an older brother who was dominant but also served as a cautionary tale. No one thought Roger really measured up. How often have we heard that story?
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
When I saw the headline of your post, I knew what was in store. If you watch the run in real time it's all the more dazzling. That was a great way to start the day.
He was the first back to get 1000 yards rushing and 1000 yards receiving in the same year. Not sure, but I think he did it twice. As a kid, I had a special football card that said that that's probably worth 100 bucks today.
Go Huskers!
All the great running backs have very distinctive, stylized leg motions, particularly when they're in heavy traffic. Craig gets his knees up incredibly high. On that Sayers video, I noticed that his legs were sort of splayed, not parallel, enabling him to juke out defenders more easily. The short backs, like Barry Sanders, run in a kind of permanent semi-squat.
I'd never seen that run before, but I have to say it is almost disappointing - looked like some tired tackling to me.
I think you need to analyse some Walter Payton highlight reels before any voting begins.
I agree with Jim. That's not even the most impressive run on that clip.
But I agree that Craig belongs in the HOF.
Couldn't agree more, and I say that as a Redskins fan. Of course, I spent 8 years blabbering to anyone who would listen that Art Monk should be in the HoF. That one seemed like a no-brainer, too.
And about Gary Clark...
My favorite run of all time was a Barry Sanders TD run against the Patriots. He had one of NE's defensive backs (I think it was Harlan Barnett) spinning in a circle.
I'd have to go with Barry Sanders - soon to be replaced by "All Day" Peterson.
Hell of a career, if you think about it: not just the yards gained rushing and receiving, but also managing in the World Series.
That's a nice run.
Earl Campbell did that about once a game.
I'd have to go with Barry Sanders - soon to be replaced by "All Day" Peterson.
Very nice run. Still, Campbell, Sayers, Payton, Sanders, Smith, hell Steve Young have had more impressive runs in their career.
Dude -
Roger Craig was money, but this run ain't even in the same universe as Gale Sayers or Barry Sanders or even Chuck Foreman routinely trotting back to the bench.
btw: as per the comments above, I'm shocked that Craig's not in the HOF.
I'm going to echo the Earl Campbell mention above--I remember one where the defenders were practically tearing his jersey off him, and another where he leveled the defender, and then practically walked over him into the end zone. If you're talking about power, Campbell was fearsome.
What about Jim Brown? I've seen his runs on ESPN and he looks like Shaq playing against a bunch of twelve year olds.
Great site in general but I must protest your conclusion that Emmitt is the best ever--and this from a true Cowboys fan (both Dallas and Ok. State). Emmitt was truly a great back--but he couldn't carry the jock strap of Sanders, Brown, Sayers, Payton, Campbell, Bo Jackson, and probably a few others that have slipped through my memory membrane.
Roger Craig was the perfect back for the 49ers' Montana-era West Coast offense, but I have to agree with the commenter above that, as a pure running back, he's not even worth mentioning in the same sentence as Sanders. Sanders didn't just have amazing 60 yard runs, he had amazing 8 yard runs.
Roger Craig reminds me of some of the great Giants-Niners playoff contests, like the one where the Giants gutted out a win with 5 field goals and no touchdowns, or the one that featured the greatest hit in NFL history (post the link, Ta-Nehesi!), Giants NT Jim Burt knocking the stuffing out of Joe Montana.
I'm a 49ers fan and I remember how great this guy was. I hope he gets into the HOF. Nevertheless, for some reason, my lasting memory of the guy is his fumble against the Giants in the Championship game that might have cost the niners a 3-peat. I know he did so much more than that, but that's the one that really sticks with me.
Also... how about that Steve Young run against the Vikings to end the game? That was special.
"I must protest your conclusion that Emmitt is the best ever"
Not quite what I said. Specifically, I rank Payton and Brown above him. I love every other back you mentioned--but backs like Sayers, and Bo Jackson don't belong in the same conversation as Emmitt Smith. Bo Jackson may the most talented back I've ever seen. But you simply can't compare his careers with Emmitt's, or Barry's, or Jim Brown's or even Eric Dickerson. He just didn't play long enough. There's something to be said for repeatedly being money for your team.
Also, I'd love to post some other links. If you guys have ones you like better, I'll gladly throw them up. I've seen the Earl Campbell joint recently. I'll put that up next week.
Incertus:
Bingo!! I was a kid in Houston back then and still remember Earl Campbell like it was yesterday. Imagine what he could have done with Manning or Brady as QB and just one good receiver. Campbell was their whole offense back then and only the Steelers could stop him.
JK's conscience,
Me too! I grew up in Houston then, was a Longhorn fan and loved Earl (even though I went with the Cowboys over the Oilers). If the Oilers had any offensive support for him at all, Bum Phillips wouldn't have had to run him into the ground.
Point taken about Sayers & Bo. Accept my point about their superior athleticism. My opinion only, but Barry was a better running back that Emmitt and every bit the equal of Brown, Payton, Campbell, et al. Better? Who's to say?
Perhaps you've seen this but here's a link to highlights of Sanders' Heisman Year in '88. Unbelievable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7S8wN_tL5Y
Mongoose
I think Garrison Hearst--another Niner--had a more impressive run than this. He went 96 yds. for a TD in overtime against the Jets.
See the (rather poor quality) video here:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qkEJu1yQJlE
Craig was a much better back, though.
Greatest run of all time is a nice starting point for a discussion but I don't think there's ever going to be a consensus. I would submit
Marcus Allen's Superbowl run
Earl Campbell's headbutt knockdown/torn jersey run(also against the Rams)
Michael Vick running two defenders into each other
John Elway helicopter run
Pick any run in which Walter lowers his shoulder, bounces outside, highsteps, uses a stiff arm or leaps the pile at the goal line.
My feeling on Roger Craig was that he was a system guy, but he probably deserves to be in the Hall as the pioneering dual 1000 rushing/1000 receiving threat. Not sure about it, though.
I loved Emmitt and I am a Seahawks fan.
The greatest back in order are:
Jim Brown
Barry Sanders
Walter Payton
Gale Sayers
Eric Dickerson
OJ Simpson - Sorry!
Earl Campbell
Billy Sims
Bo Jackson
Christian Okoye
What about Tony Dorsett?
David, that's a rather questionable list. Your top 10 greatest NFL RBs have a grand total of 2 Championship rings. Billy Sims and Christian Okoye are particularly egregious.
Roger Craig has become a distance runner, too. Sure, 3:50 in a flat marathon like Chicago is far from elite, but the ideal build for an NFL running back is pretty far from that of a marathoner (that and he was 45).
I grew up in the Quad-Cities were Roger Craig was a legend. He grew up in Davenport, IA and was sort of an urban legend, as much as anything in Iowa can be urban. In an area filled with Bears, and some Packer fans, he turned a lot of people in the midwest on to the West Coast offense.
Interestingly, Roger was not the best athlete in the family. He had an older brother who was dominant but also served as a cautionary tale. No one thought Roger really measured up. How often have we heard that story?