Updating Jim Brown

[SWC75]

I got this thread in my daily message from the Quora Digest:

Who is the best NFL running back of all-time?

Answer (1 of 180): Well, I have been around for the better part of a century and had the pleasure of seeing Jim Brown play. There weren’t a whole lot of teams to dilute the talent back then. It cracks me up when people make assessments about players they never saw and rank the more modern players...

www.quora.com

Years ago I figured out the averages for the top ten players in rushing yardage in NFL history and Jim was still #1 among them in every category. I decided to update that, noting that Jim has now fallen out of the top 10 to #11. I posted this:

I grew up with Jim Brown as my hero. That status off the field has wavered at times but never on the field. Jim was the Babe Ruth/Wilt Chamberlain\/Wayne Gretzky of his sport, lifting the running game to a level it had never seen before when that was still the primary method of moving and scoring the football. Since then, he’s dropped to #11 on the all-time list for rushing yardage, passed by players who played 16 game seasons while Jim played 12 and 14 game season. The only way to make sense of it is to look at the averages.

Here are the top 11 rushers in history, by average yards per game and carry and carries/touchdown, with the leaders in bold:
Emmitt Smith 81.2 ypg 4.2 ypc 26.9 carries/td
Walter Payton 88.0 4.4 34.9
Frank Gore 66.3 4.3 46.1
Barry Sanders 99.8 5.0 30.9
Adrian Peterson 81.1 4.6 26.9
Curtis Martin 83.9 4.0 39.1
LaDainian Tomlinson 80.5 4.3 21.9
Jerome Bettis 71.1 3.9 38.2
Eric Dickerson 90.8 4.4 33.3
Tony Dorsett 73.6 4.3 38.1
Jim Brown 104.3 5.2 22.3

In the modern game, catching passes is almost as important to the running back position as running the ball. here are their averages in total yards and total touchdowns:
Emmitt Smith 95.5 ypg 4.4 ypc 28.1 touches/td
Walter Payton 111.9 4.4 34.6
Frank Gore 82.9 4.7 42.6
Barry Sanders 118.9 5.3 31.3
Adrian Peterson 94.5 4.9 28.1
Curtis Martin 103.8 4.4 40.0
LaDainian Tomlinson 108.6 4.9 23.4
Jerome Bettis 78.7 4.1 39.1
Eric Dickerson 105.5 4.7 34.1
Tony Dorsett 94.2 4.9 37.0
Jim Brown 125.5 5.7 20.8

it could be argued that Barry Sanders and Jim Brown have higher averages because both had the good sense to leave at the top of their games while the others kept going until they couldn’t play anymore. I decided to look at the best 5 consecutive years of each player, first in rushing only and then in total yards and TDs:

Rushing
Emmitt Smith 104.1 ypg 4.5 ypc 20.7 carries/td (1991-95)
Walter Payton 101.4 4.5 29.3 (1975-80)
Frank Gore 82.9 4.7 38.9 (2006-10)
Barry Sanders 106.0 5.2 37.0 (1994-98)
Adrian Peterson 100.1 5.0 23.7 (2008-12)
Curtis Martin 85.2 4.2 40.1 (2000-04)
LaDainian Tomlinson 100.5 4.6 19.0 (2002-06)
Jerome Bettis 86.1 4.1 46.0 (1996-2000)
Eric Dickerson 111.6 4.7 28.7 (1983-87)
Tony Dorsett 83.6 4.6 34.2 (1977-81)
Jim Brown 103.7 5.2 24.4 (1961-65)
If I use 1957-61, I get 104.2 5.1 22.3

Total Yards
Emmitt Smith 126.5 ypg 4.8 ypc 23.0 touches/td
Walter Payton 122.2 5.1 29.2
Frank Gore 113.7 5.3 36.6
Barry Sanders 123.8 5.5 37.1
Adrian Peterson 116.9 5.2 25.0
Curtis Martin 106.4 5.7 33.1
LaDainian Tomlinson 132.6 5.1 20.3
Jerome Bettis 92.8 4.1 46.1
Eric Dickerson 125.7 4.9 29.9
Tony Dorsett 105.1 5.1 33.6
Jim Brown 131.0 5.8 21.6
If I use 1957-61, I get 121.1 5.4 22.1

That makes it a little less obvious as to who is the best but I think it’s interesting that it almost doesn’t matter which 5 years you choose for Jim, the result is the same. That would not have been true of the others. I decided to look at one more thing:

# of seasons averaging 100 yards rushing per game
Emmitt Smith 3
Walter Payton 3
Frank Gore 1
Barry Sanders 4
Adrian Peterson 2
Curtis Martin 1
LaDainian Tomlinson 3
Jerome Bettis 1
Eric Dickerson 6
Tony Dorsett 1
Jim Brown 7

The GOAT is still the GOAT.

 

[goofnoff]

Thanks for doing all that work.

 

[upperdeck]

i wonder how much the avg number of plays has changed over the years. would he have had more carries/yards or less in this new style. you would think with more teams passing his running might even be harder to stop as teams play more guys used to defending the pass.

 

[goofnoff]

i wonder how much the avg number of plays has changed over the years. would he have had more carries/yards or less in this new style. you would think with more teams passing his running might even be harder to stop as teams play more guys used to defending the pass.

Teams stacked against Brown because the Browns QB, Milt Plum, couldn't pass worth a damn.

 

[SWC75]

What I would like to know is how many yards would Jim Brown have gained running on these modern surfaces instead of the fields of the 50's and 60's, where the grass sometimes seemed painted on.

 

[Arangeman]

Interesting. Don’t know if stats really tell us who is the greatest. I’ll always say Jim Brown. The next closest to me as far as being breathtakingly dominant is Dickerson.

 

[goofnoff]

Interesting. Don’t know if stats really tell us who is the greatest. I’ll always say Jim Brown. The next closest to me as far as being breathtakingly dominant is Dickerson.

Do you think he was better than Bo Jackson. Bo would be my second pick.

 

[Newhouser]

Earl Campbell was the most dominant RB I have ever seen.

 

[chugg21]

Jim and Barry are the 2. Barry being my favorite player of all time since I'm a 90s kid.

 

[goofnoff]

What I would like to know is how many yards would Jim Brown have gained running on these modern surfaces instead of the fields of the 50's and 60's, where the grass sometimes seemed painted on.

Trying to compare athletes between eras is in my mind a fool's game. When Brown played he was as big or bigger than most of the linebackers. Most safetys today are as big as the LB's back then. Sam Hough had a reputation as a "Brown stopper" and he played at 220 tops and certainly had nowhere near Brown's speed.

I think Brown was the most physically dominating athlete in the NFL during his era. He was the blueprint for modern footballers. He could certainly have played in this era but he wouldn't be nearly as dominant.

 

[SWC75]

Trying to compare athletes between eras is in my mind a fool's game. When Brown played he was as big or bigger than most of the linebackers. Most safetys today are as big as the LB's back then. Sam Hough had a reputation as a "Brown stopper" and he played at 220 tops and certainly had nowhere near Brown's speed.

I think Brown was the most physically dominating athlete in the NFL during his era. He was the blueprint for modern footballers. He could certainly have played in this era but he wouldn't be nearly as dominant.