The Other "Greatest of All Time"

[savvyman]

Man I am going to miss Lynch so much - In that great NFC championship victory over the Packers - his performance was overshadowed by the final catch by Kearse. However, all game long and especially in the 3rd quarter, it was Marshawn generating yards by sheer will and determination.

There are many football experts on this board and I will ask of them the question - What other running back in NFL history ran with more Toughness, Desire and Grit than Marshawn Lynch?


http://www.seahawks.com/video/2015/01/18/nfc-championship-marshawn-lynch-highlights#

[RiverDog]

Man I am going to miss Lynch so much - In that great NFC championship victory over the Packers - his performance was overshadowed by the final catch by Kearse. However, all game long and especially in the 3rd quarter, it was Marshawn generating yards by sheer will and determination.

There are many football experts on this board and I will ask of them the question - What other running back in NFL history ran with more Toughness, Desire and Grit than Marshawn Lynch?


http://www.seahawks.com/video/2015/01/18/nfc-championship-marshawn-lynch-highlights#

I can think of a few that if not equal, were pretty darn close, like Earl Campbell and Larry Czonka. Zonk was the only player to have ever been called for an unnecessary roughness penalty as he was in stride carrying the ball.

http://cover32.com/2015/06/18/throwback ... -a-tackle/

[c_hawkbob]

What other running back in NFL history ran with more Toughness, Desire and Grit than Marshawn Lynch?

There is no "more", but I can think of a few that qualified for "as much as". Before Beast Zonk was my favorite, but Earl, Riggins, Alstot, Okoye, Jim Freakin' Brown ... there were a few that laid everything they had on the line every time they carried the ball

[RiverDog]

There is no "more", but I can think of a few that qualified for "as much as". Before Beast Zonk was my favorite, but Earl, Riggins, Alstot, Okoye, Jim Freakin' Brown ... there were a few that laid everything they had on the line every time they carried the ball

Jim Brown was the best running back ever, hands down. Best combination of speed, elusiveness, and power. I was really young when he played so my judgment is biased, but nevertheless, I'll stand by that statement until I die.

[c_hawkbob]

Jim Brown was the best running back ever, hands down. Best combination of speed, elusiveness, and power. I was really young when he played so my judgment is biased, but nevertheless, I'll stand by that statement until I die.

No argument here, Brown is what you get if you were to combine combine Lynch and Alexander, the best of everything.

[savvyman]

Yep agree with Comments here.

Happy to say that Jim Brown is before my time. I remember Earl Campbell and he might be the ultimate measuring stick for comparing anyone as a tough runner.

We were so lucky to have Marshawn with us for the time we did.

[Vegaseahawk]

Guys who played before my time, but who I remember my dad raving about:
Bronko Nagurski
Jim Taylor
Marion Motley

[NorthHawk]

I think you can add Walter Payton to the list of great RBs that ran with toughness.
I would put him #2 to Jim Brown as the best ever.
Lynch is still in pretty rarefied air, though as I think his impact on a team was more than just the tough runs.
A top 5 consideration in my opinion relative to the parameters of the OP.

[Hawk Sista]

YES! Beast Mode was so fun to watch. Big shoes to fill there........while there are capable guys on the roster, there simply is no substitute for Beast Mode. Thank you #24... you will be missed.

[RiverDog]

Payton was a different type of running back. Yes, he did run with toughness, but he didn't bowl people over like some of the RB's being discussed in this thread, ie Czonka, Campbell, Beast. He would have if he was bigger as he ran with conviction.

I can remember Jim Brown being pissed off at Franco Harris when Harris was approaching Brown's NFL rushing yards record, saying that he didn't like the fact that Harris was "running out of bounds to break my record.". He added that Walter Payton was "legit" and wouldn't mind if he broke his record.

[NorthHawk]

Payton regularly ran over, through, and around Defensive players.
Lynch is more like him than he is like Campbell, Brown, or Czonka.

[Seahawks4Ever]

"I will give the defender my knee, and then I will drive it through his chest"- Jim Taylor

[RiverDog]

Payton regularly ran over, through, and around Defensive players.
Lynch is more like him than he is like Campbell, Brown, or Czonka.

Payton was a tough runner, and stuck his helmet into the chests of many a defender, could get that extra yard when he needed it, and IMO was a better all around RB than either Beast, Campbell, or Czonka. But he didn't drag piles of defenders for 5-10 yards like the other 3 could. That wasn't what made him great. IMO Payton was more like Jim Brown than he was the other three, which is probably why Brown liked his running style vs some of Payton's contemporaries.

[HumanCockroach]

Always viewed Brown as more similar to Dickerson. Huge, strong but with the ability to avoid and run away from defender's. Never saw Beast Mode as that. Simply wasn't exceptionally fast. Not a knock on him, his balance, vision and toughness more than made up for his lack of top end speed... I think the Campbell comparison is the closest I've seen.

[NorthHawk]

I think Payton and Lynch are closer comparisons than the others listed above.
Campbell was the same height as Lynch but listed as 245lbs, and Czonka was 6-3, 235, and Riggins about the same.
Although Campbell had some moves for a big guy and could really get up to speed both of which separated him from others, his success over time was largely dependent on his size and bullish type of running style.

If you were to compare Lynch and Payton, you would find a lot of similarities.

Around the same size (Payton 5-10, 200lbs Lynch 5-11, 210lbs)
Both had powerful legs which allowed them to break tackles.
Both were able to move in the hole to get the extra yards and escape tackles.
Both were able to move the pile or drag players along for extra yards.
Both were able to put themselves into position to rarely get a direct hit.
Both knew how to deliver the blow instead of absorbing it.
Both ran about 4.5 40. Payton's numbers aren't official but of the sites I looked at most suggested the timing showed around 4.4 to 4.55.
Both had uncommon running styles with Payton being a little stiff legged, and Lynch with a wide base.
Both would not go down easy - there were no easy tackles with either player.

Payton, in my mind was more explosive which allowed him to jump over the LoS at the goal line and exploit a hole in the DL quicker and gain more yards.
As said above, I see a lot of similarities between the two, but in the end it's just my opinion.

[Hawktawk]

Lynch is in the conversation for greatest power back of all time. He is underrated for his elusiveness in close quarters and he was an excellent pass receiver as well.
Walter Payton .Campbell, Riggins, those were guys all cut from the same mold as Lynch in terms of being die hard runners with underrated athleticism.

Two areas where Walter P was far superior to all of them however was that Payton threw numerous TD passes on trick plays. And as a blocker my lord WP would stone guys 75 lbs heavier than himself.

One travesty of the Ditka era was that he gave the ball to the fridge on the one in a blowout SB rather than allow the heartbeat of the Bears offense for a decade to have his moment.

Its hard to say best ever but they were all fun to watch. And Lynch is certainly one of the best. He is HOF worthy IMO in spite of his somewhat compressed career.

[HumanCockroach]

I think it does need some acknowledgment when comparing the 4.4 Payton with the 4.5 Lynch, that at that time Payton did indeed possess top end speed, Lynch didn't. The athletes Lynch lined up across from week in and week out were vastly superior to athletes that Payton lined up across from in the 1970's and 80's ( same could be said for Brown in the 50's Czonk in the 70's, The Diesel in the 80's etc) some of those greats far outweighed, and were faster, stronger and explosive than 99% of the guys selected to stop them.

I'm certainly not saying that that makes their greatness less, just pointing out that defender's have come a long way, with the speed, power and size to match up and hinder offensive players success.

Difficult to compare players from different eras properly really, but IMHO the closest I can come up with would be Campbell ( don't put a lot of stock in physical similarities when discussing running styles)...

Honestly, feel like Lynch was a good blend of numerous backs listed, and ultimately it was the toughness he brought that separated him from other really good backs.

[savvyman]

Lynch is in the conversation for greatest power back of all time. He is underrated for his elusiveness in close quarters and he was an excellent pass receiver as well.
Walter Payton .Campbell, Riggins, those were guys all cut from the same mold as Lynch in terms of being die hard runners with underrated athleticism.

And Lynch is certainly one of the best. He is HOF worthy IMO in spite of his somewhat compressed career.

See - every once in a great, great while, I can agree with you and even tell you that you're exactly right.

[RiverDog]

This turned into a really good thread. Lots of good observations, interesting to read all the comments.

[Hawktawk]

[quote="savvyman And Lynch is certainly one of the best. He is HOF worthy IMO in spite of his somewhat compressed career.[/quote]


See - every once in a great, great while, I can agree with you and even tell you that you're exactly right.[/quote]

Likewise Savvy. Other than hot button issues supporting Trump and Wilsons value to the team during the contract negotiations I don't recall banging heads all that much. Although I have a great memory, its just short

Besides, if we all agreed about everything it would be pretty boring.

[obiken]

I agree with Human Campbell, he took so many cheap shots outta bounds it was puke. They couldn't stop him.