Whenever a debate arises about who the best running
back of all time in the NFL is, you often hear names mentioned such as
Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, and Bo Jackson, just to
name a few. One of the most overlooked players in all of this
discussion is none other than Long Island’s Jim Brown. What makes it
even worse for Brown is that his statistics are better than those of
his counterparts, which leads you to believe that off the field drama
has led to people overlooking Brown and his accomplishments.
Jim
Brown was born in Georgia, but moved to Manhasset, New York shortly
following his birth. Brown eventually attended high school at Manhasset
High School, earning thirteen varsity letters in football, baseball,
basketball, lacrosse, and track. After his high school career, he
attended Syracuse University and earned All-American status in football
and lacrosse. Not only was Brown an excellent football player in his
earlier years, but he was also an overall tremendous athlete. Brown
began his career with the Cleveland Browns rushing for 942 yards, and 9
TD’s, which earned him the Rookie of The Year honors. Brown continued
to dominate the NFL for 8 more seasons, accumulating career totals of
12,312 rushing yards, 15,459 combined total yards for a combined 126
TD’s, statistics which easily eclipsed the current records of the time.
Brown
qualified for the Pro Bowl team in every single season of his career,
nine times. Top ten statistics were only kept after the 1960 season,
which leaves Brown with six seasons to qualify for top ten numbers. He
led the NFL in rushes four of those seasons, led the NFL in rushing
yards in five seasons, led in TD’s twice and was third four other
times. He was also the leader in total yards four separate times. To
sum it up for Jim Brown, in each of the six seasons after 1960, he was
in the top four of every rushing category for every single season. Jim
Brown is the all-time leader in YPC (yards per carry) with 5.2 YPC; in
1963, he rushed for an absolutely ridiculous 6.4 yardsper carry, which
is practically unheard of in pro football. With a perfect combination
of finesse and power, Jim Brown had the ability to run past or juke his
defenders, but still had the strength to bulldoze his opponents.
The
only other running back in the NFL’s history that compares to Jim Brown
is Barry Sanders. In 35 fewer games played in his career, Jim Brown had
7 more rushing TD’s than Barry, and 10 more receiving TD’s. Jim Brown
played every single game of his career, never missing a start for the
Cleveland Browns. While Barry Sanders didn’t miss all that much time as
a RB, he did completely miss seven games of action in his career. Brown
reached the 17 TD plateau twice in his career, once in a 12 game
season, and once in a 14 game season. The closest Sanders reached to
that mark was 16 TD’s in a 16 game season. Also, in one of those 17
touchdown seasons, Jim Brown averaged 5.9 YPC, while Sanders was only
able to average 4.5 YPC, which is a half-yard lower than his career
average.
Jim Brown was able to increase his output in TD’s, as
well as sustain an incredibly high yards per carry; the same can not be
said about other rushers. Despite playing in much fewer games than his
predecessors, Brown still holds the career record for yards per carry
(5.2), and total seasons leading the NFL in all-purpose yards. (five
seasons, 1958-1961, 1964) Jim Brown from Georgia, but most notably
Manhasset, NY, set milestones that are hard to reach today, even with
the increase in number of games, as well as an increase in technology
and medicine that allows players to play longer than ever. While some
may remember him for his off the field antics, such as his centerfold
debut in Playgirl magazine, let’s not overlook the unbelievable
achievements of the greatest running back of all time, growing up right
in our own backyard.
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