Jerry Rice/Rod Smith

[bigunreal]

It is interesting to observe the difference between how Rod Smith
handled Jerry Rice's arrival in Denver, and the resulting questions
about whether he would give up his #80, and the way this same situation
was handled last season when Rice went to Seattle. HOF WR Steve Largent
predictably rolled over and let Rice wear his supposedly "retired"
jersey number, but Rod Smith has a different attitude. Smith has been
quoted, in all his staggering ignorance, that "this is the west
Rockies," and thus the #80 belongs to him in Denver. Black commentators
on the NFL Network agreed with Smith, saying they wouldn't give up that
number for less than "6 figures." I wonder how much money Steve Largent
asked for? I also wonder what the attitude of the media would have been
if he refused to give up #80 to Rice.

 

[Guest]

Theirs a certain respect that the "best reciever of all time " deserves. I thinkthis is ridiculous of Rod Smart not to get rid of his jersey but who really cares afterall Jerry Rice should retire and let some young Bronco recievers get some reps. Im sure they say you need veterans like Jerry Rice on your team which i agree, but their comes to a point where its time to hang it up. He said before he expecially likes helping young recievers on his team, well i think he can do that better by being a coach instead of taking reps away from younger players.

 

[White Shogun]

whiteout77, I'm not sure if you wrote Rod SMART on purpose or if it was
some kind of mental typo. Rod SMITH plays for the Denver Broncos; I'm
not sure whether Rod "He Hate Me" Smart is still employed in the NFL.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Another example of the double standard I've mentioned on here before.

 

[Don Wassall]

Nate Jackson, Denver's white WR with the black-sounding name, is reportedly taking reps at the tight end postion after "gaining weight" in the off season. I doubt the weight gain is because Jackson all of a sudden decided to splurge on pizzas and milk shakes. Sounds like yet another case of a talented white wideout being forced out of a "black" position. Jackson is 6'3" and weighed 223 pounds last season. This is part of the fallout from the Broncos signing a long-ago washed-up Jerry Rice.

 

[White Shogun]

Another problem with moving white WR to TE is there is usually only ONE TE on a team who runs routes and can catch the ball, whereas there are plenty of 3 and 4 WR sets in NFL formations these days.

The white player who can catch the ball thus has less opportunity to make the team (fewer TE than WR overall,) and less opportunity to get on the field and make some plays (less plays for TE than WR overall.)

The white player thus has less opportunities, period.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Good point White Shogun. I never thought of it like that before.

 

[CountryBoy]

I hope Rice pulls out a descent season. My personal opinion is that they just signed him to be a coach more then letting him have a lot of playing time...

 

[Ta Waki Mumba]

Then of course our poor whiteathlete is now sudden too fat and slow to play WR should they fail at their attempt to convert to TE. Oh welloff to the Arena League, *****.

 

[Don Wassall]

Jerry Rice is finally retiring. Notice how he was rarely bugged by the media to quit, ala Favre and Clemens, even though his ability and production had dropped dramatically? If he was white and hanging on for years while playing poorly he would have been a media joke.

At any rate, what strikes me from this article is that Rice had 4.7 speed, which "dropped him down in the draft." But he was still the 16th pick of the first round in '85 out of a small school. 4.7 speed totally eliminates any white receiver from not only being drafted but being signed as a free agent. Realistically, so does 4.6 speed.

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayto n_john&id=2152424[/url]Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[StaleyWasScrewd]

At any rate, what strikes me from this article is that Rice had 4.7 speed, which "dropped him down in the draft." But he was still the 16th pick of the first round in '85 out of a small school. 4.7 speed totally eliminates any white receiver from not only being drafted but being signed as a free agent. Realistically, so does 4.6 speed.

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayto n_john&id=2152424[/url]

You know what I wonder? Just how many white WR and RB prospects over the past 20 years have been faster than Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, generally considered to be the best at their respective positions over that period. My guess is hundreds. And yet, we're told that whites "just don't have the speed" to be successful at those positions.

 

[White Shogun]

Jerry Rice is the best WR to ever play the game.

Right?

Nevertheless, I wonder sometimes how good he would have been had he been catching balls thrown by someone other than Joe Montana and Steve Young, two of the best QB of all time.

Who made whom better? Were those guys great quarterbacks because they had Jerry Rice on their team, or was Jerry Rice better because these guys were throwing him the ball?

After all, they say Jerry Rice's best attribute was his ability to run precise routes. He wasn't the fastest or the biggest, he was just at the right place at the right time and didn't drop very many balls.

If another receiver had played his position and been the number one WR on the 49ers, would they have been as great?

If another running back had run behind the Dallas Cowboys offensive line, would they have been the all-time leading rusher instead of Emmitt Smith?

What do you think?

 

[Don Wassall]

I'd say Rice and his QBs were both very fortunate to have each other. I was watching some sports talking head yesterday, don't know his name but the other talking head was Woody Paige who seems to be on 98% of such shows these days, and this guy was going on and on about how Rice didn't have an exciting highlight reel because he never had to reach for the ball because he was always in the right place in his route. That may well be true, but think of the talent that Joe Montana and Steve Young possessed to throw the ball perfectly so many times in the face of a fierce pass rush.

Rice's talent and endurance enabled him to slaughter the previous career receiving marks, so I think he is the best receiver ever. But we also know that Rice's career began just as that of Steve Largent was ending, or when white receivers were methodically engineered out of I-A college and the NFL.

 

[GWTJ]

I agree with Don that the QB's and Rice helped each other acheive greatness. But the real credit to their success has to go to Bill Walsh. He invented an offensive system that took NFL defenses more than a decade to figure out. I have him in the top 2 or 3 coaches of all time in the NFL. The 49ers rode his system even after he was gone. Then they brought him back as a consultant.


As for Emmitt Smith, he is the most overrated NFL running back ever. He spent his prime running though holes you could drive the starship Enterprise through. The recipient of one of the greatest offensive lines ever in the NFL.

 

[Kaptain]

GWTJ, I completely disagree with the emmitt Smith comment. Emmitt was a rare small power Running back and his offensive line was over-rated. When Emmitt wasn't in the game the rushing game suffered. After years of injury he slowed down and the cowboys sucked. They never have found a RB to run successfully behind that over-rated line in Dallas.

 

[SteveB]

I think that both of these guys succeeded because of two factors: system and durability. Both guys played in a system where they touched the ball alot and had talented teammates. Also, both played a ton of games which speaks alot to their offseason preparation.

 

[bigunreal]

I think that QBs and especially RBs tend to receive too much credit and
too much blame. Great offensive lines can make run-of-the-mill QBs
(Starr, Griese, Bradshaw, Aikman, not to mention even less talented
guys who quarterbacked a Super Bowl winner, such as Doug Williams, Mark
Rypien, Phil Simms, Brad Johnson, Jim McMahon and Jeff Hostetler) look
great. They can also make run-of-the-mill RBs look great (Franco
Harris, Emmitt Smith, Neal Anderson, Rodney Hampton, Ricky Watters,
Stephen Davis, Joe Morris, Icky Woods, Willie Ellison, Lawrence
McCutcheon, Chuck Foreman, Jim Otis, Terry Metcalf, Leroy Kelly,
Terrell Davis and countless other Denver backs in recent years, and
Priest Holmes, who was a THIRD string RB with the Ravens when Errict
Rhett was the starter and whose gaudy stats were matched exactly by
backups Derrick Blaylock and Larry Johnson). Not to mention the
legendary Timmy Smith, who still holds the Super Bowl rushing record,
but never did anything else as a scub with the Redskins. It was hard
not to get a lot of yards running through those holes the Hogs opened
up. Anyhow, imho, the only QBs I've ever seen who produced big numbers
without a great offensive line were Sonny Jurgensen, Fran Tarkenton
(and he had a great one during his second stint with the Vikings) and
Steve Young (during most of the time he started, the 49ers had
the worst offensive line in the league). The only great RBs I've ever
seen who produced big numbers without a great line were Gale Sayers,
Walter Payton (and he had a great one during the last part of his
career), Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin (the most underrated RB of all
time, imho, and he has never had a great offensive line, although the
current Jets line is pretty darn good).



I know that all the lame, wanna-be comedians in the media like to
credit QBs with "winning" Super Bowls, but no one player has ever won
anything. Great teams win, and they almost always have a dominant
offensive line.

 

[GWTJ]

I knowmy Emmitt Smith comment will be criticized, but I saw Tony Dorsett in his prime and it is no contest. Emmitt on a weaker team would be a nobody right now. He's no Payton, he's no Sanders. As for the Cowboys not being able to win when he held out, that was his brutha's helping him out against management. They had no problem giving less than 100% when he held out. IMHO.

 

[Kaptain]

What happened to Erik William and the other fat guy (newton?) after emmitt fizzled? The answer is that they gave Troy Aikman several concussions and a job as a football announcer. These guys were terrible and given too much credit when emmitt was in his prime. Since the extinction of the white RB in the late 80's, there was a huge void to be filled by power backs that got positive yards and moved the chains. Emmitt was just the best at doing this in his time. I'm not a huge Emmitt fan but he did do what running backs used to do in football - move chains and win championships. During this time period no one else did - it was the day and age of the scat-back and still is.

 

[Colonel Callan]

I don't think Rice's stats necessarily make him the "best ever", although I
do credit him with high durability and the drive to keep himself locked
into a workout regimen that allowed him to play for so long. I do wonder
if it was his "love of the game" or competitive nature that kept him trying
for so long. Or if it was just a case of not being able to step out of the
limelight. Then again, I hope he isn't one of the many black athletes who
try to hang on forever because they've blown their money {at massage
parlors for example ; ) }. Having Montana and Young pulling the trigger
padded Rice's career stats, there's no doubt about it, never mind Walsh
tailoring things just right.

GWTJ in my opinion in correct in his take on Emmitt Smith. I always felt
he was overrated and lucky through his career, nothing close to Sanders. I
also like Bigunreal's view on QB's and RB's - although IMHO I think
Aikman was far better than a run-of-the-mill QB. He's correct in saying
it's great teams that generally win in the end, offensive lines overlooked
much of the time (we all know why).

Don's info on Rice's sluggish 40 is interesting, and shows how far
backwards the gatekeepers will bend to let a black with "potential" in the
game. No white player running 4.6 or 4.7 would even be looked at.
Amazing.