Post by Matt Meyer “Sports Morning” Producer and host of College Football coverage on Twitter @bluto51
Sunday, October 27th, 2002. A day that I’ll always remember and hold dear. A game that I couldn’t miss.
That Sunday morning, I woke up just north of Guthrie at a small campsite that our church’s youth group visited for a weekend each fall. It was a weekend that I looked forward to each year. This year however, I’d only be there for half of the weekend. There was a game inside Texas Stadium that I had to witness in person.
The Dallas Cowboys were in the midst of their third consecutive 5-11 season. Not a playoff contender by any means, Super Bowl aspirations long gone, and frankly they were hopeless in terms of when they’d contend again. However, on this day, Emmitt Smith was 93 yards away from breaking one of the most incredible records in professional football, the all time rushing record. I had to be there.
For a terrible team playing a non rival in the Seattle Seahawks, there was more buzz in the stadium that day than I had ever experienced at a Cowboys game. Sitting about halfway up section 35 on the southwest end of the stadium, I watched Smith pass Walter Payton with an 11 yard carry running right at me, much like I watched Herschel Walker run right at me to score a TD in the first NFL game that I ever attended…Giants 30 Cowboys 13, October 1, 1989.
I’m very lucky that I have a father and had two grandfathers that set fantastic examples for me to follow, be it in life, work, in treating others, and numerous other ways. Those three men are my heroes. When it comes to athletes, Emmitt Smith was my guy. The best player on my favorite team. Definition of tough. Cowboys lost that day 17-14, and while wins and losses are what matters in sports, I had witnessed history. You can’t say that every day, let alone when it involves your favorite athlete breaking perhaps the most revered record in the NFL.
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We all have one. That one sports opinion that when you hear someone share it, you just can’t sit idly by. It gets under your skin. It ticks you off. You have to argue, or at least politely counter. For me, it’s when I hear the greatness of Emmitt Smith discounted, primarily because of two reasons. One, he had a fantastic team and a dominating offensive line in front of him. Two, he wasn’t as good as Barry Sanders. Both statements true, but neither statement should detract from how great Smith was.
Again, the toughness…playing through the separated shoulder at the Meadowlands to lead the Cowboys to the NFC East Title in the final game of the 1993 season. A terrific combination of speed, elusiveness, and the ability to break tackles. Emmitt Smith was not the most talented runner that’s played pro football. He’s not the best RB that’s ever played. But when I hear people say things like “he’d be nothing without his offensive line” or “he’s really not that good,” it’s all I can do not to tell that person that he or she doesn’t know the first thing about football. His offensive line, his FB Daryl Johnston, and all of the great players around him made it easier for him to be the great player he was and set the records that he set. That doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have had a tremendous amount of success on another team.
Secondly, tell me exactly who does compare to Barry Sanders. I’ll wait…
Because Smith and Sanders played at the same time, it’s easy to make the comparison. In my opinion, Sanders is the most electric RB that I’ve ever seen. He’s the best player that I’ve ever seen play in college, and one of the greatest players in the history of the NFL. I’d take him over Smith. However, that doesn’t mean that Smith wasn’t incredible and didn’t have amazing talent in his own right. Be careful diminishing one player’s greatness because he isn’t quite as great as another. Easy way to sound like a fool.
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Twenty years have passed since that October afternoon. An afternoon that I’ll never forget how I felt watching my favorite player in any sport break a record that many thought wouldn’t be broken, and a record that may never be broken in the future.