Top 10 NFL Players of the Last 30 Years
This list was inspired by the comments on a popular sports blog. I was reading through the comments and was amazed at how old I am in comparison to other commenters out there. Not ridiculously older, but old enough to see some players that could play right now and still dominate…players that these kids never had the opportunity to see dominate. I couldn’t believe that only one person mentioned a certain outside linebacker, and that isn’t homersim talking when I say that. I know some of the older fellers here can vouch for me at his awesomeness. He doesn’t land at my number 1 spot, but gets close.
I based my placement on the following criteria: overall performance, consistency, and players I actually saw. Pretty easy right? Now, there were guys I saw play that had unbelievable seasons, but didn’t play at a high level long enough to make this list. For example: Eric Dickerson started out like gangbusters, but then just kinda died out.
10. Tom Brady - Watching Brady over the last few years, I have come to hate and appreciate him so much more. Prior to his knee injury last year, it seemed like Tom always had that look in his eye under center that he knew exactly what was coming and he knew he was going to mess you up. His offensive line has been overrated most of his career, and it has been his shrewdness and savvy play that has made him one of the best QBs of all-time. Brady put up big numbers as a QB before he ever had an All-Pro wide receiver, and always without a dominant running game. Brady set the tempo for the entire Patriots offense during the 2000’s, and is one QB that has more to do with his team winning Super Bowls than any other.
9. Derrick Thomas – DT…his initials sound like someone else, but he wasn’t that good. But, Sargent D was still one heck of a player. He was the best pure pass rushing LB of the 90s. This is a guy who not only had 7 sacks in one game, but then had 6 sacks in another. In only his second year in the league, he amassed 20 sacks, on his way to the first of back-to-back All-Pro selections. The only thing that keeps Thomas further down our list, is that he was not the greatest against the run. Run right at him, and you had a shot. Unfortunately, Thomas’ career and life ended prematurely.
8. Reggie White – The Minister of Defense. Besides eating qb’s for his entire career, there are three things I remember about Reggie: 1) being on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids in a Terminator kinda fashion, 2) being the first really huuuuuge FA signing after the NFL finally dumped that stupid Plan B program, and 3) dominating the Patriots offensive line in the Super Bowl and driving Drew Bledsoe into the turf in New Orleans. White was not a product of just playing on great defenses, which he had in Philadelphia. White terrorized backfields even when he made the change to the Packers. He did not have Clyde Simmons on the other side of the line for him, yet he still tallied high sacks totals in each of his advanced years in Green Bay. He retired the all-time leader in sacks, until Bruce Smith hung around for a couple years in order to pass him.
7. John Elway – I still haven’t seen a player with a stronger arm than John Elway. You know how they tell you a QB should never throw back across the field? This did not apply to Elway. Even before John finally won his 2 Super Bowls with the Broncos to end his career, I thought he was the best QB of his generation. He constantly took less talented offenses to the playoffs during his career. Granted, he was obliterated in his first 3 appearances in the Super Bowl, but you can’t put that solely on Elway. It took years to get him decent role players and a solid (well, more than solid) running game to help him out. Elway had 42 games in his career that he either threw for 300 yards, threw 4 TDs’, or did both. His 4th quarter comebacks were things of legends. I love John Elway…even if he is a horse that may or may not like other male horses.
6. Deion Sanders – PrimeTime Baby! No better cover corner in the game. Who cares that he couldn’t tackle. He was the most athletic player on the field, and he dominated his position better than anyone. He didn’t just intercept the ball on defense, he was a TD threat on defense. He accumulated 303 yards in one season on 7 INTs, 3 of which were returned for a TD. Not only was Deion electric on defense, but as a return man as well. Sanders returned 6 punts/kickoffs for TDs in his career. He also played a little bit on offense, scoring an additional 3 times. Deion’s speed was that of legends. Hell, he was even putting up these numbers while still playing baseball for the Yankees, Braves, and Reds.
5. Peyton Manning – One of the more difficult things to do in football, at least on the offensive end, is to judge a player by their offensive statistics. Peyton Manning is one of those guys who is the main reason why his stats are as good as they are. It hasn’t been so much the system he was in, as it is that he is just so good at playing QB. Peyton Manning reads defenses better than anybody else has ever done. He essentially is the best playcaller in the entire NFL, and he doesn’t have a huge laminated card in front of him before he snaps the ball. His numbers have been astronomical through this 11 years in the league. Are his passes the prettiest? Not at all. But they get where they are supposed to. He is more responsible for Marvin Harrison’s career than Harrison was to his. You think Dallas Clark would matter on any other team? When Edgerin James left, he became an even better QB. Brett Favre has set just about every passing record, but Manning is going to destroy them. But, the one he won’t catch is the all-time interceptions record. Manning is arguably the best QB of all-time already.
4. Randy Moss – FRRRRRRRRRREAK. Guys as tall as Moss and as fast as Moss are running in the Olympics, not catching TDs. But where is Jerry Rice? Jerry who? Yeah, he was a great player, but he was not as good as Randy Moss was, and Moss is still damn good. Hell, if Moss cared as much as Rice, this wouldn’t even be a question. However, Moss’ lack of interest at times, and his off-the-field attitude influences peoples’ characterizations. Like Rice, Moss played huge at a smaller school in college. However, Moss was not blessed by coming into the league and joining an offense that had already established itself as the best in the NFL. Moss joined an offense and made it the best in the NFL in just his rookie year. He would continue to put up big numbers, year-after-year and took a short sabbatical in Oakland, but that is what happens when all go to Oakland now. He then returned to All-Pro form with the Patriots, and has helped them become the best offense in NFL history. Hmmmm, Moss was on the two best offenses ever and they were completely different offenses as well. Personally, he set a rookie record with one, and an all-time record with the other…Yeah, Moss > Rice.
3. Walter Payton – “Well, they call me Sweetness, and I like to dance. Runnin’ the ball is like makin’ romance.” And, with Walter Payton, nothing more could be true. No back, and I mean no back, has ever had the combination of speed and power that Payton did. He could run by you, run over you, run through you, and, he could jump over you. When you see guys jumping over the pile at the goal line, that’s them trying to be Sweetness. You have to remember something, the Bears couldn’t throw the ball forever when Payton was playing there, and he still put up huge numbers. He was the all-time leading rusher when he retired. Emmitt Smith – the guy who broke Payton’s record – just happened to have the greatest offensive line in history, Michael Irvin at wide receiver and Jay Novacek at TE. Payton? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The biggest shame in NFL history is Ditka letting the Fridge get the carry for a rushing TD in the Super Bowl and not Walter Payton. I feel blessed to have been able to see a few years of this guy before he retired. You kids who didn’t really missed out.
2. Lawrence Taylor – “Let’s Go out like a bunch of crazed dogs and have us some fun.” Big? Check. Fast? Check. Instinctual? Check. Mean streak? Check. Crazy? Check. Changed how offenses protect the quarterback? Check. Have you ever wondered when the OT’s started standing up with their outside foot slightly back? That was because of LT. No OLB ever rushed the edge like he did. Hell, Joe Gibbs had won 2 Super Bowls already, and changed the way the Redskins played simply because of Lawrence Taylor. He started using a two TE system or using an H-back to try and slow LT down. Joe Theisman wishes Gibbs had thought of that earlier. You ever watch how defensive players chop down on the ball as they are making a tackle or sack? Yeah, that’s something that Taylor brought to the game. Nobody was more menacing than LT on the outside. His speed was unheard of for an OLB. He could track down running backs from behind when they ran the other way, which they did a lot, because nobody dared to run at LT. When the Giants won their first Super Bowl, he was the first defensive player to win the league MVP since Alan Page, collecting 20.5 sacks. Nobody, not even Derrick Thomas, has come close to duplicating the awesomeness of Lawrence Taylor at linebacker, or on defense in general.
1. Barry Sanders – The only person that was truly not impressed by Barry Sanders was his father, who to this day says that Jim Brown was better than Barry. I don’t believe him; I think it was a motivational tool for the very reserved and classy Sanders. Stuck playing for the Detroit Lions, never really having a fullback, never having a decent offensive line, being paired with QBs such as Eric Hipple, Rodney Peete, Bob Gagliano, Andre Ware, Erik Kramer, Scott Mitchell, Dave Kreig, and Charlie Batch, and still retiring only about 1500 yards short of the NFL rushing record in 3 fewer seasons than Walter Payton is just straight up ridiculous. The year that Barry Sanders rushed for 2053 yards, he only had 53 yards after the first 2 games. It really is silly to listen to Dallas or Buffalo fans try to argue that Emmitt Smith or Thurman Thomas were better players, they are the only ones that argue this. Seriously, just watch the highlights:
Next 10: Jerry Rice, Mike Singleterry, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Eric Dickerson, Dan Marino, Rod Woodson, Howie Long, Tony Dorsett
If you don’t like my Top 10, give me a solution. You will be wrong, but go ahead and try anyway.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Uh…Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen?
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Rod Woodson was better than Deion Sanders.
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I must agree with Barry Sanders though.
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Fred Biletnikoff was better than Randy Moss.
/stick ‘em’d
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uh…no. they didn’t meet the requirements.
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Needs more Favre.
/John Madden’d
//Peter King’d
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hahahahahahahahahahaha…wait…
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
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Why isn’t
ChrisJim Everett on this list?/Jim Rome is outrage’d
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Emmitt Smith?
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I think primetime was overrated, he played for interceptions too much instead of being a lockdown corner.
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and he let Krieg slip through his fingers on #8 and throw the winning TD if memory serves me correctly.
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I’d take off Thomas and Elway and add Montana and Rice.
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you mean his offensive line?
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Moss has NO NO NO reason to be on this list…vastly talented. But far from the best 10…Mr. Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin are well above him
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The Broncos didn’t really win any super bowls since they cheated the cap. Fuck John Elway.
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or the fumble record that Favre is closing in on
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I hate the Cowboys too, but he deserves to be put in the honorable mention group.
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Michael Irvin? Come on that’s just ridiculous talk.
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Trey- you just lost all credibility with the Irvin talk.
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Will eventually need more Adrian Peterson.
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I’d put Rice ahead of Moss but no one else. Moss is just ridiculous.
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Thank you for showing LT the respect he deserves, but leaving Jerry Rice out of the top 10 is criminal.
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probably, but we have seen running backs fall of a cliff in year 5 or after.
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How? Irvin was arguably One of the best receivers in the game in the 90s his stats weren’t out of this world but that was because he had the All time leading rusher on his team.
Give Irvin a Randy Moss or Jerry Rice type situation and less concussions he would have throw some serious numbers ups
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randy moss is the reason for his situations.
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Really? You think Daunte Culpepper made Randy Moss? I am incredulous.
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I can fuck with your list except for Randy Moss. I don’t understand how he is on the list and Jerry Rice isn’t.
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If Irvin was double (and sometimes triple) teamed as often as Moss is/was, he wouldn’t have nearly the numbers he ended up with.
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Kinda like Randy Moss made Andrew Walter? Or Mark Tuiosopo? The guy quit several times in his career…Rice and Irvin never did.
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Reggie White and company held Barry to -1 yards in the 1994 playoffs. Advantage Reggie, still can’t argue with Barry at the top though.
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I have heard debates as to if Ray Lewis is a top 3 defender of all time. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I’d say he belongs on this list.
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Ray is great, but not as great as the defensive players mentioned.
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now that’s funny
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Moss is the interloper on this list without a doubt. Highly skilled sometimes loafer. More Rice please.
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needs more Geoff Jorge
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I think sparty was looking ahead to number 2 and lost a little focus with 3 through 10.
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ray murda doesn’t sniff this list.
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maybe when he’s holding a knife.
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so wait, you disagree with Payton? you have lost your mind if you do.
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and show me QB better than Peyton Manning, ever. you can’t, because there is none.
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Shane Falco
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1) Didn’t say I disagree with Payton
2) Mind is still lost
3) Being older and having seen more players than you young’ns, don’t think this list is representative of the body of work this geezer has seen.
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but this is a list of the last 30 years.
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knightro thinks John Hadl should be #1.
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Needs more Crazy Legs Hirsch.
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I
standstoop corrected(Quote)
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Sonny Jergensen
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too many comments to catch up on, but no jerry rice?
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sparty – I told you people would have a problem with your exclusion of Rice.
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moss is a one trick pony, but his one trick is almost impossible to duplicate. there has never been a better deep ball WR than moss.
who cares if he can’t block, can’t run short routes, etc? deion didn’t tackle, but did that matter? no because nothing was going that way anyways. same with moss…why bother keeping your ferrari under 100? it’d be a waste.
moss is the best WR in the past 20 years, and i’d take him over jerry rice.
but still, rice needs to be on here. derrick thomas does not.
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rice rice baby! he’s my number 11. oh well.
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Rice > Moss, Top 10 players don’t quit on teams.
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ugh…that has nothing to do with it.Moss is better.
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Jordan quit on the Bulls twice. He’s not a top 10 basketball player.
/cbh49er
//reaching
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Uh yes it does. How is he better? Who would you rather want on your team? A petulant Randy Moss who whines when he doesn’t get his way, or the hardest worker in the history of the league, Jerry Rice, oh, who by the way was also the most productive.
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Joe Montana is in the Top 10 too. I guess you aren’t old enough to remember just how good Rice and Montana were.
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And the excuse oh everyone goes to die in Oakland is ridiculous. Top 10 players in my estimation rise above any of that. Andre Johnson has been a top WR for a crap Houston team for years. Rice was still a viable player into his late 30s. I will be shocked if Moss is.
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sparty never saw Montana and Rice play.
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i’m old enough to remember watching live, rice fumbling with no one touching him in giants stadium. are you?
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He didn’t? What is he 15?
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Oh Rice fumbled, no more Top 10.
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Rice needs to be on the list, he was the key skill player to that offense. And I’d put him over Moss due to consistancy.
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my point is that i saw plenty of them. Moss is better than Rice. I’m a Yankee fan, but I am taking Ted Williams before any other player, ever. Including Ruth.
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hmmm, they seemed to win 2 super bowls in that offense without him.
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Good idea though, certainly creates discussion, distracted me from the work I should be doing.
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Thanksgivings without Barry makes me sad
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gimme bonds.
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you can have the clap.
/wait,what?
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hardly…i’ll just take the best hitter of all time on my team, thank you very much.
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True, but that offense became stupid good once he got there. And we can play that game with Moss too, they won 3 before he got there, 0 since.
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If you want to talk about players who you have to game plan against, and can completely change how the other team plays because of them, then this list is pretty dang accurate.
Rice was great, but he didn’t dramatically alter game plans – they just accounted for him on every play. Moss required changing your game plan to make sure you have a minimum of 2 guys on him, and then he can still beat you.
No question that Barry Sanders is #1 and LT #2 though. They completely changed the opponents game plan every week. And you Emmitt fans, when did a opposing D coordinator ever had such fear of Emmitt that they would drop 9 in the box to try to take him away…
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I would go Rice over Moss and Montana over Brady and Elway
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i think this just proved how right i am.
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Moss is stupid good. Only player with 3 seasons where he had more TDs than team games played. (23,17,17). He holds the rookie record for receiving TDs (17) in a season and the record for receiving TDs (23) in a season.
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and Jerry Rice pretty much holds every other receiving record their is.
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OK… a few problems..Derrick Thomas belongs nowhere..NOWHERE near the Top 10. Walter Payton, I’m sorry to say is not a Top 10 player. Emmitt Smith was better in his prime and he is not Top 10 either. Reggie White is not the 8th best he is in the top 5. Barry Sanders is not the best but he and LT are so close, I’ll give it to you. Montana and Rice are missing. So is Rod Woodson, who you laugh at BUT was a great corner AND Safety. My list
1. LT
2. Sanders.
3. Reggie White
4. Rice
5. Elway
6. Deion
7. Moss
8. Montana
9. Rod Woodson
10. Peyton
Brady is close but he didn’t become a dominant force until late 2005.
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AYFKM?
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No..he was a fucking snow plow… He was great but he was not a dynamic anything…he ran for a lot of yards and was the Bears offense during the late 70’s early 80’s but he wasn’t better than Emmitt or Thurman Thomas
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Hi, Emmitt, here is the greastest offensive line ever assembled. and just to keep defenses honest, we have jay novacek and michael irvin. don’t worry about being in a singleback formation, we also have one of the best blocking fullbacks in history to give you a hand. have at it.
Walter, we have nobody to line up on the outside, go over the middle, or hell, we don’t even have a qb to make those passes. run the ball 25-30 times a game for us. the o-line isn’t horrible, but you should be okay on your own.
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He also did this outside of some of your 30 year window. He is not a game changing innovator like most of the guys on that list are. Sorry. Not Top 10.
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you didn’t refute what i said about emmitt.
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Walter also played for the Mid-80’s Bears who had a monster line. Fuck..most of the great running backs of All-time did. I think Emmitt was better. I also don’t think Emmitt is Top 10. But your idea that is it was Walter with no help is wrong. He played behind some major offensive lines as well. Barry Sanders was told to do what you say Walter had to do.
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I think that’s actually RomanWarHelmet trying to throw us off by using an alias.
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I agree with Sparty, Emmitt was a product of the system he was in and Peyton was definitely better
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barry actually did have a horrible offensive line.
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I agree.
/Agreeing with myself and then Sparty and then myself
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Brady should be numbers 1-9 and then Wes Welkah.
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Anyone who doesn’t include Joe Montana and Jerry Rice into their list of top 20 greatest NFL players, did not see them play in all 4/5 of their Superbowls. these guys were hands down the best when it counted. Perhaps this list should be titled “Most Popular NFL Players in the Past 30 Years”
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Anyone who doesn’t include Joe Montana and Jerry Rice into their list of top 10 greatest NFL players, did not see them play in all 4/5 of their Superbowls. these guys were hands down the best when it counted. Perhaps this list should be titled “Most Popular NFL Players in the Past 30 Years”
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if that was the case, they would both be top 3.
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