When I recently asked my brother, Alfonso Coley, who was the best running back in Dallas Cowboys history, I had no idea that the question would turn into a semi-heated debate about former Cowboys stars, Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith, but that’s exactly what happened.
Now, before I go any further, let me say that my older brother, a fine writer and talented artist, is nearly as knowledgeable about professional sports as anyone I know.
Having said that, it became quite evident after about 30 seconds, that we were going to have totally different opinions on this subject. However, I think we both welcomed the other’s argument and at the very least, walked away a little more open-minded after our enthusiastic conversation.
At any rate, let me get down to the task at hand – selecting my greatest Cowboys running back of all-time.
First and foremost, while statistics are a vital part of evaluating any player’s career, I don’t think it is the one defining fact that determines a player’s greatness. I also believe that other factors weigh into a player’s career statistics, which can often give a false sense of accomplishment or failure.
Case in point, by looking at Edgerrin James’ statistics for his first season with the Arizona Cardinals, you would get the impression that he is an average back at best. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I mean, the man was an all-pro type of performer just last season with the Indianapolis Colts.
Is it possible that James is having a horrific season in Arizona because of the talent – or should I say lack of talent – that is clearly lacking and hindering his on-field performances?
I would suspect so.
Let’s take a look at each player’s career statistics before I get into the intangibles that each brought to the table.
Tony Dorsett
Born on April 7, 1954, Dorsett was clearly a special player throughout his entire playing career. Blessed with amazing speed and elusiveness, Dorsett was a threat to “take it to the house” every time he touched the ball.
He was a three-time All-American, and he finished his college career with an 6,082 total rushing yards, an NCAA record that would stand until it was surpassed by University of Texas running back, Ricky Williams in 1998.
In his rookie season with the Cowboys (1977), he led Dallas in rushing yards(1,007), rushing touchdowns(12) and ranked third in receptions(29), despite not becoming a full time starter until the 10th game of the season. Dorsett went on to rush for 66 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 2 passes for 11 yards in the Cowboys 27-10 victory over the Broncos in Super Bowl XII, becoming the first man to win a college football championship one year and then the Super Bowl the next.
In his NFL career, he rushed for 12,739 yards, caught 398 passes for 3,554 yards, and scored 91 touchdowns(77 rushing, 13 receiving, 1 fumble recovery). On Monday, January 3rd, 1983 in a game against the Minnesota Vikings, Dorsett ran for a 99-yard touchdown to set a record that still stands to this day. Oddly enough, the Cowboys were undermanned at the time, having only ten players on the field during the play.
Dorsett made the Pro Bowl four times during his career (1978, 1981-1983) and rushed for over 1,000 yards in 8 of his first 9 seasons. The only season during that time that he didn’t reach the 1,000 rushing yards milestone was the strike shortened season of 1982(which had only 9 games), where he led the NFC in rushing with 745 yards. Dorsett was elected to both, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994 and was enshrined in the Texas Stadium Ring of Honor the same year.
Dorsett’s career statsistics are available at several online web sites.
Now, let’s take a look at the career of Smith, the league’s all-time rushing yardage leader. Smith was born, Emmitt James Smith III on May 15, 1969 in Pensacola, Florida and is undeniably one of the most prolific running backs in NFL history and only the seventh player in NFL history to carry the title of all-time rushing leader.
Smith set 58 school records at the University of Florida, including the single game rushing record in his very first start, en route to winning the SEC Freshman of the Year award and a ninth place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Smith left Florida after his junior year with 3,928 career rushing yards and 36 touchdowns. In 1989, Smith was named a first-team All-American, SEC Player of the Year and finished seventh in the Heisman voting after rushing for 1,599 yards and 16 TDs.
Smith is the first player in NFL history to have five consecutive seasons with over 1,400 rushing yards and Smith and Jim Brown are the only players with seven straight 10-touchdown seasons to start their career. With 1,021 yards rushing in 2001, Smith became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons and the first to post 11 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a career. He is also the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing attempts with 4,409.
Smith currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355 and is the only player in NFL history to rush for over 18,000 yards, breaking the previous record held by Walter Payton, on October 27, 2002. Smith leads all running backs with 166 career touchdowns, and his 175 total touchdowns ranks him second only to Jerry Rice’s 207 career touchdowns.
The sum of his rushing yards, receiving yards (3,224) and fumble return yards(-15), gave him a total of 21,564 yards from the line of scrimmage, making him one of only four players in NFL history to eclipse the 21,000-combined yards mark.
Smith also accumulated a number of NFL postseason records, including rushing touchdowns (19), consecutive games with a rushing touchdown (nine) and 100-yard rushing games (seven). His 1,586 yards rushing is also tops on the NFL postseason chart, and he shares the total playoff touchdown mark of 21 with Thurman Thomas. Smith is also one of only five NFL players who have amassed over 10,000 career-rushing yards and 400 career receptions and Smith and Rice are the only two non-kickers to score 1000 points in a career.
Here is a look at Smith’s career statistics.
| Rushing | Receiving |
| Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |
Now, let me get into my reasoning why I think Dorsett is the Dalas Cowboys greatest running back of all-time, despite gaining almost 6,000 less yards in his career than Smith.
First and foremost in my mind is the fact that, although Dorsett played on some excellent teams, I don’t know if any were of the same caliber as the powerful teams that Smith played on. I know for a fact, that Smith perennially played with better offensive lines than Dorsett.
However, it is Dorsett who has the higher yards-per-carry average, if ever so slightly. Smith also carried the ball over 300 times in a season on six separate seasons in his careeer, and over 350, four different times, while Dorsett surpassed the 300-carry mark only three times in his and never was given the ball for 350 carries in his career, coming close only once, when he had 342 carries in 1981.
Yes, Smith has the edge in durability it would seem, but beyond his immense statistical excellence, I believe Dorsett was more of a natural runner whose vision was almost unparalleled.
Dorsett was undoubtedly more elusive, making him harder to tackle as , although I will say that Smith was the more powerful of the two, and a load to bring down once he got a head of steam going.
I guess, in the end, a column like this become purely the opinion of the writer, if if the statistics don’t necessarily agree. But statisctis can often be misleading. Just because Smith is the league’s all-time leading rusher, does that make him the league’s greatest runn ever?
Not for me – that title would belong to Walter Payton, followed closely by both, Barry Sanders and Jim Brown.
That’s not to say that Smith isn’t one of the all-time greats. To suggest such would be sheer nonsense. What I am saying though is that Smith’s greatness has been surpassed by several other runners in the league’s lengthy history – even by his fellow former Cowboy – Tony Dorsett.
