Don’t ask the Bears how it’s going. Emmitt Smith is the worst running back they will have faced.
Dorsey Levens, Robert Smith, Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin all have outgained Smith, who hasn’t played the Bears, of course. Emmitt Smith also has played one fewer game than the others, but his 4.1 yards-a-carry average also is the lowest of the bunch that has faced the Bears.
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The Bears need this like they need more advice. Smith hasn’t scored a touchdown. In fact, he has gone scoreless in nine of his last 11 games. His 108 rushing touchdowns are still two behind Walter Payton. He set the NFL season record with 25 in 1995 and has scored only 12 since.
The Cowboys are sputtering near the goal line, which used to be Smith’s personal domain.
“We have not been as successful as we’d like,” quarterback Troy Aikman said.
“It’s hard to score from down there,” coach Barry Switzer said.
“I don’t have an `S’ on my chest,” Smith said.
Uh-oh, says Dave Wannstedt.
The league put in the “Emmitt Smith rule” requiring players to keep their helmets on while celebrating. And Smith has done nothing to celebrate. Yet.
“I assure you he will score a touchdown before the season is over,” Switzer said.
The Bears are afraid of that.
Until then, questions.
He hurt his ribs while rushing for 132 yards in Dallas’ loss to Arizona. Was he protecting sore ribs when he got 91 on 27 carries against Philadelphia?
“Never mentioned a thing about it,” Switzer said.
“He said he felt good going into the game,” Aikman said.
“I’m fine,” Smith said. “It’s not easy for some people to accept that I don’t have 500 yards.”
“We’re struggling a little bit,” Switzer said. “We’re older than we’ve ever been before. Everyone keeps comparing it back to ’92 and ’93. This football team is four years older.”
Smith agrees. “It’s not like things were five years ago,” he said. “Everybody has to accept that. Everybody else is as good as we are.”
The Bears will be happy to hear that.
Yes, Smith, a year younger than Sanders, is the second-oldest running back the Bears have faced. He has enough mileage on him for a checkup, which Stats Inc. conducted during the off-season in an article titled “The End for Smith?”
Smith began the season with 2,334 carries and 108 touchdowns in 108 games. There have been 11 running backs with more than 2,334 carries, and Stats Inc. compared their production through 2,334 carries with their production thereafter.
The results showed that six of the 11 went on to gain more than 2,000 additional yards. But only two showed an increase in their yards per carry–Payton and Sanders.
Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, Thurman Thomas, Tony Dorsett, Franco Harris, John Riggins and Ottis Anderson saw their average per carry drop after 2,334 attempts. Marcus Allen stayed the same.
Smith is the fourth back to be ahead of Payton’s 108-game pace. Payton gained 9,741 yards in his first 108 games, but played for 82 more. Smith had 10,160 after 108. Dickerson had 11,334, Brown had 11,832 and Sanders had 10,509. But nobody has come within 3,000 yards of Payton’s prodigious 16,726.
An overlooked footnote in Smith’s quest is his 15 postseason games. He has carried 318 times for 1,413 yards in playoff games, virtually a whole season’s work that won’t count in the record book but does take its toll on the body.
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For that reason, owner and General Manager Jerry Jones puts on his coaching hat and suggests that spelling Smith with Sherman Williams and Herschel Walker “makes more sense than it ever has.”
Jones recalls when the Cowboys lost to the Bears in the Monday night opener last season, Smith spent the night in a hospital after landing on his head and shoulder.
“It seems like ever since then, we have been dealing with this issue of whether Emmitt is the old Emmitt,” Jones said. “The bottom line is that where Emmitt always has been so effective is making 2-yard runs into 5-yard runs. Emmitt is going to be making 2-yard runs into 5-yard runs for years to come. I’ve seen nothing to take away from his unique skills and style to give me a concern.”
Maybe Smith just experienced a seven-year lull. His 1,204 yards and 3.7 average at age 27 last year were his lowest since his rookie season. When Payton was 27 and in his seventh year, he gained 1,222 yards on a 3.6 average, also his lowest output since his rookie season. Payton proved he was far from done.
But he also proved one of a kind.