Franco Harris: One of the most overrated players in NFL history

Franco took the Steelers to the top. He is in the running for greatest Steeler ever.

 

It's not durability when you play as soft as Harris did.

And the ultimate question is, why would you want a guy like him to stay healthy? What did he bring to the table that the average RB off the street didn't?

Rocky Bleier was 16th round Vietnam vet and he brought more to the table than Harris did.

Give me Billy Sims for a few years and a blown knee over some guy who gets what every other back would and nothing more.

 

I’m guessing Franco was giving someone’s wife the Italian beef?

 

I've always wondered what it's like to swing and miss at everything...now I can live vicariously through others.

 

Rocky Bleier? For real man. Did you cut Francos grass or something only to get short changed?

Seriously the vendetta/troll post against Franco Harris is laughable.

 

But have you ever seen a "Mook at le" post? Well by gum you have now sir! Hahahahahahaha

 

Welcome to da board n' at yinz jag off!

 

I was 18 years old when the Steelers won Super Bowl IX over the Vikings. Bradshaw only threw for 96 yards for the entire game. Franco was the entire offense that day as he ran for 158 yards and was Super Bowl MVP.
Those of us in our 60's remember Franco's rookie year when it became apparent to everyone that the Steelers indeed drafted a special player.

 

I keep learning new words on this board. Entertaining and educational. A trifecta if ever I saw one.

 

Ok Troll, I'll bite on this one. The Steelers had Preston Pearson and Frenchy Fuqua when they drafted Franco. I would say Preston had an above average career, Frenchy was in the league 7 years, would you say he was an average back? The Steelers made their first ever playoffs the year Franco was drafted and started as feature back over these two. The dynasty of the 70's was defense, and on the legs of Franco. Preston, Frenchy, and Rocky were all a part of it (Preston only at the start), but all of your metrics and the asinine premise that an average back would have got them there is pure bull****. No average back has run for 12,000 yards in the NFL. In 100 years only 15 have run for more, I do not believe any of those have 4 rings, and none of them were average.

 

Great, now i have carpal scroll tunnel along with recurring nightmares of the 70s bell bottoms stack heels, leisure suits and the dreaded peeling polyvinyl white belts.

 

I'll step forward.

It was Lambert!
He was only credited with 8 sacks for his career. Now compare that to Dupree, who has 20 while still in his rookie contract.

Now I'm sure that some of you are saying, "The league didn't start tracking sacks until after the 70's", or "The seasons were only 14 games long instead of 16," or "The game is very different now." But it should be obvious from sacks and sacks alone that he doesn't compare to players from the last 3 seasons.

(Pretend that I listed stats from his 146 game career, one every other line, to completely swamp your computer screen.)

 

Top 15 all-time in rb yards ... just think if he would have actually dedicated himself.

BTW. He retired 3rd all time just behind Jim Brown.

 

God forbid they look at Bradshaw’s interception record...

 

I appreciate all the effort. Honestly, with this level of detail, as I was reading I thought to myself, "This is my kind of post!" I don't get the motivation, but oh well. One thing I'm confused about is why you're comparing a guy from the mid 70s to guys from the last few years, but that's not the biggest problem here. I'll get to that at the end.

This is actually a fantastic point, and I've cited Terrell Davis / Olandis Gary / Mike Anderson many times before. To those who don't remember, Davis ran behind a great line with a great scheme, and was wrongly considered by many to be the best RB in the NFL, churning out a ton of yards for the Broncos every year. Then he got hurt, Olandis Gary (who??) took over, and the running game didn't miss much of a beat. Almost 1,200 yards in only 12 games as a 4th round rookie who was only drafted to be a backup. Then he got hurt and Mike Anderson (who???) took over, and he did even better, racking up almost 1,500 yards at 5 YPC and 15 TDs. It was a clear demonstration that either much of Terrell Davis' success was attributed to his teammates and coaching, or the Broncos just couldn't stop drafting late round Pro Bowl RBs. And given how the rest of Gary's and Anderson's careers played out, we know it was the former.

Your point here has some validity, but not to the degree you're pushing. It's totally fair to say that Terrell Davis received a huge boost from his team, and the debates at the time about who was better between and Barry Sanders were complete nonsense. Barry put up better numbers with no team around him at all. Same thing with Emmitt Smith. It's a team sport, and people who ignore that and think Smith or Davis are in the same tier as Sanders in terms of talent or what they brought to the team are just wrong.

That said, Davis and Smith were still great players. They got their boosts, and are in fact overrated, but you don't do what these guys did because you're average. Personally, I'd lump Franco in with them. He turned in good numbers for a long time, he delivered in the playoffs. If he was really average like you say, they probably could have easily found somebody better to take his place, but they never did until he got old.

Oh wait a minute, was "average" the word you used?

Yeah, GTFO with that. You're like those pseudo-scientific people on Facebook who try to use medical research to prove vaccines cause autism. I could see calling Franco overrated, and I could see saying he doesn't deserve to be in the hall of fame, but saying he wasn't even above average reads like a cry for help. Are you alright, dear?

 

Is this guy really a college student/football player who believes what every commentator says? If he had a life, he wouldn't have time for this nonsensical "research".

 

Mark Malone was the greatest receiver averaging 90 yards a catch, but because he didn't break any tackles on the play, he's overrated.

 

The should have put Hanratty in....

Or so said the lady who sat behind me for 10+ years.

 

That thought crossed my mind, but a higher authority seems to be leaning otherwise.

 

Hey, HugeSnack is back!

Long time no see, hope you’re doing well.

 

Franco overrated? By who? Because?

Franco is a HOF RB, he's a SB MVP. That doesn't strike me as overrated.

There are however a lot of better RBs all time. OJ, Payton, Dorsett, Smith !Sanders, Jim Brown were better.
That's not bad company, if being behind those guys makes Franco overrated, I'll take this overrated Franco in every game.

 

yeaaaa, Franco stunk the joint up.