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

Great read and take. But lets not forget all the chop blocking, leg whipping and other dirty tactics the Bronco's o-line used to get their backs their yards.

I don't quite get what the OP's motivation is.....troll, recurring troll or, he just hates Franco Harris. Maybe he hates PSU and he will tell us how overrated Mike Munchak was on Houston's OL or that Jack Ham was nothing more than an also ran on the Steel Curtain. No matter what the motivation is/was, he doesn't point out much of what Steeler fans didn't already know; that Harris knew when contact was unnecessary, he avoided it. So what? Jack Lambert could be a jerk.....oh no, let's see that video breakdown. Blount could be borderline dirty. I'm burning my jersey. Terry Bradshaw was overly dramatic when he "thought" he was injured. Damn, can't believe he ever won a game. Donnie Shell was undrafted and played well above the Mendoza line for undrafted FA's. Oh man, where's the torches and pitchforks?

Here's a project for your film study acumen. Count how many times WR's have used the faux flag toss after every incomplete pass over the last five years or, the faux flag tosses every time a defender enters Tom Brady's five yard personal sphere of "no touchy". Now, these are metrics I'm interest in.

 

Nobody here seems to get it.

Citing awards someone received is not an argument. If he didn't get awards, he couldn't be "overrated" in the first place.

You don't evaluate the talent of a football player based on the numbers he put up. That's why the term, "product of a system," exists. That's why Kliff Kingsbury wasn't a top 5 pick the year he came out. That was college football, but the same principle applies.

Here are two quotes from actual former NFL head coaches illustrating my point:


"No, me and you, all five of us could have run through that hole,'' Jackson said as the Browns prepare to face the 4-10 Bears on Christmas Eve.

"Inspiring runs, just so we're all on the same page, are when you break tackles. It's the tough runs. It's when everybody is knocking the crap out of you and you find a way to still make 4 or 5 yards. That's running in the National Football League.''

He defended giving Crowell the ball only one more time that game despite the fact the Browns trailed only 17-10 at the half.

"When everything is blocked pretty and you can just run down up through there, that doesn't happen but once or twice in a game,'' said Jackson. "Not saying that Crow doesn't do that. He does it well for us, but I'm just saying you guys are talking about a run that - I'm being very honest - we all could have run through." - Hue Jackson



Asked to comment on Romo's five touchdowns, Parcells said: "I could have thrown those first two."


When a running back does not break any tackles, he is not a good NFL running back. Period, the end. You could literally find hundreds of running backs across the nation who could gain yards when they're untouched and then go down to the first guy who touches them. And that's what Harris did more than any other running back you can think of. Any way you slice it, that is a bad running back.



Nobody in this thread seems to be able to stay on topic. Instead of actually defending Franco Harris, they bring up about 30 other players and ask, "are you gonna call them overrated too?" No. Why would I? They were actually great players. Harris was not.

Just horrendously fallacious arguments all around.

 

Sacks don't define a linebacker.

Breaking tackles/making defenders miss/gaining yards beyond what you can get untouched is what defines a running back.

 

Franco was a great running back.

 

Rocky broke more tackles than Harris. His problem was he had to deal with Harris's horrid lead blocking, while Harris, in turn, got Rocky's very good lead blocking.

 

Fuqua was utterly horrible. 11th round pick from the Giants. Stiff and lumbering. The fact he was able to average over 4 yards per carry his first 3 years with the Steelers is just further illustration of my point about the blocking.

Franco Harris ran for 12,000 yards, and he was below average, so your claim is false.

 

It’s true that numbers aren’t everything. But it’s problematic to then make out that breaking tackles is everything.

Post hoc ergo proctor hoc.

So, as I’ve said before, you have to account for the other aspects of Harris’ play to justify your claim.

 

Mother Teresa? Is that you? You sure can make a mob feel small at times.

 

I'm guessing he/she/it spreads it around and is over on the Browns/Ravens/Browns Board dissing the quitter Jim Brown because he bowed out in his prime to go play movie star.

 

After carefully reading, analyzing, cogitating and synthesizing every single word posted by , there is only one conclusion to be made: James Harrison is the all time greatest running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers because he broke more tackles on a single play on the biggest stage than Franco did his entire career dating back to his Pee Wee League days.

 

Maybe because you and your argument are fellatious!

 

I agree that your argument is horrendously fallacious in content. Franco carried two or three defenders with him for two to three yards instead of breaking a tackle mostly. There are different types of running backs in the NFL.

 

You do realize that you are using a coach who went 1-31 in 2 seasons (and has a career .205 record in 4 seasons as a head coach).
That level of incompetency does not support your argument.
A casual reader might wonder if Jackson would have more success if he had different views on running backs.

(You then quoted Parcells talking about Romo throwing 5 TDs. I have no idea why you thought that applied to running backs, let alone breaking tackles.)

 

He had a nifty run in the 'Dirty Dozen' before a machine gun mowed him down.

 

Jim Brown's greatest achievement was nailing Raquel Welch in "100 Rifles".

 

Maybe he's on the Bills site saying that OJ is the absolute best ever because he made those last two cuts!








I'm done...……………..

 

OK it's over. No one can top this.

 

All this fellatio talk has me wanting to go find a fit bird looking for a jaw breaker HAHAHHAHAHAHA

 

of course Jim Brown's women didn't avoid contact. But he's great.

 

Uh, no. He carried nobody. He was the worst yards after contact rusher you'll ever see. Horrible pad level and went down immediately on contact.

 

Yeah, because what would a veteran NFL coach know about what it takes to play in the NFL?

As if the Browns' record was Jackson's fault. I mean, clearly their organization has had so much success with every other coach since they were created.

Also, the Browns' yard per carry averages when Jackson was there were elite. Don't let that stop you from making a silly argument, though.

Parcells's comment applies because it's an illustration of how just looking at statistics is the move an amateur. Fans give this false reverence to pro football players when they do easy things, as if it must be harder than it looks. But as it turns out, NFL coaches openly admit that the stuff that looks easy is every bit as easy at it looks.

 

Other aspects such as...?

I addressed some of them in my first post. He was a horrible blocker. He almost never caught anything but passes to the flat when he was used as a receiver. He had good straight line speed for his size, but it didn't translate to much, as he had just 5 career touchdowns of 40+ yards, and 11 of 20+. So he was frequently caught in the open field.

A good NFL running back does more than just get the easy yards.

 

Does this guy remind anyone else of a way worse version of me?

 

I have to agree with the OP. Not once in those videos did I see Franco ever beat off a defender. I was left very frustrated. I had to scour the internet after that.