Bo Jackson: ‘I’d be averaging 350, 400 yards a game’
The former Auburn All-American figures the state of tackling in today’s NFL would make him a record-breaker.
Bo says he’d avg 350-400 YPG today
- Thread starter rick64
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WildcatfaninOhio
All-American
I doubt he’d do THAT well. But he is right about the art of tackling being totally missing in the NFL.
Sounds like what I averaged with him back in 1988.
Bo could average 350 homeruns a year in baseball too. Even Chuck Norris might flinch at Bo freakin Jackson.
I guess Bo has entered "that age" now. Where you become the old ex-athlete (Ted Williams, Bob Feller etc.) that feels the need to spout off about how much greater the game was then and how they'd dominate even MORE in today's game.
Sad...
Sad...
He was the real deal. Probably never could have lasted doing two sports but who, ever, could have done what he did in two sports at that level? Nobody, ever.
Tons of old NBA players, too. It's a very old-man take, and it's quite annoying.
Bo's single season stats, other than is rookie year, were good, but not phenomenal. So if he rushed for 300, Emmitt would rush for 400.
He averaged 5.4 YPC. For his career! He never played more than 11 games in a season because of baseball.
Total freak.
HOFs have earned the right to be a little grandiose. They have the belief that they are the greatest and that belief got them to the HOF.
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -Henry Ford
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -Henry Ford
He has a bit of a point.
But he's also exaggerating a big 'ol bunch.
With his size, speed, and strength combined with today's pansy, snowflake rules he'd run wild.
But he's also exaggerating a big 'ol bunch.
With his size, speed, and strength combined with today's pansy, snowflake rules he'd run wild.
Bo was fantastic. A freak athlete. Best 2 sport player ever. I get it.
What I said still stands.
If he'd said 120 yards, it would still be ludicrous, but 350?
1 running back in history has averaged 100 or more yards per game for a career. Jim Brown... (barely)
And he was he physical freak from the future, dropped into a league where he was bigger and faster than most LB'ers and safetys that were trying to tackle him.
Like I said, it's a bad look.
What I said still stands.
If he'd said 120 yards, it would still be ludicrous, but 350?
1 running back in history has averaged 100 or more yards per game for a career. Jim Brown... (barely)
And he was he physical freak from the future, dropped into a league where he was bigger and faster than most LB'ers and safetys that were trying to tackle him.
Like I said, it's a bad look.
Nope, Chuck could have beaten every MMA fighter these days.👊😉
And the game has changed so much. Even Bo wouldn't get more than 15-20 carries a game. So, he'd average 20 yards a carry? I'm gonna go with - NO.
I don't know quite enough about older football.. but if it's anything like the NBA, the overall skill, size, and ability is greater today than it was in the 80's. Almost every roster had at least one of "your neighborhood mailman" on the roster.
And if a guy like Bo or Jordan can say they'd score X amount of points in modern day.. then by that same token, premier defenders in NFL and NBA can say the same thing if they played back in the 80s, benefiting from much more leeway given to defenders.
Imagine the Giants 2007 D-line playing in the 80's with more freedom: Strahan, Osi, Kiwanuka..
And if a guy like Bo or Jordan can say they'd score X amount of points in modern day.. then by that same token, premier defenders in NFL and NBA can say the same thing if they played back in the 80s, benefiting from much more leeway given to defenders.
Imagine the Giants 2007 D-line playing in the 80's with more freedom: Strahan, Osi, Kiwanuka..
With every Bo Jackson old man hyperbole comes a young man saying nonsensical stupid shit.
Not sure any team today has an athlete like Bo Jackson. What he said was pure hyperbole and BS, but Bo was literally a physical freak (as was Herschel). 220+ lbs with sprinter's speed - not many guys that size run a sub 4.4 forty (I think both Bo and Herschel were more like 4.3 or below 40 times).
I don't think it's crazy to think that today's athletes are just bigger, stronger and faster... and that will apply in 20-30 years as well (so long as these sports are still popular).
That's why I separated NFL and NBA.. because, yes, looking at old NBA rosters, I definitely think today's rosters are better, top to bottom.
It was more “your neighborhood mailman” comment. I don’t know about bigger and stronger and faster really either. Human beings haven’t evolved into a different species in the last 20 years. I think they’re more skilled - start earlier and play more and build more fundamentals at a younger age though.
That's actually reference to a common social media/sports page comment, that shows what some of the 70's and 80's rosters looked like.. which legitimately had some guys that looked like they would be at a bowling alley bar. I think it isn't so much that it's completely true, more so that it's a funny take.
I don't want to take it too far down this road.. but I think that while we didn't evolve in the last 20 years.. the NBA saw more and more involvement from African Americans. I'd be curious to see the actual numbers. And I'm not going to explicitly say AA's are better at basketball... instead just showcasing the fact that the NBA's 30 teams and 450 some odd players.. has even more of a pool to pick from in 2020 than it did in 1980... More AA involvement, more international options, US population going from 225m to 315m in size.
I think so long as sports, the NBA in particular, retains it's popularity, every decade will see overall greater athletes and talents.
Bo was Derrick Henry strong or stronger and faster than Lamar Jackson. Could hit homeruns as far as McGwire, run the outfield like Griffey and had maybe the strongest arm from the outfield you will ever see. If had truly focused on one sport and didn't get hurt he would have been a hall of famer in either one.
I don't know from mailmen, but Jim Brown WAS, a physical freak, even more so when you consider the era he played in, when the average D-lineman measured in at 6 feet 1 inch and 250 pounds. (an inch shorter, and only 12 pounds heavier than the 238 pounds of muscle, elite speed, and reflexes that Brown came with)
In terms of athletic differential, Brown far exceeded Bo Jackson, and averaged 104 yards per game.
In terms of athletic differential, Brown far exceeded Bo Jackson, and averaged 104 yards per game.
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No one including Bo, well maybe Bo does, believes he would actually average 350. Just pointing out he was a unicorn of his time. a one and only freak like no other.
I didn't actually hear the comment, so maybe he said it tongue in cheek. I dunno, I was taking it at face value.
I do believe though, if you could transport Bo, in his prime, back to the era the JIm Brown played in, he'd smash Brown's records (if he stayed healthy)
It's funny though. If you watch Brown's highlights, and Bo's highlights, they almost look like the same back, as far as running style (obvious nod to Jackson's superior speed though)
I do believe though, if you could transport Bo, in his prime, back to the era the JIm Brown played in, he'd smash Brown's records (if he stayed healthy)
It's funny though. If you watch Brown's highlights, and Bo's highlights, they almost look like the same back, as far as running style (obvious nod to Jackson's superior speed though)
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