This Day In Sports - Walter Payton Breaks The Record
by Adam T on Oct 8, 2009 7:50 AM CDT
Email
Print
Ok, technically it was yesterday on October 7, 1984, Walter Payton broke the all-time rushing record. (link)
With that six-yard run on the second play of the second half in a 20-7 win over the New Orleans Saints, Payton became the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, eclipsing Jim Brown.
"When God said He would make a halfback or a fullback, He might have said Gale Sayers or He might have said Jim Brown," Bears coach Mike Ditka said after the game. "But when He said He would make the best football player who ever lived, He probably said two men: Jim Thorpe and Walter Payton."
Payton entered the game needing 67 yards to break the record. He rushed for 64 yards on 15 carries in the first half, and then inched even closer with a one-yard gain on the first play of the third quarter.
When Payton surpassed Brown on the next snap, cameramen and photographers dashed onto the field. Teammate Todd Bell met Payton at midfield, where they both leaped and exchanged high-fives.
34 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Love the Ditka quote...
… for a change :)
Payton was an incredibly good football player and astonishingly durable.
Weak sauce (see: ketchup on spaghetti)!
154 yards on 32 carries for a pedestrian 4.8 yards per carry. Psshhhh!
Doesn’t even compare to Forte’s 10+ ypc against the Lions’ defense last week – who’s with me? (crickets, crickets)…
Seriously though… who doesn’t love Payton! The shot of his last game (below) is my all-time favorite Payton shot. This guy just loved playing the game!
-------
"Newbie, if the next two words out of your mouth aren't 'See ya' then the third word will be 'Oh my god. My crotch. You've punched me in my crotch." - Dr. Percival Ulysses Cox
A may not remember when he broke the record...
but I will never forget that day. 1/10/87 ….. pretty sure.
Not my favorite
but I see why you like it. This is one of my favorites.
Mad hops.
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
I like that too...
But it doesn’t show enough of the KangaROO’s for me. :)
I’ve been searching for a much larger version of the “last game” photo to image on some canvas for a while now but with no luck. I know there’s a good one on the middle spread of PAYTON, but isn’t cutting it out some kind of witch voodoo?!?
-------
"Newbie, if the next two words out of your mouth aren't 'See ya' then the third word will be 'Oh my god. My crotch. You've punched me in my crotch." - Dr. Percival Ulysses Cox
by David Taylor on Oct 9, 2009 10:21 AM CDT up reply actions
Yesterday, today, whatever...
Any reason to make a post on Payton is a good reason.
"The time has come to get deeply into Football. It is the only thing we have left that ain't fixed." - HST
by JerBear50 on Oct 8, 2009 2:49 PM CDT reply actions 4 recs
Wreck!
I could read about Payton everyday and it’d never get old. Greatest Football Player ever, hands down.
You can't believe everything you read on the internet, that's how World War One got started.
*This tagline is copyrighted by smudgers, inc. for the private use of the WCG audience. Any use of this tagline or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts without smudgers, inc. consent is prohibited.
Payton set the bar.
Maybe that’s why my expectations are so high for past and present Bears running backs.
He spoiled us all
and what good spoiler to have
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
by BearNecessities on Oct 8, 2009 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions
Why is it that none of our current running backs have the ability to leap when they get to the goal line?
Walter was the first one to do that (consistantly, at least) of any back in the NFL. I can count on one hand the number of times he didn’t get a yard or less either at the goal line or for a first down when needed. When I think of Payton with the ball it’s in mid-air about 5 feet off the ground crossing the goal line.
I know there’ll never be another Walter, but maybe we should try to get Forte to throw that 225 lb. frame of his into the end zone once in awhile. Beats the hell out of McKie and the fullback dive.
the dreaded FB dive!!!
I think that should be part of the RB combine… jumping at the goaline, they just don’t do it anymore
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
by BearNecessities on Oct 8, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions
I love Matt Forte.
Matt Forte couldn’t carry Walter’s jockstrap.
Of course, maybe a decade from now, he’ll be able to make that claim.
(Of course this isn’t fair to Forte, or any other Bear RB after Walter. Walter Payton wasn’t human).
We
probably would have been dissapointed in Adrian Peterson. Because if he plays as long, he’ll have more fumbles. With names like Sayers and Payton, there will never be another back like that in Chicago.
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
by BearNecessities on Oct 8, 2009 7:54 PM CDT up reply actions
In honor of this post
I figured a tribute was in order.
Link is pure Sweetness
You can't believe everything you read on the internet, that's how World War One got started.
*This tagline is copyrighted by smudgers, inc. for the private use of the WCG audience. Any use of this tagline or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts without smudgers, inc. consent is prohibited.
One more
I might need a tissue. Damn….
You can't believe everything you read on the internet, that's how World War One got started.
*This tagline is copyrighted by smudgers, inc. for the private use of the WCG audience. Any use of this tagline or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts without smudgers, inc. consent is prohibited.
Sweetness
Payton epitomized on how to let your playing do the talking. I’m not sure if he’s definitely the greatest player ever, but certainly the best all-around RB ever. He never stepped out of bounds, instead choosing some sort of collision with a defender(s) to help gain him a few extra yards. He blocked like a mack-truck, caught with soft hands out of the backfield- ran with great vision, power, speed, and unequaled determination.
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
Not like that
More or less you can make an argument about many players being the best ever. Sweetness is always in the conversation.
Rice
Taylor
Montana
Unitas
Brown
Graham
Butkus
Sanders
Lilly
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
Here's my answer to that
I completely dismiss those ‘49ers.’
Why? Cause they were all a product of Bill Walsh. Walsh himeslf said that.
Many people consider Montana to be:
The greatest QB. OK.
Rice the greatest WR. OK.
Walsh the greatest Offensive mind. OK
The problem (for me) is this: Who WOULDN’T benefit from that ’Triple Header?"
I mean, give Jay Cutler the greatest WR and the greatest OC in NFL history, and I’m sure he’d end up in a better light than otherwise.
Montana & Steve Young are the ONLY two (modern day) QB’s to go (back-to-back) into the HOF.
Not taking anything away from those two, but it sure is a coinicidence (That Bill Walsh was front & center in BOTH of their careers)!
Unitas, Brown etc
I personally always divide it at the Super Bowl era, and before.
Perhaps this is becasue I have watched all of the SB era, and very little before.
That's perfectly fine
but talent breeds talent.
Why? Cause they were all a product of Bill Walsh. Walsh himeslf said that.
Does that make Taylor any less of the greatest LB ever cause Parcells is a genius?
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
I would put LT into the conversation
far more than Walsh’s guys.
The thing that separates Walter from guys like that is this (and I’m not taking anything away from LT and the rest).
LT’s first (and only HC I believe) was HOF’er Bill Parcells.
To me, the career of Walter was actually TWO careers.
ONE: From being drafted in 1975 to the arrival of Ditka/McMahon in 1982.
That was EIGHT years when the Bears SUCKED. As Preston Pearson of the Dallas Cowboys said “Walter Payton was getting hit on every play. EVERY SINGLE PLAY.”
They simply had terrible/mediocre HC’ing back then, CRAPPY QB’s, and one dimensional offenses.
I don’t know all the numbers, but I’m willing to be that most RB’s (like say, a Neal Anderson) don’t even play eight years total.
TWO: After a real HC (Ditka) and a real QB (McMahon) arrived, Payton still helped carry that team.
When most RB’s would have long since retired, he had a ‘second career’ as a still great RB as the Bears went on to NFL dominance and a SB victory.
Bill Walsh designed plays for guys like Rice to AVOID being hit.
LT did all the hitting.
Walter Payton, throughout his entire NFL career (and especially during his first eight seasons) was a marked man.
That, to me, is the single biggest difference.
When discussing the greatest player in any sport it should be based on his abilities in every phase of the game.
Like Jordan in BB, because he could score, pass, and play defense at the highest level. In my opinion, Roberto Clemente was probably the best baseball player of all time because his offensive stats rivaled anyone in history and might have been the greatest defensive outfielder of all time. Walter might be the greatest because he could run, block, and catch as well as anyone who has ever played. Throw in the fact that he could pass on the option and was the team’s backup punter and emergency QB, it’s hard to bet against him.
I don’t buy your argument about the 49er players though because everyone in in a “system”, good or bad. What would you have said if Walter were drafted by the Niners instead of the Bears? Would he have been any less a player? In fact, because of the system, he might not have received the opportunities to accomplish what he did and could be considered just another Roger Craig. Jerry Rice did all of the things that a WR could do and did them at the highest level, just like Walter did as a RB. I don’t believe Rice was the better total Football player, but I don’t fault anyone who has that opinion. Same goes for Montana at QB. A lot of people say it was the system or he didn’t call his own plays, but it doesn’t matter because he didn’t have the choice and had to play in the system he was given. He shouldn’t be penalized because the system was great.
Putting provisos on each player like system, era, teammates, etc. is unfair. They can’t control those things so they did what they could with what they had. The “best football player” is purely subjective and fun to debate, but in the end it’s all opinions anyway.
by BearFan611 on Oct 10, 2009 10:40 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Community Guidelines
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Report: Tebow sends cease and desist letter to maker of Jesus-y Jets T-shirts
- Joe McKnight says too much McDonald’s helped him gain 16 pounds in offseason
- Nick Mangold says goodbye to some chest hair on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’
- Saints will honor suspended Sean Payton with empty chairs
- Junior Seau’s home burglarized just days after his death
