[QUOTE=HoboStew]
I’ll concede that my knowledge on this subject is purely anecdotal - I watched them both play in the primes of their careers but haven’t crunched a single # on the subject, but I remember Barry having just atrocious lines, to the point that he was getting tackled as he was handed the ball, while Emmitt would run 4 yards downfield before a defender even touched him. Maybe the years have tinted the 20-20 hindsight, but the fact remains that when you look at the cast of characters, Emmitt had a distinct advantage.
Emmitt:
Troy Aikman, Michael Irving, Mark Tuinei, Nate Newton, Larry Allen, Jay Novacek
Barry:
Scott Mitchell, Herman Moore, Kevin Glover, Lomas Brown
[/QUOTE]
Emmitt’s personnel were better, but not to the degree that you imply. There’s a lot more nuance to the comparison than that. The two team’s systems (largely tailored to each player’s style) had more to do with that appearance than anything else.
Emmitt lined up 7 yards behind the QB and had a fullback in front of him on every snap. On running plays his first move was upfield and the fullback almost always absorbed first contact allowing Emmitt to reach the hole before contact.
Barry lined up 9 yards behind the QB in a single back set on every single play. His first move was almost always a chop step or a counter look in order to get the defense reacting one way or another so that he can read it.
Emmit’s line was a man-blocking group who, at the snap, would fire off the ball to their assigned defender. As a result the first line of defense was typically engaged when Emmitt got to it.
Barry’s line was a zone-blocking group who would step forward and block whomever presented themselves in their zone, and as a result of that reactive style didn’t initiate first contact with the defense.
Both systems can be effective but Barry’s system was more susceptible to overloads and blitzes outnumbering the blockers in a given zone. As a result a good defensive play call would have players in the backfield before Barry was able to get up to speed. On the flipside, a bad defensive play call or a missed first tackle would create a big gain. Emmitt’s system was more predictable since the first action was most often where the run ended up, but a good defensive play call could be thwarted by a good lead block from the fullback, though typically a good play call still kept the gain short. In Barry’s case a good play call was a loss.
The impression that laypersons have regarding “Barry’s awful line” is not entirely true, it’s simply the way that the system was built around him. He was put in a position to be a homerun hitter, and he excelled at it, but homerun hitters by their nature strike out alot. Those jailbreak plays you recall seeing were the whiffs, but a lot of potential jailbreaks ended up being 60 yard runs because the came in the wrong side of the defense.