Oh stop. He was excellent but Franco was better. And he maintained it. Don't just go by stats. In the 70s the carries were distributed more among Franco, Rocky, Sidney Thornton and earlier with guys like Preston Pearson or Frenchy Fuqua. Its hyperbole to say not even close. Bell was better than a HOF player? Just a dumb take.
Your All Time Steelers Lineup
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A lot of what made Bell perceived greater than many, was the number of touches he got.
Tomlin ran him till his wheels fell of as Coach didn't know anything else to do.
Bell missed (injury) / sat out a game and still had more than a game and a half more worth of carries than the nearest RB.
His work load is what put him up in the total yards, not his average per carry.
Legends are hard to pass when you haven't won anything in your efforts.
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Thats right. The not even close part got me. Cmon, Bell was a heck of a player but if words mean things, Franco wasn't even close? Franco was an underrated receiver, too. They just didn't do it as much in those days. But I remember a game against the Bengals in the early 80s in which he had 11 catches. And Franco was always there in big games.
Franco was by far the most loved rb in my humble opinion. But They definitely used Franco rushing the football. Bell also had more yards rushing than Franco did in his prime years. Where he absolutely smoked Franco was obviously receptions. In those 4 years he had 45,83,75,85 receptions. For over 2500 yards. Incredible. Bell also had to share the spotlight. Not just Franco AB,Heath,Wheaton,Bryant, heck even Dri caught a couple,they all wanted the ball. As much as I loved Franco,Bell was on pace to smash every stat.
Except for longevity of course.
By the way in a 5 year span with the Steelers Jerome had 320,375,316,299,and 355 rushing attempts. Bill Cowher definitely ran the bus till the wheels fell off.
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Franco Harris 1975. 262 attempts. 14 games
1976. 289 attempts 14 games
1977. 300 attempts 14 games
1978. 310 attempts 16 games
Leveon Bell. 2013. 244 attempts. 13 games
2014. 290 attempts. 16 games 2015 injuries
2016. 261 attempts. 12 games
2017. 321. Attempts. 15 games.
2018. Year off to fine tune Canabbis cultivation
Good points. And seeing that maybe I am off base somewhat as per usage. But in no way do I feel Bell was the best RB, and "it's not even close." I'm not diminishing Bell. He was a hell of a player. But Franco shouldn't be diminished, either.
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The big difference is the 4-championships.
Both were very good in their respective eras, Franco run based / Bell pass based.
I’m to lazy, but curious as to YPC average for each player.
As a Steelers Fan, I count my lucky stars to have been able to watch both play.!!!
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It's hard to project guys from 50 years ago to today........crazy to even say 50 years ago. Guys like Jim Brown, I'd say I don't care what era he played in hed be the best but how do you project Franco. How fast and big would Franco today be with all the modern Training, weights etc . He was one of the best in his era and he sustained it for a much longer time than Bell did so you have to give him props for that. He's a HOfer......Bell will never sniff it. That all said, Bell was an amazing receiving back in his prime and you have to give him that which is why I have him as my 3rd down back in obvious pass situations. Franco my early down back, the Bus my ram batter, and Bell my 3rd down receiving back. I think thats fair.
I'll say this about the Bus though.....everyone looked at his size and thought his size was the reason why he was good. The dude had exceptionally quick feet for a guy his size
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I would never Diminish Franco,diver. I hear ya when he said “ that it wasn’t even close”.
My first football hero as a young boy was Franco. He’s the guy that got me addicted to the Steelers. (Actually in a roundabout way Roberto Clemente did,but that’s another story). For me it’s also not about just the playing. I saw all the fans go nuts in the stands “Franco’s Army”. I was hooked.
For me until the day he died Franco was the face that represented the Steelers way after retirement. He was everywhere representing Pittsburgh in a positive way with so much class. A real role model. My fav player of all time ,Mel Blount is the same. He is just a little more behind the scene.
The reason I posted those stats was because I disagreed with the usage comment and the surrounding players comment.
Obviously the big difference is the fairytale story of 4 SB’s. Legends are much easy to be made. Bell could do nothing to dispel that.
Bell did had a 167 yards 2 TD game against Miami and a 170 yard game against KC in the playoffs.
The real difference is the different eras. Bell was a pot smoking don’t take your job too seriously,money,money,money immature internet punk. Franco was a man.
Both had 4.1 Drink.
Where Bell smoked him was total yards because of his receptions and yardage.
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They were such different types of runners......vastly different. I can only imagine being a defense playing against Franco and then bringing in Bell and how hard it would be for both lines to adjust to the different styles.....be confusing as F
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I remember a survey taken when the Bus was rolling big time..
It went something like who would want to least likely face in a one on one
I remember one choice was the Randy Johnson Fast Ball,
One choice was to tackle Jerome Betis in open field.
Can’t remember the third choice……. Doesn’t matter because
Winner was like 3 to one no one want to tackle Jerome Bettis…….
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Yeah but the most important question is who was the better rapper?
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He had his Urlacher moments for sure but he also got tripped up pretty easily when going laterally. I always thought Jerome's feet were his secret weapon. I'd rather tackle Jerome than Earl Campbell that's for sure but wouldn't want to tackle any of them.
Marshawn, Earl, Walter, Adrian, and Jim B....some of the nastiest. I watched an interview once of Jim Brown......he would intentionally get up from a tackle in the first half of the game groaning, pretending to be tired and hurt so when the second half came around and his opponents expected him to.tire out he'd pick up the speed and brutality to make them want to quit.
That dude was medeival
Speaking of (that's a good new post some day)......who would be on your NFL Mt Rushmore.......to me Brownie is without question on there
HC Noll
DC Lebeau
OC Arians
QB Big Ben
RB Bettis Bell
WR Brown
WR Stallworth
WR Ward
TE Miller
LT Smith
LG Faneca
C Webster
RG Decastro
Rt Searcy
D
DE Watt
DT Greene
DTHampton
DE Greenwood
OLB Harrison
MLB Lambert
LB Ham
CB Woodson
CB Blount
S Clark
S Polamalu
K Bozwell
P Miller
DC Lebeau
OC Arians
QB Big Ben
RB Bettis Bell
WR Brown
WR Stallworth
WR Ward
TE Miller
LT Smith
LG Faneca
C Webster
RG Decastro
Rt Searcy
D
DE Watt
DT Greene
DTHampton
DE Greenwood
OLB Harrison
MLB Lambert
LB Ham
CB Woodson
CB Blount
S Clark
S Polamalu
K Bozwell
P Miller