Bo Jackson was the greatest running back ever

I was ready to rip you a new one then I checked my heading. I wanted to put Bo Jackson was the greats running back in a period. That is why my first post talked about 4 years and the other great backs. My bad! I guess the lack of sleep is catching up with me. I wanted to debate this because I needed one more debate and couldn't think of anything. I am a Raiders fan and I believe in a 4 year period as shown here at http://www.footballperspective.com...... that I posted earlier he was and could have been the greatest of all time. I will continue the debate on the facts that he was not in football shape because of baseball, he had limited plays when he was in, he shared the time in the backfield with Marcus Allen and he had a mediocre line at the time. The team was terrible going through 3 coaches in 4 years and posting records in Bo's 4 seasons of 5-10, 7-9, 8-8 and 12-4. If he hadn't dislocated his hip at the end of the playoff win against Cincinnati they may have beaten buffalo the following week and went to the super bow. I know a lot of ifs but you can not deny the man's greatness. A combination of unprecedented speed and power created Bo Jackson"s legacy on the field. He evaded initial attempted tackles at the defensive line and outran the rest of the defense en route to his final destination, the end zone. His unforgettable run with the Raiders against the Seattle Seahawks for nearly the length of the football field and into the tunnel displayed his blazing speed. In that same game, his display of sheer power provided another sensational moment when he literally ran over the Seahawks" Brian Bosworth at the goal line for a score on Monday Night Football. Countless other captivating plays dominate his career highlight reel. At Auburn Jackson finished his career with an average of 6.6 yards (6.0 m) per carry, which set the SEC record (minimum 400 rushes). In 1985, Jackson rushed for 1786 yards which was the second best single-season performance in SEC history. That year, he averaged 6.4 yards per rush, which at the time was the best single-season average in SEC history. For his performance in 1985, Jackson was awarded the Heisman Trophy. With the Raiders He had the strength and the guts to play. During the 1991 playoffs, Jackson was tackled by Kevin Walker of the Cincinnati Bengals, causing a serious hip injury that ended Jackson's football career and seriously threatened his baseball career. After Jackson was tackled and lying in pain on the ground, he allegedly popped his hip back into place. In an interview on Untold, his Royals team mate George Brett, who attended the game, said he asked the trainer what had happened to Bo. The trainer replied "Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that's just impossible, no one's that strong." Following surgery and rehabilitation on his injured hip, it was discovered that Jackson had a vascular necrosis, as a result of decreased blood supply to the head of his left femur. This caused deterioration of the femoral head, ultimately requiring that the hip be replaced. Amazingly, Jackson was able to return to baseball toward the end of the 1991 season as a member of the White Sox after the Royals released him. Jackson missed the entire 1992 baseball season. When he announced soon after his surgery that he would play baseball again, many thought that goal to be unrealistic, especially at the Major League level. Additional superlatives include 1989 and 1990 second-team All-Conference selections, a Pro Bowl roster nomination in the latter year and qualifying in the top-three for best average per rush in two consecutive seasons. He also led the 1989 Raiders with 950 yards on a remarkable 5.5 yards per carry. Greatness doesn't always have to be defined in a long period of time. Sometimes you just know greatness when you see it. I remember in Gretzky's 3rd year they were already calling him the great one. Michael Jordan was called great when his team couldn't get past Isaiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons at first!