A Football Life: John Riggins 11/21/12 8pm NFL Network (Edit: 12 min preview added to OP)

[Bubble Screen]

Are you on crack?

Show me ONE SINGLE CLIP of Portis mowing people over as RIggins did. Oh that's right, you missed watching the show and you are glad. Because if you *HAD* watched the show you wold have seen clip after clip after clip of Riggo running people over and running past them. Two thousand yard seasons BEFORE THE HOGS. The fact is Riggins WAS a hog. And RIggo NEVER... EVER... slid to avoid contact. EVER.

And regardless of which one you think was better, to be glad you missed a show about one of the greatest redskins is one of the worst things I have ever heard a "fan" say. Un ******** believable.

The Portis fanboys crack me up. Portis, as good as he was, couldn't carry Riggo's jock. And one things for certain, you'd never see Riggins FALL DOWN so he wouldn't be tackled (Rams game). What a joke. GTFOH with this Portis was better than Riggins garbage.

[Parlett316]

Different styles, eras and teams. Impossible to compare unless you want to nitpick and argue just to argue.

[kingdaddy]

Portis behind the Hogs would have been scary....we saw a glimpse of it with what Timmy Smith did in SB XXll. He still holds the SB rushing record and he didn't have Portis talent. However, Riggins was a different kind of animal for defenses to handle. He was scary fast and even scarier big. You did not want to be the first one to have to hit him when he had the ball. Riggins was also the more durable back when compared to Portis. The Hogs would have taken bullets for John Riggins. They complemented each other perfectly.
One other thing.....Riggo did it for longer. He was still a full time running back at age 35-36 while racking up 46 TD's in his last 3 seasons. Portis was finished before the age of 30....or soon after turning 30.
Bottom line, Riggins is a legend, Portis was a bright star that burned out too soon.

[The Hangman- C_Hamberger]

What do you expect people to say about someone when they are asked to take part in a programme like this? Your about the same age as me and so I'm sure you recall Johns off field behaviour mainly drink related. Again I LOVED what Riggo did on a Sunday - but he was not exactly a model professional Monday through Saturday.

I remember him in traction in the hospital during the week...THEN show up on Sunday and run people OVER. NEVER heard him talk about the pain...Now we got guys with stubbed toes out WEEKS...I honestly don't remember Riggo missing a game...

[Mad Mike]

Different styles, eras and teams. Impossible to compare unless you want to nitpick and argue just to argue.

Different styles? You mean like Riggins running over people and Portis sliding to avoid contact?

---------- Post added November-28th-2012 at 06:38 PM ----------

I remember him in traction in the hospital during the week...THEN show up on Sunday and run people OVER. NEVER heard him talk about the pain...Now we got guys with stubbed toes out WEEKS...I honestly don't remember Riggo missing a game...

No ****. I remember that very clearly. You could see the pain on his face that last year but he kept mowing people down. As big a fan as I was, and as much as he was still doing for the team, I remember thinking that it was time for him to retire while he could still walk. Riggo was a true warrior.

---------- Post added November-28th-2012 at 06:43 PM ----------

Portis behind the Hogs would have been scary....we saw a glimpse of it with what Timmy Smith did in SB XXll. He still holds the SB rushing record and he didn't have Portis talent. However, Riggins was a different kind of animal for defenses to handle. He was scary fast and even scarier big. You did not want to be the first one to have to hit him when he had the ball. Riggins was also the more durable back when compared to Portis. The Hogs would have taken bullets for John Riggins. They complemented each other perfectly.
One other thing.....Riggo did it for longer. He was still a full time running back at age 35-36 while racking up 46 TD's in his last 3 seasons. Portis was finished before the age of 30....or soon after turning 30.
Bottom line, Riggins is a legend, Portis was a bright star that burned out too soon.

I would say that Portis was a very talented disappointment. At some point he just quit practicing the way a pro should. Even his team mates said it. He became Dan Snyder's spoiled golden boy and helped fracture the team. And for all of the effort he gave on Sunday, he could have given so much more if he did the same the rest of the week.

[E33Green]

Then color me pleasantly surprised and carry on with the thread at your leisure.

Thanks man. Appreciated.

Hail.

Since the show was produced by NFL films I doubt they would have included anything negative about Snyder even if all John did in the interviews was bash him. I think the whole Snyder/Riggins "conflict" (ie. the "dark heart" comments) was a result of John seeking publicity through controversy to promote his radio show and further his media career. Ever since his radio show was cancelled, I have been seeing less and less of John in the media and have not heard him say anything negative about the Redskins or Dan Snyder in a long time.

[ZRagone]

They were reshowing it today at 1:00 PM during their Football Life marathon. I didn't get to see it the first time around, but watching now and it's excellent.

The one thing I will say, with no shame once so ever....even as a near 30 year old male, who never had the honor of really witnessing the moments as they occured....there are two things in sports that inherently cause goosebumps to go over my skin and my eyes to tear up a bit at the pure emotion of it. Hearing the chorus of "We Want Dallas" chants before that NFC Championship game, and hearing the 70 Chip play call being made. After FINALLY having a tiny bit of that feeling during a season I actively watched, when they silenced the broadcasters and just panned around FedEx singing Hail to the Redskins on the last game of the season, I just hold onto hope that someday soon we'll have one of those moments for this generation.

Amazing job by NFL films, as always. This shows been really well done.

[RWJ]

Watching it now. I recorded it back in November. JR was and probably always will be my favorite Redskin's player. He gave all he had on the field. He played the game like a gentleman. Great all around FB. He could run, pass catch and block.

[repo_4]

They were reshowing it today at 1:00 PM during their Football Life marathon. I didn't get to see it the first time around, but watching now and it's excellent.

The one thing I will say, with no shame once so ever....even as a near 30 year old male, who never had the honor of really witnessing the moments as they occured....there are two things in sports that inherently cause goosebumps to go over my skin and my eyes to tear up a bit at the pure emotion of it. Hearing the chorus of "We Want Dallas" chants before that NFC Championship game, and hearing the 70 Chip play call being made. After FINALLY having a tiny bit of that feeling during a season I actively watched, when they silenced the broadcasters and just panned around FedEx singing Hail to the Redskins on the last game of the season, I just hold onto hope that someday soon we'll have one of those moments for this generation.

Amazing job by NFL films, as always. This shows been really well done.

I am lucky to be just old enough to remember the glory days of that era. But I still get what you are saying. This will be a great moment for me going forward.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/washington...o-the-Redskins