Rod Smith vs Demaryius Thomas

[Assassin27]

Rod Smith no question! Rods heart and passion for the game alone puts him ahead of DT.

[EddieMac]

Rod smith. Far more consistency.

But the OP showed huge bias in his presenting the two, to be fair.

DT had that Arizona game. And the super bowl game as his statement games.

[Peerless]

Rod smith. Far more consistency.

But the OP showed huge bias in his presenting the two, to be fair.

DT had that Arizona game. And the super bowl game as his statement games.

Outside of the first jokingly comment, I thought I tried to show/compare each player without such.

[Peerless]

Love DT , but id take Rod , the guy would show up and play every week, He was one heck of a WR, great hands, route runner, Great Run blocking WR, He was underated as a punt/KICK returner, he had a decent throwing arm and actually threw a few TDs and he was also the Broncos emergency QB. The play where Rod never gave up and runs down Carolina Rookie Julius Peppers and prevents him from scoring says every thing about what kind of player Rod Smith was, he just never gave up

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/s...on-return.html

BRONCOS 20, PANTHERS 17

Julius Peppers looked up and saw nothing but 104 yards of Mile High air between him and the end zone.

He only made it 101.

That pretty much defined yesterday for the Carolina Panthers, who came up just short, losing to the host Denver Broncos, 20-17.

Reuben Droughns ran for 193 yards for Denver (4-1). Jake Plummer made up for his fourth-and-goal interception to Peppers by throwing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ashley Lelie for the winning points with 9 minutes 42 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

After Peppers, a 283-pound defensive end, picked off Plummer's pass 4 yards deep in his end zone with about seven minutes left in the third quarter, he took off down the sideline. He started running out of steam around the Denver 20 and cut inside.

Then he started looking backward and saw Broncos receiver Rod Smith chasing him down. Peppers stumbled, Smith pounced on him at the Denver 3, the ball rolled into the end zone and Smith recovered. Carolina (1-3) challenged the play and kept the ball when the referee, Larry Nemmers, ruled Peppers was down before he lost the ball. It was the longest interception return in N.F.L. history that was not a touchdown.

I remember this play to this day.

Just proves that Rod always had the "never give up" mentality - whether it was for his job or for a play. A true pro's pro.

Edit:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-...-Smith-s-story

Here's the video of the play in question (I can't seem to get it to play in my browser, hopefully you can).

[samparnell]

Based on number of games played, Lionel Taylor is in the conversation for top Bronco WR. He played about half as many games as Rod, had more than half as many yards and two-thirds as many TDs. IMO Rod is the best. DT is pretty good, too, but not as good as Lionel who paved the way for hundred reception, thousand yard WRs in an era of fourteen games seasons.

[CanDB]

Outside of the first jokingly comment, I thought I tried to show/compare each player without such.

Good thread Brent!

I loved both players, but Rod's game was more solid, plus his stats, as good as they were, would probably be a little better if he played in DT's era....given the more strenuous rules favouring O over D. But even if that not be the case, I have nothing but good memories of Rod, whereas DT's final seasons have been questionable at times, in terms of 100% effort/focus.

[EddieMac]

O

Outside of the first jokingly comment, I thought I tried to show/compare each player without such.

Rereading. I can see the joking. Maybe it’s just the fact rod is the man made the post seem slanted. Haha

Great thread idea. We should do this with other pkayers from different eras too.

[Al Wilson 4 Mayor]

Rod smith. Far more consistency.

But the OP showed huge bias in his presenting the two, to be fair.

DT had that Arizona game. And the super bowl game as his statement games.

DT also owned Revis in that game against the Jets. That was a huge statement game because Revis was the best corner in the game at the time.

In all reality they are two very different types of players. Rod was more consistent, but he couldn’t physically take over games the way DT did. Players like Revis would make Rod fairly ineffective.

[Oust_Elway]

Rod Smith. I was never frustrated with Smith like I was with DT. The drops were just too big of a problem. DT was really good for a number of years but he aged way too quickly, had the drops, and honestly wasn’t as dominant as I think he could have been given his size.

[Hph5]

Without DT...the Broncos would probably be with the Dolphins and Rams as the only teams never to find the end zone in the SB...but I'll go with Rod. He always played hard...even when the team was losing.

[Narco]

Rod was the best. Then Matshall. Then DT.

[GiddyupGetEm]

Rod Smith is my favorite Bronco of all time. Elite work ethic and leadership with mediocre talent led to a HOF level career.

I can only imagine what could have been had he had either better physical assets or more seasons with Elway.

[johnlimburg]

I never got to watch the full career of Rod Smith, but I did get too watch the full careers of Brandon Marshall and Demaryius Thomas, and I would take Marshall over every Bronco receiver I have ever watched. Also, in terms of best seasons ever from a Broncos receiver, that year Brandon Lloyd had would have to feature some of the craziest catches I have ever witnessed, and that would have to go down as one of the most underrated individual seasons by a Bronco ever. Lloyd put up those numbers with Tebow and Orton throwing him the football, that was impressive.

[EddieMac]

I never got to watch the full career of Rod Smith, but I did get too watch the full careers of Brandon Marshall and Demaryius Thomas, and I would take Marshall over every Bronco receiver I have ever watched. Also, in terms of best seasons ever from a Broncos receiver, that year Brandon Lloyd had would have to feature some of the craziest catches I have ever witnessed, and that would have to go down as one of the most underrated individual seasons by a Bronco ever. Lloyd put up those numbers with Tebow and Orton throwing him the football, that was impressive.

I agree that I would Marshall over DT... but rod still wins in my book... and that season by Lloyd was crazy.. you almost had to throw him a bad pass to make him catch... haha

[johnlimburg]

I agree that I would Marshall over DT... but rod still wins in my book... and that season by Lloyd was crazy.. you almost had to throw him a bad pass to make him catch... haha

In terms of individual seasons, I would rank that 2011 season by Lloyd up there as the best I have seen any Bronco produce. Statistically it parallels the 2014 performance of Thomas, and the 2000 performance of Smith, it was an incredible year.