On February 3, 2005 Emmitt Smith walked out onto the press conference stage and retired from the NFL as a Dallas Cowboy, despite playing his final two season's as an Arizona Cardinal. Jerry Jones, in a remarkable tribute to Smith's prolific career as a cowboy signed Emmitt to a one day contract allowing Smith to end his career where he belonged, Dallas.
Emmitt Smith, in my mind, is the greatest running back to ever grace the football field. Smith made it look easy. He seemed to glide across the turf and magically find a hole and sprint down the field. Through the years I've watched him take the hand off hundreds of times and turn broken plays into major gains. His vision was nearly super-human.
Not only was he quick, he was tough. He'd take a major hit and while half the country sat on the edge of their seats he'd pop up smirk and jog back to the huddle. The most memorable example of his true inner strength was the 1993 season finale against the NY Giants. The following is an article written by Ed Werder for The Dallas Morning News January 3, 1994:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Cowboys clinched another NFC East championship Sunday because Emmitt Smith has a pain threshold considerably more than his tolerance for losing.
He would wince. The Cowboys would win.
Despite a first-degree separation of his right shoulder and a punishing New York Giants defense, Smith won his third consecutive league rushing championship and made certain the Cowboys would not finish as runners-up.
He carried on and on at Giants Stadium, his feet crossing the carpet for 168 rushing yards as the Cowboys defeated Giants, 16-13, in overtime of the most important regular-season finale ever. The football was Smith's a team-record 42 times - 32 carries, 10 receptions - and he took the handoffs and the opportunities to produce 229 of the 339 yards the Dallas offense compiled.
In addition to all of that, he provided the Cowboys with a bye in the first round of the playoffs, and himself time to recover before the team makes its first playoff appearance at Texas Stadium in two weeks. Team trainer Kevin O'Neill said there are three degrees of shoulder separations with Smith's the least serious.
"I wanted to do whatever it took to win the game," said Smith, who scored the Cowboys' only touchdown of the game. "Sometimes the linemen would ask me if I was all right. I'd tell them I was. I lied. I wanted to do what I could. I've heard about guys playing hurt. I wanted to play hurt and be effective."
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