History of the Detroit Lions that feat was Buddy Parker, in 1952–53 during his second and third seasons at the helm. In 1997, Barry Sanders ran for 2,053 rushing yards. At the time, his career total rushing 15,269 yards was second only to Walter Payton's 16,726 yards and he joined Jim Brown as the only players among the NFL's 50 all-time rushing leaders to average 5 yards a carry, but he retired abruptly after the 1998 season. Emmitt Smith has since broken Payton's record, accumulating 18,355 career rushing yards, which bumped down Sanders to the #3 spot on the list of total career rushing yards.
Jim Taylor (American football) first meeting between Taylor and Brown was a week-five game in 1961. In that 49–17 win at Cleveland on October 15, Taylor outmatched Brown's 16 carries for 72 yards as he rushed 21 times for 158 yards and four say Taylor was better than Jim Brown, but he beat him head to head," said Packers historian Cliff Christl. "That's the type of player he was. It was a motivating factor for him." Taylor finished his ten-year playing career with 8,597 yards and 83 rushing touchdowns, highlighted by his five straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons from 1960 to 1964. He was the