How Good Was OJ Simpson Actually? 

RIP OJ 🙏🏾

Until someone hits 2000 yards in a 14 game season don't want to hear it .....

I remember watching OJ pass the 2000 yard mark. It was December 16, 1973. I remember the date because it was my dad's birthday. Buffalo's Offensive line was the "Electric Company", and OJ was "The Juice". Juice ran behind Joe DeLamielleure and Reggie McKenzie as guards. Oddly enough, the most rememberable OJ runs were when he would cutback across the field. He had a long stride and bent forward at the waist. He looked a bit like an animation. Dude was spectacular. ( That is no commentary on his later infamy). If you want a RB with an opposite running style for comparison, Eric Dickerson was nearly opposite in style. Dickerson ran straight up...also very fast. OJ was bent forward.

Anyone who asks this question never saw the man play. I have been watching football for over 50 years and OJ was the best RB I ever saw.

OJ was the best player in the NFL for about 5 years in early and mid 70’s. He was all the Bills had and teams couldn’t stop him. Rushed for over 200 in a game against the Steelers when they didn’t give up 200 in 4 games.

As an NFL fan in the 70's, OJ was just spectacular. When his downfall came, it was such a profound disappointment. He was just such an easy guy to love, and to root for, and to be awed by. To this day, my disappointment over all of it stays with me. He really was a great player.

OJ could take it to the house anytime he had the ball in his hands

Among those of us old enough to watch OJ Simpson play live, he is remembered for being a great running back, powerful and graceful, on a relatively poor team, broke and set rushing records, and made the Hall of Fame for good reason. Period.

What many people don’t realize about OJ was that added to his size (6’ 3” 225 pounds), he was one of the fastest running backs EVER. His last year at USC, he finished 4th in the U.S. Olympic trials meaning if he had not turned pro, he would have been part of the U.S. 4x100 meter relay team.

I’m from Buffalo and still to this day you hear old guys tell us he was the greatest lol. He’s one of those dudes you could drop into 2024 NFL football and he would absolutely destroy everyone.

Huge Bills fan. Incredible running back on a very poor Bills team. Fast and powerful runner. MVP on a 1 to 2 win season is hard to do.

I was fortunate to get to see him play in his prime, he was a great running back. I grew up during the 70s playing football and I would try to emulate his moves. To this day I think the 3 best running backs that I have ever seen were O.J., Walter Payton and Earl Campbell, you could also throw Barry Sanders in with that group as well. I did not get to see Jim Brown play, so I can't include him based upon who I watched, but clearly from a historical perspective Jim Brown was the best.

I've seen a lot of OJ content. I think you did a good job of separating his off the field issues with his football career. He was the best player in his era. He ran the ball without any threat of a passing game. Everybody in the stadium knew he was getting the ball, and the best defenses of his day still couldn't stop him.

Loved OJ. Read his biography back in the 70's. He was my hero!

I promise you OJ was everything during his time. He was Jim Brown and Gayle Sayers rolled into one. The critical thing is mentioned here. ... whatever you think of OJ personality, he stands up to the best running backs ever. period. He gave 1000 percent on the field -always. the narrator talks about brain damage, well OJ - for all his grace and speed - look at how tough he was with contact - fought his way through the toughest tacklers. One thing that was hilarious was his legs. ... he had skinny seemingly undeveloped legs. So when he made contact it was like a boxing match as he used his upper bady strength to fend off tacklers. When OJ went over 2000 yards for the season he did that with the last game played essentially on ice. Strangely, that game illustrated more than anything his particular genius. It turned out he was the most gifted man on the field precariously balancing himself on ice and rushing for more than 100 yards. that game and season was the equivalent of the Dolphins perfect season. forever etched in history.

Living in Chicago, I fervently believe that Walter Payton was the greatest all-around running back I have ever seen. But there was no running back more exciting to watch than the Juice.

I'm 69....prime of NFL days 70's. Thanks. You did a great job here. Keep 'em comin.

You forgot his acting career. I saw him in the 70s and especially followed the 2,003 yard season. He had power and grace - an amazing athlete.

As a football player, O.J. is one of the best ever. No question.

Interesting theory on CTE being the catalyst in the murders. First thing that would be brought up to dispute that testimony would probably be that OJ was also an experienced film actor and sideline reporter who passed rather unsuspecting as a well adjusted person. It’s more believable that and this is coming from Nicole’s therapist that retired athletes living well off still have a superiority complex. OJ even replied to his civil disposition that he would never beg Nicole to reconcile, knowing he can get hot younger women in the snap of a finger. The CTE can be thrown out in a would be trial. Simpson was in complete control of his impulses.

Nice video. It's hard to believe now but Simpson was tremendously popular. He had TV commercials (Hertz) and was in movies (The Naked Gun). Now that seems like it was 1,000 years ago.

This man ran 273 yards in a single game, 2000 yards in a 14 game season the juice was a beast.

Well done video. I like your personal viewpoint within the storyline facts. Tragic stories about sports stars and their careers are very attractive to my right hand's mouse-clicking hand!

Probably the greatest running back of his era? He WAS the greatest at that time!

Can't deny what he did on the field.

I was there at Shea stadium when he broke the 2,000yards in a season rushing title he was smooth as a runner

Great video dude I subscribed

On the gridiron, in his prime, he was an un f’ing believable running back. He was as smooth and fast a runner as there ever was. In no particular order: Brown, Sayers, Payton, Simpson

he was the most fluid runner I ever saw. His style of running was like no one else.

THE 1$T NFL/professional athlete to have an athletic shoe contract endorsement. I wore his signature 'Juicemobiles' myself while playing my first year of junior league football in 1976. Considering how sorry the Buffalo Bills were in the 70s, Simpson's statistics are off the chain. His unique running style was subtle but very elusive. Simpson's backfield teammate, fullback Jim Braxton. . an excellent blocker, paved the way for Simpson, opening holes, and rarely gets mentioned. Like him or not. . .one of the greatest football players, ever, period. His personal life, a different story, of course. . . and one that severely tarnished his reputation/accomplishments.

Was in Rich Stadium for the 7th game of the '73 season. MNF with Cosell and co. with the Chiefs in town. Dude reached a 1,000 yards during the game. Got 2,003 in 14! HELL YEA HE WAS CRAZY!!!

My FAVORITE RB ALL-TIME RB! The greatest RB of the 1970's! 2,000 yards in just 14 games. OUTSTANDING! Not a monster/ murderer to me! The law says he's an innocent man. And that's enough for me! Opinions are like assholes! EVERYBODY HAS ONE! R.I.P. OJ! The juice is finally loose!

He was a "slasher" in more ways than one .

There would be no team in Buffalo today if it weren't for O.J. Simpson.

5:18 That is world class speed on display.

OJ was good at running. Decent at catching. Amazing at killing.

I'm old enough to witness his career. He was on a terrible team so everybody knew he was getting the ball. Didn't matter. So what made him great? He had a pattern of loping to the hole and then bursting through it, often with a juke move. Pure artistry

I was a wee pup when he was in his prime, & I don't remember watching him play, but he seemed larger than life in his post playing career(s). Besides the Hertz commercials & Naked Gun movies(among others?), he popped up here & there as a lot of football icons do. I remember being shocked with the murder charges in the 90's & remember listening to tje car chase & watching it on TV during the Rockets/Knicks championship game, they had the game boxed on top(at least in Cali, where I was living at that time). Just goes to show, ya never know, he was a charmer.

You were a little nervous yet you delivered great commentary on a very controversial public figure.

Easily a top 3 halfback all time. Still the highest yards/game in history, 1973. He was a real slasher.

Oj is the reason i started watching football..i still remember it very clearly, my first football game i ever watched was with my uncle and his friends around 1972 or 73 buffalo vs Oakland and oj was spectacular!!

Good video, good take,, CTE definitely. Went crazy.lost his mind. Sad for families,Ron@ Nicole.

I was looking for this video because his career is something that needs to be studied

I'm 5'5 and one day i took two steps for every five yards for forty yards. Thats the standard i use. i had the exact o.j. simpson # 32 picture on my wall when i was 12.

Good piece! When I was little as a Chicago Bears fan Walter Payton was always my fav RB, but OJ and Dallas Cowboys Tony Dorsette were a close 2nd.

Top 10 all time no matter what

Only time he was caught from behind was in that white bronco remember the 2003 in 14 games had 200+ against the steel curtain that yr

He was the best of the best. He was always exciting to watch. The Hertz rental car commercials were fun to watch too.

I was a kid when OJ played for the Niners. Never thought much of him. This was a good video.

As a kid in the 60s and 70s I lived in Virginia and was hard to watch OJ on tv with so few channels. But I remember every year on thanksgiving day they allay showed a buffalo game. And with that only one game a year I loved watching OJ. He never disappointed. Was a thrill to watch once a year.

Good video!! Can remember watching O.J. while growing up during the 1970s. Yep - remember the murder trials as well. Was in the US Army at the time and stationed in South Korea. Day the verdict was to be announced a warning went out to all installations mainly directed at the HWYTESES service members to be prepared for any type of backlash should the verdict go the "unexpected" way. Once I returned to the states and returned home to Ohio I went to the Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. Yep - his statue was SEPARATED from everyone else's, kind of like the Hall of Fame did not know how or what to do with it. Last time I was at the Hall of Fame was about 5-years ago and the statue was still separated but not in the way it was back in the 1990s.

OJ was found not guilty!! He is one of the greatest in NFL history!

He wanted to finish his career as a 49er. He grew up in San Francisco, was a Niner fan.

To anyone who doubts his talent; 2003 yards-14 games on a team whose entire offensive game plan was; 1st down; OJ in tailback following Braxton between Guard and Tackle. 2nd down; OJ in HB around end. 3rd down; (when needed) another handoff to OJ, or fake, then screen pass to him out on the wing. *Maybe* hit the WR if the D was overplaying the run. If the QB Ferguson threw 20 times in a game it was rare and shocking.... EVERYONE knew he was coming, and no one could stop him.

2,000 yards in a 14 game season was a much bigger accomplishment than most records today. His short video on the Top 100 NFL Players of All Time is excellent.

I remember him first as a sideline announcer and always enjoyed him.

Actually in a kinda weird way his prison time was associated with the double hom. He was found at fault in a civil suit and alot of his personal Memorabilia was auctioned off to pay up. He found one of the collectors at a show and was trying to rob his stuff to get it back. Thats what he did time for.

I had every copy of sports. Illustrated, when OJ ran for over 2000 yd, it was amazing.

Bro next up 💯

In the most contested top of all times argument in all of sports OJ has always been my number one. Shout out to Jim Brown and Bo Jackson.

RIP Juice! You the man

OJ was one special RB that made the fans come to their feet every time he touched the football and beloved by many after his retirement until 1994 when his world come crashing down on him

OJ had Jim Brown's tackle breaking ability with Barry Sanders moves and Gale Sayers breakaway speed.

I was born during that MVP season of '73', so at 50 years old, I'm not old enough to have seen him play. My memories of him were as Frank Dreben's bumbling detective partner in the hilarious Naked Gun movies 😂

He’d get 130 yards in a game and we’d be disappointed he didn’t reach 200! 😅. Once he got into open field it was like humans trying to catch a gazelle

Back in the day, it was always a joy to watch him play…loved him in Naked Gun too…

I grew up in the 1970’s, I didn’t see him often because I lived in the south and the Bills didn’t come on often down here. But when I did see him, all I remember was he running on 1st and 2nd down and them passing to him on 3rd. I don’t think the Bills had any other option. He clearly was the man.

Not only a great player, but the most marketable player of all-time despite playing before the social media craze, only Broadway Joe Namath could match or come close to his appeal.

Fantastic video this man was the best he had speed power and elusiveness

It's crazy I went to a Buffalo Bills game in 2021and not 1 person in the whole stadium had a #32 I saw Ferguson jerseys and some old ones but no OJ jerseys 😞 unbelievable he was by far the greatest player the franchise has ever seen even Jim Kelly and Josh Allen

Next to Jim Brown he’s about the best I’ve seen!

my favorite RB all time

I was in the 9th grade when the OJ verdict was given in live television. All the teachers got phone calls that there was a verdict so they held everyone past the bell to watch it. And when it was read there was an explosion of joy and it sickened me. That entire infamous situation was f****d.

Thank you for this. I grew up in Toronto and we watched the O.J. and the Buffalo Bills on our antenna.

The way he could knife through any defense made him an absolute killer……..

Greatest slashing running back of all time.

They drafted Michigan and Michigan State offensive lineman and Jim Braxton

Simpson's first year in Buffalo was wasted by Bills HC John Rauch who did not use him in an offense that would highlight his talents. It took the hiring of Lou Saban who focussed on constructing a powerful offensive line specifically to use Simpson more effectively that Simpson's talent was more fully utilized.

Yeah, OJ and Lem Barney were my first favorite football players. OJ's legacy is handcuffed now, but man, he was something else on the field. He, Tom Seaver, and an aerial of a lighted Tiger Stadium were the only sports posters I ever had on a wall. Surreal Milan train station mob scene at the TV's when the verdict came down - the excited chatter was very strange in other tongues - while we thought we were getting away from all the Americano-style hype lol

Pete Rose isn't allowed in the baseball hof for gambling , which millions of people go to Reno every year and do , but OJ is still in the football hall of fame even though he did something heinous . Something is terribly wrong with this scenario .

1 of the best ever 😊

Great running backs often have great offensive lines and OJ also had a bruising fullback. As good as OJ was, the linebackers today as well as the defensive coordinators would be able to stop him, as well as the offensive coordinators who get bored running the ball.

Great points made in this video. Basically, we celebrate a guy for success in a sport where he has to bash other guys with his head in order to succeed, and then later in his life when he can't control his actions because of chronic traumatic brain injury, we call him a failure. There's something wrong with that.

He was also a great TV analyst after his career.

He was a terrific slasher.

How good was OJ actually? He actually LEFT all the evidence at the crime scene to make the prosecution think "Ain't nobody this stupid to leave a glove and drops of blood on their car. Nah OJ didn't do this."

You cannot take away what he did on the football field. OJ led a crazy life - in the end. He was a super-star.

People forget how powerful a runner he was. Still the best running back I ever saw play.

I watched him play. From his first game at USC, he was compared to Jim Brown. After his last one in the NFL, everyone else was compared to OJ. There have been some great RB's since him, and the game has changed so much that comparison is irrelevant, but OJ is the GOAT.

He is the best I have seen in my lifetime, I didn't see Jim Brown OJ is the greatest running back in my book

It’s amazing that it took so long for him to shine, today’s NFL if you don’t produce right away you automatically left behind, it’s so ridiculous people have no patience today. It takes time to develop a quarterback and it takes time to build a team you can’t have everything all at once. People need to remember that when watching Justin Fields and the Bears.

He had that KIL.LER instinct!

(Insert murder pun here) 👇

When the NFL and AFL announced that they would merge starting in the 1970-71 season that resulted in a common draft (before this the NFL and AFL held separate drafts and if a player was drafted by both leagues a bidding war would take place). As a result, the Buffalo Bills had the worst previous record going into the 1970 draft and drafted Simpson. Privately Simpson said he would have preferred to play for an original NFL team not in a backwater that Buffalo was.

Good show.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Eric Dickerson was a very similar RB. Both were big but had track star speed. But to me the best all around RB ever is Payton.

Ain't no Bronco truck like the "O.J."💯

Best running back I ever saw in my lifetime.

I was fortunate to see him play at SC, living in Southern Cal just miles away from the Coliseum it was a easy bike ride. I was in high school back in 66 and the field was easy access. I have one of his rookie jersey (Signed) in a glass case hanging in my game room. Along with Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Sonny Jurgensen, Barry Sanders, Doug Williams (Tampa Bay), Daryl Lamonica, John Brodie, Dick Butkus, and a few other jerseys. O.J. was found innocent no matter what people may think, I just wish we can leave it at that and focus on the sport.

In his heyday day he did not come across as a “crazy man.” In fact, he was very intelligent, very well spoken.