Back in 2002, John Randle knew the best way for his Seattle Seahawks to avoid giving up the all-time rushing record to Emmitt Smith was if the Dallas Cowboys running back and future Hall of Famer simply didn’t play in the game.
In one corner was Smith, who entered the Oct. 27, 2002, game needing 93 yards on the ground to surpass Walter Payton’s 16,726 rushing yards. And in the opposite corner were the Seahawks, who were allowing 189.5 rushing yards through the first six games of the 2002 season.
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Even with a banged-up offensive line, everyone knew the Cowboys were going to run the ball. And to stack the odds even more against Seattle, rookie quarterback Chad Hutchinson was making his first career start, and the next three weeks Dallas had a bye sandwiched in between two road games. Realistically, this was the only chance that Smith would have to break the record at home, so Randle prepared his plea.
“Before the game, I’ll try to convince him not to play, go back home and watch TV or something,” the defensive tackle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Oct. 26, 2002. “Emmitt’s always breaking records. He doesn’t need to break one this weekend.”
There was no chance of that happening, Shawn Springs exclusively told The Athletic, so the Seahawks’ next best strategy was to create as much congestion in Smith’s running lanes as possible. Not only were they planning to load up the box, but coach Mike Holmgren also wanted Seattle to throw different looks at Smith.
“Coach had told us, ‘Hey, they’re going to try to get him the record,’” Springs said. “They’re gonna do everything they can, so we’re gonna try to stop the run. And we blitz, and we put eight men in the box and changed the look up, and we just tried to do our best. Obviously, we weren’t very good that year at front defense. In a game like that … you don’t want Steph Curry to get 15 3s on you, or he’ll beat the record. You know he’s going (for it), (and) you try your hardest to run him off the 3-point line, but you couldn’t stop him from pulling up at half court.
“Same thing with Emmitt, right? He was just determined. He was a whole different beast. He was an animal. … We had played Dallas before, but it was a whole ‘nother level, man. He had that look in his eye, like, ‘You ain’t stopping me. I don’t give a s— what y’all do. Y’all can have a hundred people, and you’re not gonna stop me.’ He just was so determined.”
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It was a valiant effort, but ultimately for naught for the Seahawks. In front of former Cowboys teammates Michael Irvin and Daryl Johnston — his lead blocker for so many of those rushing yards — as well as Payton’s family and 63,854 fans at Texas Stadium, Smith used an 11-yard run with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter to overtake Payton’s record.
“Move over, Sweetness,” Brad Sham of the Cowboys Radio Network said on air. “Make a place for Emmitt.”
(Donna McWilliam / Associated Press)
Smith gaining the record on a day when he rushed for 109 yards and a score on 24 carries was the most remarkable thing about an otherwise unremarkable matchup between the 3-4 Cowboys and 1-5 Seahawks, who actually won the contest, 17-14.
In theory, finishing the game as the victor was a tremendous silver lining for a Seattle team expected to not only concede the record but also lose that October day. However, simultaneously becoming a new trivia fact in the process was exactly what the Seahawks were hoping to avoid.
“Everybody’s like, you wanna stop ’em, right?” Springs said about the Seahawks’ attitude going into the game. “Like, not on us, right? You don’t wanna be remembered for the highlight.
“We really went into the game thinking that we could try to put our best performance up. You knew that both teams were gonna play hard, because that week it was in Dallas, so you knew they wanted to break the record for him in Dallas. So, you’re like, ‘We not gonna let them shine on us,’ and we played hard. You could tell it was something different about that game, you know what I mean? It’s, like, a different feel in the air. … There was cameras, everything at the game, and you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s a whole different atmosphere.’ Everybody was there — and he broke the record.”
Springs has been on the field when two other NFL records were broken. The first was in 1998 when Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis became the fourth rusher to eclipse 2,000 yards on the ground and the first with 2,000 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns in the same season. He’d go on to become the first and only back with 2,000 yards rushing in the same year he won the Super Bowl.
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The second was almost 10 years later in 2007 when he played in Washington with Sean Taylor, who intercepted Brett Favre twice as Favre set the all-time interceptions record at 278.
Of the three times Springs has played in a game with record-setting implications, Smith surpassing Payton is one he cherishes the most. Which is somewhat funny, in retrospect, because on that play, Springs initially thought that Smith had broken his teammate Ken Lucas’ tackle, so for a split second, the defensive back was gearing up to make a touchdown-saving tackle.
Springs quickly realized that Smith had been marked down, once he saw the running back lift both of his arms and begin to celebrate. When Smith walked by him, Springs put his hands on his chest and said, “Congratulations, man.”
“You’re competitive, but you’re honored, right?” Springs said. “I’ve been in the game, probably about three or four records that I can remember. That was a special moment for the NFL, so I was honored. That was probably the No. 1 record I’ve been (involved with). … The Emmitt one was unique; Terrell Davis rushing for (2,008) yards, it was crazy, but for Emmitt to break the all-time leading rusher in the NFL, I don’t know, that was just an honor to be a part of the game.”
Smith, a 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, eventually finished his 15-year playing career with 18,355 yards on the ground and 164 rushing touchdowns on 4,409 rushing attempts, which still remain all-time bests for a running back. He did so, in large part, by missing only 14 games over that time — seven during his 13 seasons with the Cowboys and seven more in two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals in 2003 and 2004.
With Payton’s mother and brother, Alyne and Eddie, in attendance, Smith took time after the game to thank the late Chicago Bears great for setting a mark that motivated him to aspire for more on the field and as a person.
“Today is a special day for me, my family and the Payton family,” Smith said during the postgame ceremony. “Because without Payton doing what he did in the National Football League and representing all he represented, he wouldn’t have given a young man like myself a dream, something to shoot after, and a person to look up to and try to emulate in every way possible.”
(Photo: Ron T. Ennis / Fort Worth Star-Telegram / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)