1. Running backs generally get the ball on less than half of the offensive snaps. What they do when they don't get the ball counts. Emmitt was one of the best pass blocking RBs in the history of the game. Sanders was known to be pretty uninterested in that aspect of the game.
2. Sanders clearly has the better highlight reel, but what about his lowlight reel? I would bet that the worst 30% of his carries look significantly worse than Smith's worst 30%.
3. With Detroit losing so much, Sanders had more carries against prevent-type defenses, while also being in a run&shoot offense that spread the defense out. While this wasn't a great formula for winning, it was a great formula for racking up plenty of cheap, non-impactful yards.
4. The fact that Detroit used to take Sanders out at the goal line because of his penchant for negative plays is pretty damning.
5. The only 2 Dallas O linemen anybody would've heard of without Emmitt being there were Eric Williams and Larry Allen. The others were journeymen without him. Period.
6. Take Emmitt off those Cowboys teams and they wouldn't have won jack shit.