He was a running back with the Raiders who was a top-tier athlete in two sports, baseball and football. He much preferred baseball, though (he was a likely Hall of Famer before his injury). He was the first overall pick, but since that team refused to let him play baseball he never signed with them, and only played in the NFL after Al Davis decided to let him finish each baseball season before joining the Raiders squad. Effectively, this meant he only played about half the season, and was by necessity the team's second running back behind Marcus Allen. He still got paid like a full-time starting RB, though, which was fair since he outperformed several of them.

Dude was wicked fast, and unfairly powerful to boot. Of course, he thought of football as a mere hobby. It's not a perfect comparison, but think of him as Adrian Peterson if AP only started thinking about football in November, and openly told everyone he was only here because his real job is seasonal. As for why we're mentioning him, it's a combination of someone placing him on the wrong California team, and it being a very slow news day.

I don't see the original mention as placing him on the wrong California team, because the statement was along of the lines of: "If two old 49ers stars were back in their prime and if you put one of the best RBs in NFL history also on the 49ers team, then they would likely win one Super Bowl after another." - An extreme example of what-ifs, because the entire argument centered around "if, if, if".

No, he was on the white sox and I always liked him and was the only running back to cross my mind that played around that era. I knew joe montana and jerry rice were just a dominate combination because I was in SF when they were playing (I was like 6). If I were older and followed football more it wouldn't have mattered what team I got my players from (which I illustrated in the last post). I was just trying to make a point that if's were a valid argument then we can say if teams had players that were dominate years ago were playing today in their prime they would win

I confess, I only skimmed that part of the conversation. I stand corrected.

Gotcha. Understandable: he was one of the more famous players during his era (Tecmo Bo, anyone?), partly because of the two-sport thing, partly because he was such a beast. I think he still has the record for most rushing yards in a MNF game.

There is no way Akers could have won the first game against the Ram because the Rams would have won that easily in overtime if they had a better kicker.  Also last years Packers shot themselves in the the foot by going into shotdown mode before the season was over. 

Both kickers were 1/2 in that first game.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=321111025

San Francisco's David Akers missed wide left on a 41-yard attempt that could have sealed it for the 49ers (6-2-1), who lost quarterback Alex Smith to a first-half concussion.

"I don't know what to make of this," Willis said. "We have one of the best kickers in the game, and it came down to him at the end and he misses it. That tells you right there something wasn't right."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=321202014

The 49ers (8-3-1) failed to take advantage of a 14-yard punt by rookie Johnny Hekker to midfield when David Akers was barely wide right on a 51-yard attempt with 4:11 to go in overtime. Akers is just 7 for 15 from 40 yards and beyond.

"I probably missed it by 3-4 inches to the right," Akers said. "I just feel horrible for letting my teammates, the organization and the fans down."

But you still agree... If the 49ers had Peyton Manning, Andrian Peterson, and Calvin Johnson and they stay healthy they would win the super bowl every year... right?

Most teams with their current roster would have a greater chance of winning with these guys. The 49ers are already over the salary cap next year as a really good team in many spots already. Hell, the Broncos and a few others have to spend money next year to meet the minimum cap base. So this is a strange combination of players to say the 49ers should get on top of what they got.

Even funnier the Cowboys are way over the cap and they did not even make the playoffs.

But IF the salary cap didn't exist and IF the 49er's had those players and IF they stayed healthy they would be the first team to go 19-0

In that case, the Broncos need J.J. Watt, Rob Gronkowski and Arian Foster.