Sanders was the best player on those teams.
I think your point was that a player whose total package is a lot of short or negative runs plus a lot of long runs is not as valuable when he doesn't break the long run.
Now, you could make the argument that never having a good QB made it easier to defend Sanders, but if you look at what he did, its not impressive.
6 playoff games, 1 win in which he was awesome (27-169)
In the 5 losses, these were his numbers
rushes-yards-long
12-69-47
11-44-23
13--1-7
10-40-9
18-65-15
That is 5 games of rushing 64 times for 217 yards, and a 3.4 average, and if we apply your consideration of the long run aspect, and take away the 47 yarder on his other 63 carries in those 5 losses he averaged 2.7 ypc.
This is the heart of what you allude to. Lets call the 47 yarder an single handed TD. Is one TD in 5 games enough to overshadow 2.7 ypc and an average of only 34 yards per game otherwise?
