Twenty-four years ago this month, on October 27, 2002, Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith took a handoff on second-and-7 from his own 30-yard line, cut left and ran 11 yards. That run moved him past Walter Payton’s career mark of 16,726 rushing yards and made him the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. He did it at Texas Stadium in front of 63,854 fans, reaching a goal he had set for himself before his rookie season in 1990.
The day did not end the way he wanted. Seattle won 17-14 on a 20-yard Rian Lindell field goal with 25 seconds left. Smith still finished with 109 yards on 24 carries, both season highs, and a touchdown.
Last chance at home
Smith was 33 and midway through his 13th season, all of them in Dallas. He came into the game 93 yards short of passing Payton, and he wanted to do it in front of the home crowd. The Cowboys were 3-4. The Seahawks were 1-5.
He started fast, with 55 yards in the first quarter. Then he stalled. In the second quarter he lost a fumble and had two carries for losses, and he went into halftime still at 55. Seattle led 7-0 on a 2-yard Shaun Alexander run with 12 seconds left in the half.
Smith ran five times for 25 yards on a late third-quarter drive, and rookie quarterback Chad Hutchinson finished it with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway. Seattle answered early in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard Alexander run for a 14-7 lead.
The record run
Dallas got the ball back at its own 27 with a little over 10 minutes left, and Smith was 13 yards away. Everybody in the building knew who was getting the ball. The first handoff went for 3 yards. On the next play, second-and-7 from the 30, Smith went left behind tackle Flozell Adams and guard Jeremy McKinney. He was tripped up near the line and stumbled, but he put his right hand on the turf to stay up and kept going to the Dallas 41, where cornerback Ken Lucas brought him down.
The official play-by-play stopped to note it: “Emmitt Smith passes Walter Payton as the National Football League’s all-time career rushing leader. Payton’s former record was 16,726 yards. Smith now has 16,728.” The game was halted, and Smith took the ball to the sideline and hugged his mother on the field.
When play resumed, Smith lost a yard, then ran 14 yards on third-and-3 and finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown. It was his 150th career rushing touchdown, extending his own league record, and it tied the game at 14 with 5:35 left.
Seattle spoils the party
Seattle was playing with its backup quarterback. Starter Trent Dilfer tore his right Achilles tendon in the second quarter, and Matt Hasselbeck finished the game. Hasselbeck drove the Seahawks 72 yards in 13 plays, and Lindell kicked the winning field goal with 25 seconds to go. Seattle’s punter that day was Jeff Feagles, who years later passed Jim Marshall’s record for consecutive games played. You can read more about Marshall in our wrong-way run feature.
| Quarter | Scoring play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Shaun Alexander 2-yard run (Rian Lindell kick) | SEA 7–0 |
| 3rd | Joey Galloway 39-yard pass from Chad Hutchinson (Billy Cundiff kick) | 7–7 |
| 4th | Shaun Alexander 5-yard run (Lindell kick) | SEA 14–7 |
| 4th | Emmitt Smith 1-yard run (Cundiff kick) | 14–14 |
| 4th | Rian Lindell 20-yard field goal, 0:25 left | SEA 17–14 |
| Emmitt Smith on Oct. 27, 2002 | Total |
|---|---|
| Carries | 24 |
| Rushing yards | 109 |
| Longest run | 14 |
| Runs of 10+ yards | 6 |
| Rushing touchdowns | 1 (career No. 150) |
| Career rushing yards after the game | 16,743 |
“A person to look up to”
Payton, Smith’s longtime idol, died in November 1999 at 45. He had played all 13 of his seasons for the Chicago Bears, and he set the record in 190 games.
Payton once said he wanted “to set the record so high that the next person who tries for it, it’s going to bust their heart.” In a postgame ceremony on the field, Smith answered him. “Today is a special day for me, my family and the Payton family,” he said. “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.”
Many fans stayed after the loss for the ceremony, which ended with a banner coming down from the Texas Stadium rafters: “All-Time Leading Rusher, 22, Emmitt Smith.” That is the banner in the photo at the top of this story.
From Brown to Payton to Smith
Since Jim Brown took the record in October 1963, it has changed hands only twice. Brown became the career leader on October 20, 1963, as we covered in our Jim Brown anniversary story, and retired with 12,312 yards. Payton passed him on October 7, 1984, at Soldier Field against New Orleans, and pushed the mark to 16,726 by the time he retired after the 1987 season. Smith’s run 18 years later started the third reign, and it is still going.
Where the record stands now
Smith played the rest of 2002 and then two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before retiring as a Cowboy in February 2005. He finished with 18,355 rushing yards and 164 rushing touchdowns, both still NFL records, along with a record 4,409 carries. He was the first player with 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons, won three Super Bowls with Dallas and was named league MVP and Super Bowl XXVIII MVP for the 1993 season. He went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, his first year of eligibility.
No one has come close since. Payton is still second, more than 1,600 yards behind.
Watch: the run and the career
The first clip shows the record run and the celebration that stopped the game. The second is a look back at Smith’s whole career.
For more October history on WhyNFL, read October 25, 1964: Jim Marshall’s wrong-way run, October 24, 1971: Chuck Hughes and October 21, 1985: the Refrigerator scores. For today’s team, see our Cowboys–Packers Sunday night preview and the Cowboys team page.
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