Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Why Jerry Rice is not the Greatest WR of All Time

Blasphemy! Ridiculous! What an idiot! Does this guy know anything? I can't wait to comment...

  You likely had a few of those thoughts running through your head when you read the title of this post, and frankly, I don't blame you.  One doesn't have to go far to find a debate on where to rank sports figures in their sport. Whether it's a top ten players of all-time list on the internet, a statistical analysis of Jordan vs. Lebron, or the yearly top 5 quarterbacks of all-time debate on ESPN, there isn't a single sports figure whose all-time greatest tag isn't debated, except for Jerry Rice.
  For most sports, the debate begins between the generations.  If you bring up Lebron James, someone reminds you that Michael Jordan has 6 rings.  If you make a claim that Tiger is the most dominant golfer ever, someone reminds you that he still hasn't passed Jack.  When it comes to baseball, there are 3 different greatest home run hitters of all-time depending on who you talk to.  Favre, Manning and Marino are statistically the best quarterbacks of all-time, yet Elway, Montana and Brady have the superbowl rings.  Even when you try to to talk about boxing, this happens...



  It's easy to get sucked into debates like that and sometimes they can go on for hours.  Hell, I've seen Coming to America many, many times, but I've never noticed until now that Cuba Gooding Jr. is the boy getting the haircut.  Perhaps I was so into the discussion that my brain filtered out what I was seeing.  Nonetheless, while you can hear debates like this anywhere, you won't find an argument like this about the Greatest Receiver of All-Time.  There is always one answer - Jerry Rice.  Occasionally you'll get some idiot making a claim or the classic what-if Jerry Rice was drafted by the Jets and Al Toon went to the 49ers line, but it's time for someone to dig deeper.
  Now that I'm finished explaining how foolish it would be to argue against Jerry Rice, I'm going to do it.  I will start by saying I'm not calling Jerry Rice a compiler by any means, but it is my belief that Rice is considered the best receiver for simply two reasons.  First, he played 20 seasons, in which he was able to set pretty much every receiving record in NFL history.  Second, Rice had two of the greatests single seasons ever in 1987 when he recorded 22 TD's in only 12 games and in 1995, when he amassed 1,848 yards and 15 TD's on 122 receptions.  If you exrapolate his 1987 numbers into a 16 game season, it would be the greatest single season in NFL history, at any position.
  You can't argue that Rice put up career numbers that were untouchable for years, but I want to take a deeper look into Jerry Rice's per game production vs other great WR's of the modern era.  I gathered career statistics for arguably the top 5 wide receivers of my lifetime, including Rice.  Using simple math, I put these statistics into a season average based on a 16 game season.  Below are these season averages for the receivers which I won't name at this point.

 
 
 
 
Rec/16gm
 
Yds/16gm
 
TD/16gm
Receiver A
 
92.8
 
1227.8
 
10.8
Receiver B
 
81.8
 
1209.0
 
10.4
Receiver C
 
72.1
 
1122.3
 
11.4
Receiver D
 
78.8
 
1164.1
 
11.2
Receiver E
 
75.3
 
950.4
 
8.9

  Before you go any further, rank those receivers based on those numbers.  All the receivers played a minimum of 13 seasons and had 900+ receptions, 13,500+ yards, and 125+ TD in their career.  By now you should already have an idea of what they should be ranked, so here is what the composite ranking shows:

 
 
Rec/16gm
 
Yds/16gm
 
TD/16gm
 
Rank
Receiver A
 
1.0
 
1.0
 
3.0
 
1.7
Receiver B
 
2.0
 
2.0
 
4.0
 
2.7
Receiver C
 
5.0
 
4.0
 
1.0
 
3.3
Receiver D
 
3.0
 
3.0
 
2.0
 
2.7
Receiver E
 
4.0
 
5.0
 
5.0
 
4.7

   It seems pretty obvious that by just using the career averages Receiver A is the best statistical receiver.  But let's add another factor.  A great player typically puts up big numbers year in and year out, so I've also compiled the statistics for each receiver during his best 5 year stretch in the NFL.

 
 
Rec/5yr
 
Yds/5yr
 
TD/5yr
Receiver A
 
563
 
7594
 
62
Receiver B
 
419
 
7298
 
83
Receiver C
 
456
 
7062
 
60
Receiver D
 
447
 
6465
 
65
Receiver E
 
475
 
5855
 
65

  Adding this factor into the above composite rank, you get the following.

 
Rec/16
Yds/16
TD/16
Rec/5yr
Yds/5yr
TD/5yr
Comp Rank
Receiver A
 
1
1
3
1
1
4
1.8
Receiver B
 
2
2
4
5
2
1
2.7
Receiver C
 
5
4
1
3
3
5
3.5
Receiver D
 
3
3
2
4
4
2
3.0
Receiver E
 
4
5
5
2
5
2
3.8

  After those numbers are added, it still is obvious that Recevier A put up the best numbers per season and had the best 5 year stretch of any receiver in the group as well.  Now for the final set of data, the season best numbers for each receiver.  And since I know you are itching to see who these receivers are, I'll give you the names now.

 
 
Best Rec
 
Best Yds
 
Best TD
Harrison
 
143
 
1722
 
15
Rice
 
122
 
1848
 
  29*
Moss
 
111
 
1632
 
23
Owens
 
100
 
1451
 
16
Carter
 
122
 
1371
 
17

*Rice's 1987 season TD total was 22, but I used his projected total of 29 for a 16-game season.

  Now that you know who the receivers are, I'm sure you likely will re-rank them in your mind, but before you do so, here are the final composite rankings.

 
Rec/16
Yds/16
TD/16
Rec/5yr
Yds/5yr
TD/5yr
Best Rec
Best Yds
Best TD
Comp Rank
Harrison
1
1
3
1
1
4
1
2
5
2.1
Rice
2
2
4
5
2
1
2
1
1
2.2
Moss
5
4
1
3
3
5
4
3
2
3.3
Owens
3
3
2
4
4
2
5
4
4
3.4
Carter
4
5
5
2
5
2
2
5
3
3.7

  If you haven't already realized, the player you have thought was the best receiver based on the stats above was not Rice, but lifelong Colt Marvin Harrison.  I repeat, Jerry Rice is not the greatest WR of all-time.  For those that remember, Marvin Harrison was an unstoppable weapon for Peyton Manning in his prime and should be headed to the hall of fame.  I can't argue against the numbers Rice compiled over his 20 year career, but I do have an answer for the arguments that are surely about to come.

Argument #1 - Marvin Harrison was made by Peyton Manning

It can be said that all great receivers need a quarterback to throw them the ball, but this argument is the weakest of them all.  While Marvin Harrison had Manning throwing to him, Rice had Joe Montana and Steve Young throughout his career.

Argument #2 - Teams throw more now than when they did when Rice played

This may very well be true, but the stats show that receiver production has been very similar in the past 25 years.  Here is a breakdown of several years and the amount of players that reached receiving milestones in those years:

 
1000+ yards
100+ Receptions
10+ TD
1987
18
1
6
1991
15
9
10
1995
23
1
6
1999
26
2
8
2002
22
5
4
2007
23
6
9
2012
20
6
10

  First and foremost, I again extrapolated the numbers in Rice's historic 1987 season to account for the shortened schedule.  As you can see, receivers during Rice's best years put up similar numbers to receivers in Harrison's prime years. 

  So in conclusion, it is my belief that Marvin Harrison, not Jerry Rice, should be considered the greatest WR to play in the NFL.  Harrison clearly loacked the longevity that Rice had, but I myself don't put as much stock into career numbers as most do.  I likely won't get much backing on this, but when you break it down, the numbers don't lie.  Harrison is eligible for the hall of fame next year and it would be a travesty if he is not a first-ballot inductee.

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