January 24, 2022: The Rice is Right

If I got Montana, I have to have Rice, right? No, not necessarily. But in this case, yes, yes I do. Any dispute about the greatest WR of all time? Not in my mind. And if it’s that clear cut to me, then that guy, Jerry Rice, needs to be on my all-time NFL team. The real question is who will be my other WRs?

Judging WRs over time is tough, since the NFL has gone the way of the air attack. I’m sure there were awesome WRs back in the day, but they barely threw the ball. Pre 1940s, forget about it. Since then, slowly but surely, and especially over the past couple decades or so, the passing game has made it to the forefront of NFL attacks. WRs nowadays will have much greater numbers than those from back in the day; does that mean they’re better? Well, in some cases, yes, but not all cases. How do I determine which is which?

It’s not all about stats… there are other factors as to what makes someone great, better than someone else. But stats do help tell the story, and in the case of Jerry Rice, it’s an open and shut case. Jerry Rice’s career numbers cannot be touched. At 1549 receptions, he has more than 100 than his closest competitor Larry Fitzgerald with 1432. His 22,895 receiving yards… more than 5,000 yards over the 2nd place WR, who is also Fitzgerald. TDs… 197, 43 more than Randy Moss in 2nd place. His 208 total TDs is more than anybody else who played the game at the RB, WR, or TE position. Yes, he has played 40 more games than the next WR up, but still… the numbers jump off the page at you. 13 time Pro Bowler, 10 time All Pro, if Jerry Rice isn’t on your list of best WRs of all time, then you need to rip up your list and start over.

Sure, would you like to take someone over him? OK. You can find faster receivers; you can find taller ones. Not sure you can find one with better hands. There are only 4 WRs all time that have more Super Bowl wins than Jerry’s 3; he did win the Super Bowl MVP trophy as well. He was a winner. I saw it first hand. His rookie season, 1985, was a memorable year, duh… He had 3 catches against that 85 Bears defense in our first look at who would become the greatest WR of all time; he came up just short of 1000 yards in his first season; that didn’t happen again until 1997, when he only played 2 games. The next time we saw him was in 1987, a 41-0 loss to the Niners; Jerry scored 3 TDs. The one that sticks out to me was the 1988-89 season. We actually beat the Niners in the regular season 10-9; Jerry had the only TD. But it was the playoff game that I remember… yeah, the one in Soldier Field with frigid temperatures… “Bear Weather” against this West Coast team. Well… 28-3 was the result, the wrong way, as Rice scored 2 more TDs. We weren’t the only team he did well against. In the postseason alone, he had more than 2,000 receiving yards and 22 TDs. Sure, it helped that the Niners were a great team, and had 2 back to back HOF QBs, but… who were they throwing to? Rice was the #1 WR for the dynastic Niners.

So yeah, this first WR is easy. Welcome to the squad Jerry. I think I made my decision; I’m going to roll with 3 WRs on this all time team. Walter will be fine with no FB… Let’s pick WR2 and WR3 next.