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GhostOfPoverty
Well-Known Member
I think Moss was the most talented, and greatest receiver to ever play the game. Jerry Rice is obviously right up there, and most would call him #1 with Moss perhaps not even being their #2. But let's consider a few things.
Stats - Rice played 7 more seasons than Moss. Longevity counts for something, but Moss's 14 seasons isn't a small number for a WR either. Compare Rice's first 14 seasons to Moss's 14 year career - Rice: 206 games played, 1,139 receptions, 17,612 yards, 156 TDs. Moss: 218 GP, 982 Rec, 15,292 yrds, 156 TD. Rice literally played an extra half of Moss's career (and close to that of Terrell Owens's 15 years) compared to Moss's more modest, yet not short 14 years, to pad his stats with. Again, Rice deserves credit for remaining productive for so long, but let's not pretend that guys like Moss couldn't have put up sinilar stats had they hung around on (mostly) decent teams like Rice did with San Fran and early 2000's Oakland towards the end of his career. Basically, bearing all this in mind, I don't think Rice's insane stats alone make him the undisputed GOAT.
QBs - Moss had far worse QB play for his career than Rice did, and this isn't even debatable. Moss had 2 1/2 years of Tom Brady and 1 year of an ancient Randall Cunningham, with the rest of his career consisting mainly of scrubs, overrated (Culpepper, who was never anything without Moss), and washed up QBs. Rice on the other hand, had the luxury of having Joe Manontana and prime Steve Young for the vast majority of his career, and prime Rich Gannon in Oakland towards the end. A side note to this - Moss was forced to waste 2 years of his peime in Oakland when the whole team was a dumpster fire, and played on 3 different teams due to trades in 2012, severly hindering his production that year.
So... based on all that. My list of the GOAT WRs -
1 - Randy Moss
2 - Jerry Rice
3 - Terrell Owens
What do you guys think?
Stats - Rice played 7 more seasons than Moss. Longevity counts for something, but Moss's 14 seasons isn't a small number for a WR either. Compare Rice's first 14 seasons to Moss's 14 year career - Rice: 206 games played, 1,139 receptions, 17,612 yards, 156 TDs. Moss: 218 GP, 982 Rec, 15,292 yrds, 156 TD. Rice literally played an extra half of Moss's career (and close to that of Terrell Owens's 15 years) compared to Moss's more modest, yet not short 14 years, to pad his stats with. Again, Rice deserves credit for remaining productive for so long, but let's not pretend that guys like Moss couldn't have put up sinilar stats had they hung around on (mostly) decent teams like Rice did with San Fran and early 2000's Oakland towards the end of his career. Basically, bearing all this in mind, I don't think Rice's insane stats alone make him the undisputed GOAT.
QBs - Moss had far worse QB play for his career than Rice did, and this isn't even debatable. Moss had 2 1/2 years of Tom Brady and 1 year of an ancient Randall Cunningham, with the rest of his career consisting mainly of scrubs, overrated (Culpepper, who was never anything without Moss), and washed up QBs. Rice on the other hand, had the luxury of having Joe Manontana and prime Steve Young for the vast majority of his career, and prime Rich Gannon in Oakland towards the end. A side note to this - Moss was forced to waste 2 years of his peime in Oakland when the whole team was a dumpster fire, and played on 3 different teams due to trades in 2012, severly hindering his production that year.
So... based on all that. My list of the GOAT WRs -
1 - Randy Moss
2 - Jerry Rice
3 - Terrell Owens
What do you guys think?