After learning that he would not be Denver’s third receiver this year and that he might not even be active for all of the Broncos’ games, wide receiver Jerry Rice decided to call it a career. The GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) will announce his decision during a Monday afternoon press conference.
I know I’m not alone when I say that I’m glad Rice is finally retiring. Nobody likes to see a player of Rice’s caliber wind down a spectacular career with several mediocre seasons. After seeing his production drop during his final two years in San Francisco, Rice enjoyed a mini revival upon arriving in Oakland, totaling 1,139 yards and nine touchdowns in 2001, and 1,211 yards and seven TDs in 2002. But the following year, Rice had just 63 catches, the second-lowest full-season total of his stellar career, and a career-low two TDs, and while splitting time between Oakland and Seattle last year, Rice was vastly unproductive, catching just 30 balls for 429 yards and three TDs.
It definitely was time to walk away from the game, and I for one am relieved that we won’t be subjected to shots of Rice standing on the Denver sidelines all year.
Now the question is: Is Rice the best player in NFL history?
Agreed. It was time to walk away. Though you could argue that he should have walked away a couple years ago, at least he didn’t pull a Jordan. Fare thee well, Jerry. You’re the man.
Man, SportsCenter is running a Top-10 of Rice’s greatest performances. Unreal. Sometimes you forget just how great the guy was. The best player in NFL history? That’s certainly debatable but, considering he scored 33 more career touchdowns than #2-ranked Emmitt Smith and he’s the NFL’s all-time leader in total yards from scrimmage, I’d have a hard time giving my vote to anybody else.
The numbers are astounding. From 1986-96, Rice averaged 91 catches, 1,404 yards and 14 TDs per season. To put that into perspective, during his nine-year career, Terrell Owens has matched all three numbers in a single season just once. Even more astounding, Rice totaled 22 touchdowns in 1987…in just 12 games. Amazing.
What do you guys think? Is Rice the best ever?
not the best ever. no way. jim brown.
The best football player ever is clearly Jim Brown, but Rice can claim his spot as the best wide receiver ever.
That is what this debate will boil down to, isn’t it? Rice vs. Brown.
Since Rice played for 20 years and Brown just nine, and since Rice was playing with a 16-game schedule and Brown with 12- and 14-game schedules, I guess the best way to compare their numbers would be on a per-game basis.
Rice: 77.7 total yards/game, .683 TD/game
Brown: 125.5 total yards/game, 1.06 TD/game
Clearly, those numbers heavily favor Brown, but perhaps that’s not fair to Rice. Since Rice played for 20 years, his overall stats dwarfed Brown’s but, as his seasonal numbers dwindled toward the end of his career, Rice’s per-game averages also plummeted. Brown, meanwhile, played virtually his entire career during his prime.
So maybe it’s best to compare Brown’s 118-game career to Rice’s first 118 NFL games. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find game-by-game stats for the 1992 season, so I’ll use Rice’s first 124 games. Here’s how that would look:
Rice: 85.7 total yards/game, .87 TD/game
Brown: 125.5 yards/game, 1.06 TD/game
The gap closes a bit with this comparison, but while Rice is definitely the best receiver in NFL history, these numbers suggest he can’t hold Brown’s jock in the GOAT debate.
Those stats are very helpful. I don’t think that stats should govern this debate, but it does put things in perspective.
Both guys also played for great football teams. Rice certainly benefited from have two Hall of Fame QBs throwing to him on some of the best offenses in history.
If I were ranking the best football players of all time, Jim Brown would be #1 followed by Lawrence Taylor and then Joe Montana. Rice would be in the top 5.
No, you’re right — stats alone don’t tell the whole story here, especially since we’re comparing players who played two different positions in two distinctly different eras.
Regarding your point on the quarterbacks Rice played with, I wonder if Rice benefited from Young and Montana, or if Young and Montana benefited from Rice. Certainly they were all exceptional players but it seems most people assume Young and Montana made Rice better when it could be argued that Rice made his two QBs better.
It’s tough to compare two or more players from different positions to figure out the GOAT. Basketball is a little different as everyone is ultimately trying to put the ball in the hole, while in football, each position has a very different responsibility. One could argue that Jim Brown played against lesser defenses during his career than Rice and one could also argue that Brown was handed the ball 20-30 times a game whereas Rice had to get open and receive a good pass to get his touches, so I don’t think that comparing a RB to a WR (or to a LB) is an easy proposition. I think I’ll take the easy road out and just say that Rice is the greatest WR to ever play the game
Duh.
Not only was Jim Brown better but Eric Dickerson as well. Dickerson dominated the game and really changed the way defenses had to play an all out weapon in the backfield.
I think I’d take Lance Alworth. As for Rice, he made a lot of his name against the worst division in football: Falcons, Rams, Saints of the 80′s-early 90′s? Yuck.
I guess there’s some logic to your point on Rice playing in the NFC West for all those years, but not enough to justify ranking Rice as anything less than the top receiver of all time. Sure, he may have padded his stats a bit against the likes of the Rams and Saints, but he also played how many out-of-division games each year? Plus, let’s not forget Deion was covering him with Atlanta for quite some time.
Alworth was great, but Rice was the best. Period.