Will any of Jerry Rice's major records be broken? (From the front page)

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/04/will-any-of-jerry-rices-major-records-be-broken/

This is a very interesting article!

It is crazy to think that a WR drafted in the 1980's is sitting at the top with all of the spread offense concepts, all out passing attacks, and rules changes that all support the passing game.

With that said, do you guys thinks that passing defenses have also gotten better due to the all out passing attacks? Could this be the reason JR's records haven't been threatened? DB's now get paid well, and pass rushers are almost paid like QB's.

Your Thoughts as to how a WR from the 1980's (our very own Jerry Rice) still sits at the top of all of the major receiving records and it's really not even close!

Here's what I think:

Rice's greatest asset was consistency and longevity. Each and every one of his individual skillsets have been matched or exceeded by one receiver at a time or another (Moss for deep threat speed and high spotting the ball, Cris Carter boundary catches, Beckham a few years ago for slant pass threat, Antonio Brown for route running, TO, Fitzgerald as overall skillset, etc). However, none of those guys have been able to amass these stats year in and year out to the same level of Rice.

The extreme work ethic, ultra serious attitude towards the game, and his ability to not get hurt (or stay hurt for long) are a combination of factors we've never seen remotely close to his level. There have been many WRs of late who have had these career starts that project to take down Rice's records but never even come close (Beckham comes to mind). Calvin Johnson did break Rice's single season yardage record (not by a lot) and you could argue it wasn't really broken because of "inflation". But either way, Johnson retired way too young and alas no threat to his records.

Perhaps individual CBs, pass rushers, pass coverage schemes have improved since Rice's playing days. But overall the net effect of the rules have made overall offensive production higher, and save for outlier seasons (2013 Seahawks, 2015 Broncos, even 2019 49ers).....it's not enough leaguewide to slow good WRs down.

You could even bring up John Taylor being the closest thing to Rice physically/hands wise (and in same scheme with same QBs) , and while he did outperform Rice for a few games here and there, never had as close to the same career. Taylor may have been the better athlete depending on who you talk to but neither were considered athletic freaks the way some others are talked about.

Rice was just a f**king phenomenon.

Yeah it's possible. Each year, each half decade, each full decade they change all the rules to favor the offense more and more and more. I mean there must be dozens of rule changes since his time to now which favor the offense and the passing game. You can't really compare eras for that reason. If Jerry Rice was under these new rules with Montana and Young throwing to him he would put up even much bigger numbers than he did. It's just not worth different eras comparisons. There are completely different rules and different things accepted as normal in an era. You have to compare apples to apples. Not an apple to an orange. It's not the same thing.

Larry Fitzgerald is actually within striking distance of Rice for total career receptions, but he'd have to play three more seasons, which means he retires no earlier than age 39 after the 2022 season:

Rice - 1549
Fitzgerald - 1378

Difference of 171. Fitzgerald had 75 receptions last year.

Any CV19 disruption of the 2020 season would probably put a nail in Fitzgerald having any chance to catch him

With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Originally posted by captveg:
Larry Fitzgerald is actually within striking distance of Rice for total career receptions, but he'd have to play three more seasons, which means he retires no earlier than age 39 after the 2022 season:

Rice - 1549
Fitzgerald - 1378

Difference of 171. Fitzgerald had 75 receptions last year.

Any CV19 disruption of the 2020 season would probably put a nail in Fitzgerald having any chance to catch him

The addition of Hopkins could hurt his chances as well.

Originally posted by five1oh:

With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Not Rice's TD record.

Originally posted by five1oh:
With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Didn't O.J Simpson do more in 12-14 regular season games then most RB's did in 16 regular season games?

Originally posted by glorydayz:
Didn't O.J Simpson do more in 12-14 regular season games then most RB's did in 16 regular season games?

He did.

Only RB to rush for 2000+ in 14 game season (2003 yards).

I dont know about fitzy. I dont think so. Somebody offer that man an announcers job.

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by five1oh:

With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Not Rice's TD record.

All of em

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by five1oh:

With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Not Rice's TD record.

All of em

Ya it will happen at one point. Yards will be the hardest though.

Originally posted by TheGore49er:

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by five1oh:

With 17 game regular season, records will be broken sooner than later

Not Rice's TD record.

All of em

Ya it will happen at one point. Yards will be the hardest though.

TD's

Jerry Rice : 208

Larry Fitzgerald (37 yrs) : 120
Adrian Peterson (35 yrs) : 117
Frank Gore (37 yrs) : 98
LeSean McCoy (32 yrs) : 89
Antonio Brown (32 yrs) : 80
Jimmy Graham (33 yrs) : 74
Jason Witten (38 yrs) : 72
Mark Ingram (30 yrs) : 70


The only active player who's career isn't almost over that is anywhere near 100 TD's is Todd Gurley with 70 at age 25. But now his knees are shot.

Nobody is catching Jerry anytime soon. Its going to take a lot more than a 17th game to reach 208. They will have to alter the game to favor offense so much that teams will be averaging 45 per game. Otherwise were probably never going to see a more prolific TD scorer than Rice.

Imagine a WR scoring 208 TD's. One of the most impressive records in sports history. Remember a strike shortened 1987 season he caught 22 TD's in 12 games? Crazy.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:

Originally posted by glorydayz:

Didn't O.J Simpson do more in 12-14 regular season games then most RB's did in 16 regular season games?

He did.

Only RB to rush for 2000+ in 14 game season (2003 yards).

Wow... Those are some killer stats wink wink

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Yeah it's possible. Each year, each half decade, each full decade they change all the rules to favor the offense more and more and more. I mean there must be dozens of rule changes since his time to now which favor the offense and the passing game. You can't really compare eras for that reason. If Jerry Rice was under these new rules with Montana and Young throwing to him he would put up even much bigger numbers than he did. It's just not worth different eras comparisons. There are completely different rules and different things accepted as normal in an era. You have to compare apples to apples. Not an apple to an orange. It's not the same thing.

It's possible, but not probable, even with the changes. The issue isn't putting up numbers. It's playing long enough, consistently enough, and being healthy enough to have a legit shot. I remember reading an article that stated Jerry Rice was so good, he had two separate Hall of Fame careers in one career (odd numbered seasons and even numbered seasons). Just an absolute phenom.