Is it time we start putting Megatron among the likes of Rice and Moss?
- Thread starter STDiva
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On one hand Calvin Johnson has a more favorable offensive environment he plays under. On the other he also has never had the luxury of having an inner circle hall of fame quarterbacks like Joe Montana, Steve Young, or Tom Brady throwing to him not to mention never being on historically great teams that have players that can take the focus off of him. That more than makes up for it. How good do you think Johnson would be if he had the luxury of being put on the mid 80s to early 90s 49ers or the 2007 and afterwards Patriots? Instead he's played his entire career for some of the worst teams ever, and even the highpoints are that he gets a underachieving Lions team now with an overrated Matthew Stafford.
In both ways context of the environment the players played under matters.
In both ways context of the environment the players played under matters.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I say yes. Moss probably has the most raw talent of the three but he was lazy. Rice was probably the most precise route-runner to ever play. However, Johnson's tremendous athletic ability and ball instincts put him right up there with the other two. Three very different types of receivers.
Calvin Johnson is just a freak of nature. He's more physically gifted than Rice or Moss was. And you can't compare raw numbers. It's a different game now than even when Moss came into the league. But imagine Megatron in the 80's - the era of the smurf receivers and corresponding defensive backs. Imagine him on the Dolphins' 1984 squad with Marino and Shula running a no-huddle spread offense.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Calvin Johnson? You're forgetting the other "good" Johnson currently in the NFL...
... Andre Johnson :thumbsup:
I'd rather have Andre. He's proven himself with very capable hands!
I'll second that! He has spent most of his career playing on crappy teams with shit-to-mediocre QBs (David Carr, Matt Schaub) throwing him the ball and he still is going to finish with stats that will be among the greats. If he had played for Indianapolis or New England the dude would already be Mr. All-time Everything. Tremendous player who catches everything that is thrown his way....dude is crazy good.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Yeah the Lions have been awful but so have the Texans for the vast majority of his career so we're really splitting hairs with that argument. Besides, I already gave Megatron his props earlier in this thread....now I'm giving Andre his.
espnaddict
Banned
Johnson and Moss both have more physical ability and make mediocre QBs look good by out playing multiple defenders on poorly thrown passes. If Moss played more of his career with Tom Brady for example, his best seasons would all be better than any of Rice's best statistically season.
Rice was a great receiver, and probably had the most longevity of any receiver ever. But he gets over-rated based on career achievements playing on all-time great teams, who would have still won a lot without him. Same argument as when people claim Favre is the best QB cause of all his total records. He just holds more records cause he wouldn't retire and played poorly into his 40s. If you go by season averages over their careers, it's a different story.
Rice was a great receiver, and probably had the most longevity of any receiver ever. But he gets over-rated based on career achievements playing on all-time great teams, who would have still won a lot without him. Same argument as when people claim Favre is the best QB cause of all his total records. He just holds more records cause he wouldn't retire and played poorly into his 40s. If you go by season averages over their careers, it's a different story.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I agree. Same thing with Emmitt Smith. A great running back without a doubt....one of my all-time favorites. But from a pure physical talent standpoint, a number of RBs were (are) better than Emmitt (Barry Sanders, Billy Sims, Marcus Dupree, Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, Adrian Peterson....maybe others as well). However, he's the all-time rushing leader and has 3 Super Bowl rings so it's hard to argue that he was not the best ever. Depends on your measuring criteria.
