I hear so many people on this board grossly over-estimating the value and importance of a big-name, high-profile #1 WR. An elite WR is not a necessary component of being an elite NFL team. People can define an elite WR in different ways so I will use some common definitions. Keep in mind that AZ is the exception here not the rule. If you consider an elite WR someone who scores a lot of receiving TD?s? 1) Only 1 out of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last year had a player(s) make the list of top ten in receiving TD?s (AZ ? Fitzgerald and Boldin). That means 11 of the 12 playoff teams didn?t. If you consider an elite WR someone who gets a lot of receiving yards? 2) Only 4 out of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last year had a player(s) make the list of top ten in receiving yards (AZ ? Fitzgerald, CAR ? Smith, ATL ? White, IND - Wayne). That means 8 of the 12 playoff teams didn?t. If you consider an elite WR someone who gets a lot of receptions? 3) Only 2 out of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last year had a player(s) make the list of top ten in receptions (AZ ? Fitzgerald and Boldin, ATL - White). That means 10 of the 12 playoff teams didn?t. What do these elite WR?s all have in common? Andre Johnson Terrell Owens TJ Houshmandzadeh Brandon Marshall Braylon Edwards Randy Moss Calvin Johnson NONE OF THEM GOT THEIR TEAM TO THE PLAYOFFS Now let?s look at the receiving corps of some of the strongest playoff teams last year and tell me who their ?elite? WR?s are: TEN ? Justin McCareins, Justin Gage, Brandon Jones PHI ? Kevin Curtis, DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant PIT ? Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Nate Washington BAL ? Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Yamon Figurs NYG ? Steve Smith, Amani Toomer, Domenik Hixon ATL ? Roddy White, Michael Jenkins, Harry Douglass I agree that lots of these players are good solid players but none of them are what you would call ?elite? WR?s. Only three of them broke 1,000 receiving yards (White, Ward, Mason).
Look at the WR that won and got to the SB plus them both teams had elite QB which we don't so by what ur saying we have nothing.
I get your point but you still need a #1 receiver who the QB can look to to make a play when he needs it most. A #1 is not necessarily an elite WR, but just a solid playmaker who'll always find a way to get open when the QB needs it.
I would argue for an elite QB over an elite WR any day of the week, and even then we don't need an elite QB either. But it helps. We do have a hole to address with losing Coles though. We may not need someone elite, but we need an above average wideout. We need someone who can draw some heat and let Cotch and whoever our 3rd is to get some more receptions.
He's simply saying you don't need an elite WR to be good in this league. It would sure as hell be nice to have, but it's not the end of the world if we don't have one.
You have great points here. There is a flip side to this equation though. The Giants lost a chance to go back to the Sb when their elite Receiver got into trouble and the jump in Tom Brady's stats when Randy moss came to town was not by accident. A true number one receiver helps.
He never would've won it if it wasn't for that final drive where the Cards played a prevent defense. And besides it's only six times that the SB MVP has been a WR.
Santonio Holmes... A guy who only had 7 more receptions than Dustin Keller in the regular season. A guy who ranked 49th in the league in receptions, 38th in the league in receiving yards and scored only 5 TD's in the regular season. I think this helps support my point that a #1 WR isn't necessary to be an elite team. HOLMES WASN'T EVEN THE #1 WR ON HIS TEAM.
Hard Ward will be a 1st ballot HOF so that makes him elite WR...does anybody disagree with Ward going to HOF?
what was the name of that guy who made with winning TD reception for the Giants last year in the Superbowl? also, is it a coincidence that the Giants floundered without him? i think not.
The threader has some great points. I think the real point behind all this is that on the average a team wins championships and playoff appearances on possession over the middle receivers that produce YAC; not so much speed burners with the bombs away passing attack.
Hines Ward got most of the balls during the season when healthy. When he was injured Holmes stepped up. He's a very good receiver, and will probably be there #1 when Ward is done or starts to slow down. I think I agree that you don't need a TO/Moss to win but it sure doesn't hurt. There are many ways to win a football game.
My only problem with the post is disregarding Hines Ward as not being an elite reciever. Plus as another poster said, both super bowl teams had qb's playing at an elite level. I know Big Ben had a down season but he's a fucking money and a half QB. I don't think we can expect Ratty or Clemens to play on the level of Big Ben or Warner.
Now, let's analyze your "elite" wide receivers list and see how they fare in their teams' wins and losses. Here are their game averages. Andre Johnson - Terrible defense, injured QB In losses: 5.1 Rec, 47.6 Yds In wins: 9.3 Rec, 132.9 Yds Terrell Owens In losses: 4.6 Rec, 53.1 Yds In wins: 4.1 Rec, 75.6 Yds TJ Houshmandzadeh - Terrible defense, no QB In losses: 6.5 Rec, 52.5 Yds In wins and OT games: 10.3 Rec, 120 Yds Brandon Marshall - Terrible defense In losses: 6.1 Rec, 74.4 Yds In wins: 7.8 Rec, 83.8 Yds Braylon Edwards - Terrible defense In losses: 3.1 Rec, 44.1 Yds In wins: 4.5 Rec, 86.0 Yds Randy Moss - NE should have made playoffs In losses: 4 Rec, 37.4 Yds In wins: 4.8 Rec, 80.8 Yds Calvin Johnson - Terrible team In > 1 score differential games: 5.2 Rec, 77.9 Yds In = or < 1 score differential games: 4.2 Rec, 94.8 Yds No, an elite wide receiver can't carry a team to the playoffs on his back, however he still can be an instrumental asset in winning games as seen by these statistics. We're not even mentioning the non-stat impact elite WRs have: they shift the focus of the secondary to them which can help the other WRs and running game.
