Originally posted by Niners816:
Originally posted by 4everFaithful:
There is more to it than just the stats. It's about the talent. Moss was the most talented wr to ever play the game in my opinion.
His first year with Brady he broke Rice's single season TD record. Imagine what he would've done with Montana?
In 1987, Jerry had 23 td (22rec, 1rush) in only 12 games. Imagine Jerrys numbers with 4 more games.
Also imagine Jerrys numbers with Brady in an air raid offense throwing the ball almost 70% of the time. There was really only one time in his career we went that pass happy (1995 - our pass/rush ratio was 62/38) and all he did they year was have 122 catches for a then record 1848 yards.
In comparing Jerry and randy the only thing randy had on him was 2" in height and he was faster. Jerry killed moss in every other thing attributed to receiving (routes, toughness, work ethic, clutchness, etc...). Randy was faster and could jump higher yet, his numbers never eclipsed Jerrys in a league by the late 90s and 2000s that made it easier to be a WR. Even with Brady, moss's numbers didn't eclipse Jerrys prime years from a decade earlier.
Moss was the fastest WR to 3000 yards, another Rice record he broke, with worse QBs.
I take nothing away from Rice. One of the greatest to ever play the game. But I don't look at numbers when I evaluate talent, I look at the skill. Not that Rice didn't have skill, he obviously did, but Randy had more.
Speed: Moss
Route Running: Rice
Hands: Moss
YAC: Rice
Vertical: Moss
Deep Threat: Moss
Slant Routes: Rice
Agility: Moss
The list can go on and on, but we'll stop there and discuss.
Moss is much faster than Rice and its not even close.
Though Rice was the better route runner, Moss was still a terrific route runner.
Moss had slightly better hands. But Rice's hands were terrific as well.
YAC goes to Rice. He's the king of that. But make no mistake, Moss had great YAC ability.
Vertical goes to Moss. Period.
Deep threat goes to Moss. Period. He had the ability to stretch the field like nothing we've ever seen before.
Slant routes and other routes inside was were Rice shined. The best at turning a 10yrd catch into a 60yrd TD.
Agility goes to Moss.
It's very close. There is a reason this is a constant debate. There is no right answer. Because there are too many hypotheticals to what could've been. So Rice will always prevail because he has the numbers. But I urge you to let your 9er bias go, and think outside the box. What if.... What if.... Moss had the team Rice had, and Rice had the teams Moss had... I love the 49ers just like you do... But I can't look past that... what if....
[ Edited by 4everFaithful on Aug 12, 2015 at 10:02 AM ]
