Stop all the Andre Johnson love. I will give a REAL top 10 list at the end of this message. Andre Johnson is NOT the best WR in football. Not in real life, not in fantasy. Stop all the "potential" love with Andre Johnson. Randy Moss is the best WR in football and its not even close. The numbers say so...
1st of all, Randy Moss, just so happened, to be on the 2 of the TOP SCORING TEAMS OF ALL TIME.. Not one, but TWO.. The '98 Vikings and the '07 Pats.. Is that just luck?? NO.. He's an unstoppable offensive force, unlike any the game has ever seen. Because he gets his stats, his offenses have monster, sometimes record breaking seasons, and he makes others better. The attention Randy Moss gets, is personally responsible for making Wes Welker a Pro Bowler.. Come guys, Wes Welker an every year Pro Bowl player?? Thats all Randy Moss.. Moss also got Matt Cassell a big contarct. Got Donte Culpepper a big contract... Even made Randall "running QB" Cunningham look like Tom Brady his last years in the league..
But back to Andre Johnson. Andre Johnson BEST season is 8 TD's.. Moss has 4 TD games sometimes. Moss average season is a little over 11 TD's.. How can Andre Johnson be better than Moss, if Johnson's BEST season is 3 TD's less than an AVERAGE season for Moss. Let alone, Moss BEST season of 23 TD's, blows Johnson away. Andre Johnson has only surpassed 1000 yards(which is only 62.5 yards a game for 16, only 3 times out of 7 years in the league. 3 OUT OF 7.. Moss has gone over 1000 yards 9 of 11 season. Moss has had double digit TD's in 8 of his 11 years in the league while Andre Johnson next 10+ TD season will be his 1st. And stop saying Andre Johnson had 2 QB's last season.. Calvin Johnson played with 6 QB's and one of the worst teams of all time last year, he still made double digit TD catches. Randy Moss played with a QB that hasn't started since HIGH SCHOOL, last year. Pats still had a better record than playoff teams. I'm not a Pats fan, I am from Detroit, but the its not even close with Andre Jonson and Randy Moss..
In fact, Andre Johnson is not better than Moss, Fitzgerald, Steve Smith, and yes T.O.. Say what you want about T.O., but well over 100 TD's is production. While andre Johnson can't get higher than 8 in a season. Jeff Garcia was an every year Pro Bowl QB with T.O.. McNabb had his best season, with T.O.. I just don't see how anyone could think Andre Johnson is better than any of these recievers I have just named.. Its not even close..
The REAL Top 10-Based on production, NOT Potential
1. Randy Moss 2. Larry Fitzgerald 3. Steve Smith 4. Terrell Owens-Yes, not on character, but production 5. Calvin Jonson 6. Andre Johnson 7. Reggie Wayne 8. Would insert Plaxico here, but he's in football limbo now 8. Brandon Marshall 9. Anquan Boldin 10. Roddy White
On the rise
Dwayne Bowe- Very Talented with a 3rd string, Arena League QB last year in Thigpen Santonio Holmes- As Hines Ward gets older, Holmes will become more and more of the #1 option and the stats will match the talent. And he already has a SuperBowl winning catch under his belt.
Prisco is O.K, but CBS Sports needs to give me a call. Especially with the amount of people that call Prisco an idiot on here, DAILY!! HA
Homie fan huh? Well I don't blame you, but Randy Moss doesn't even rank top 3. Why? Simple he's aging and we could all expect his production on a steady decline. I know your a Patriots fan, but we have to face the facts, Randy Moss isn't as good as he once was.
Hey ShyGuy96- Great point on Terrell Owens! I did not even notice he was missing from both top tens until you pointed this out. Do not get me wrong, I do NOT like Terrell Owens, but there is NO QUESTION he is a top 10 guy.
Prisco's list isnt of best WR of all time. It's a list about his prediction of who will be the best WR this year. and stats are not everything. There are certain things like drive, heart, and determination that can set a football player apart from the rest. People need to play the game to fully understand it, not just watch and nit-pick every game.
at one point Moss was the best reciever in the game, no doubt. But he has proven that when he doesn't have an elite qb he can't perform. Has everyone forgotten those two horrible years in Oakland? The man was abysmal when he didn't have a pro bowl qb throwing the ball to him. Hell, half the time he just gave up on routes and jogged around on the field, not the qualities of an elite wr. even last year when brady went down he only had a mediocre season. so I think you can say that if you put Moss on the Lions last year he wouldn't have come close to what Calvin Johnson did. He probably would've had 50 catches for 750 yards and 5 touchdowns, which is what he averaged in oakland for two years
So Randy is number one? Is that only when Brady is his QB, or no matter what? Because I remember him last year not being all that "elite" with Cassel at QB, and I remember him downright sucking when he was in Oakland for two seasons.
In fact - to counter your one arguement - when he was in Oak - they were one of the LOWEST scoring teams in the league. COINCIDENCE???
Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson - they are elite WRs DESPITE the QB and despite where they play. Randy apparently needs a pro-bowl QB and a passing system to post big numbers.
Maybe he really isnt as good as you think. Sure - in NE he is elite. As long as Brady is healthy.
(and the best WR in football is Fitz. I know he benefits from Bolin and the system, but he has the best hands, great size, solid speed, and he is a gamer. You can not knock the guy in any one area. You may think someone is better, but not because you can knock Fitz's game)
Where is the love for Michael Crabtree??? Just kidding.
Seriously though, I tend to agree with some of the points being made by shyguy96 . . . and unlike him I despise the Patriots, in particular Randy Moss. However, it is hard to overlook the simple fact that Moss, when playing with a healthy Tom Brady, is virtually impossible to cover. He posted an amazing season in 2007, dropped off a fair bit last season due to the team's struggles to bring along Matt Cassel, and should be primed for another great season this year as long as Brady's back to his old self.
As far as Andre Johnson is concerned . . . he's a really good wide receiver that appears to be verging on greatness. But he's proven very little in comparison to established greats like Moss, Fitzgerald, and Wayne. I'll hold judgement on Andre Johnson versus Calvin Johnson because Calvin's only had two total seasons, one of which was sensational, the other quite mediocre. Get a few more great ones under the belt and establish a rapport with Stafford and we'll probably be seeing Calvin Johnson in the top 3-4. So for now, here's how I would rank them:
1) Randy Moss 2) Larry Fitzgerald 3) Reggie Wayne 4) Andre Johnson 5) Terrell Owens (if and only if he's on his 1st or 2nd year with a given team) 6) Calvin Johnson 7) Marques Colston (not sure why no one has mentioned him) 8) Greg Jennings (another year with Aaron Rodgers will only help) 9) Roddy White (could easily be #7, I like White, Colston, and Jennings about the same) 10) Dwayne Bowe (unfortunately, now practically the only receiving option in KC. May showcase him, may eliminate him. Time will tell.)
Sorry, one more thing before someone hits me for omitting Steve Smith. Mr. Smith is still living high off his superb 2005 season. He has not really done much since then to place him in comparison with the other receivers that are being mentioned. I'm curious how seasons of 1166/8, 1002/7, and 1421/6 since '05 (not to mention the injury-plagued '04 and the 1110/7 '03 campaign have so many people continuing to place him among the league's elite. It baffles me.
I agree that at one point Moss was the best, hands down. With T.O. coming in a closed second. But I think Andre Johnson is the best right now. The guy is simply amazing. He has good hands, blazing speed, and great body control. And check out his stats from last year, and that's with Rosenfels as his QB for awhile. If Schaub stays healthy all season, AJ will be the #1 statistical WR in the league. I do like Fitzgerald, he is a huge stud. He probably has the softest hands in the game right now, the only thing he's lacking is the blazing speed. If he was as fast as AJ, he would get the nod. My list has AJ, Fitz, Calvin Johnson (if he had a qb he'd be at least #2), Moss, Steve Smith, Marshall, Wayne, Jennings, T.O, Anquan Boldin, with Roddy White at #11.
1. Randy Moss? No its Andre Johnson 2. Larry Fitzgerald? No its Calvin Johnson 3. Steve Smith? No its Randy Moss 4. Terrell Owens? No its Reggie Wayne 5. Calvin Johnson? No its Larry Fitzgerald 6. Andre Johnson? No Its Steve Smith 7. Reggie Wayne? No its Anquan Boldin 8. Brandon Marshall? No its Roddy White 9. Anquan Boldin? No its Brandon Marshall 10. Roddy White? No its Greg Jennings
Simple he's aging and we could all expect his production on a steady decline. I know your a Patriots fan, but we have to face the facts, Randy Moss isn't as good as he once was. I think it's obvious that Moss isn't as "good as he once was", he's been around for 12 years. But as for expecting his production to go on a "steady decline", not so sure about that. In fact, it's a pretty safe bet that Moss will have more than 68 rec / 1008 yds / 11 TD this year, right? That'd represent an increase, not a decline. In this offense, there's no reason to believe Moss won't be topping the 80 rec / 1200 / 15 TD plateau for the next 2 years.
As for the "best" right now (as in, this season, who would I rather have), this is my list:
1. Larry Fitzgerald (no reason to think he won't be at the top of this list for the next 5 years) 2. Calvin Johnson 3. Moss 4. Andre Johnson 5. Wes Welker (sorry, he can't be covered. 111 catches this year from Cassel, 112 from Brady the year before) 6. Roddy White (I think White and Bowe will be top 5 for years) 7. Brandon Marshall (leave the attitude at the door) 8. Dwayne Bowe 9. Greg Jennings 10. Anquan Boldin
Don't see how you can complain with either of those guys, though. All monsters and tremendous weapons.
Let's be clear, You are correct about what effect Randy Moss has on a team, hell the same with T.O. But truly, Andre Johnson IS the best receiver in football. He's getting numbers with bum lines, bum coaches, and bum receivers playing along side him. T.O and Randy Moss both played in systems with Pro BOwl QB's. Randy Moss's first seasons were with Chris Carter and Jake Reed. Are you kidding me? Randy didn't produce in Oakland with the bums they had. Andre is producing in a famine right now. T.O played with Jerry Rice, and on my Cowboys with a great offense. Andre Johnson deserves the number 1 spot regardless if he has the all-time stats of the two afore mentioned receivers.
And just to address Reggie Wayne, similar to Marvin Harrison and Tory Holt: tremendous route runner, solid hands, just not one of those guys that blows me away athletically. Doesn't really do anything that makes me rewinde the DVR and watch his catches over and over again.
No complaints, that's for sure. Just not an athletic freak of nature like some of the other guys on my list.
Moss had a mediocre season last year we all agree on that, he still had 11 TDs and 1000 yards. Let's also remember that it took Matt Cassel approximately 5 games to learn how to throw a deep out or a deep post. It'll take Tom Brady 5 seconds. Moss couldn't play on his strengths last year. Brady will still have a monster arm so I don't expect anything but a monster season from Moss:
1 - Randy Moss 2 - Larry Fitzgerald 3 - Steve Smith (What about him?? This guy is absolutely alone on this Panthers team for a decade, still beats double and triple coverage ALL THE TIME) 4 - Andre Johnson 5 - Brandon Marshall (He is a beast. A stupid one though) 6 - Calvin Johnson 7 - Roddy White (Fast and physical, he's here to stay. And he is the best blocking reciever in the NFL. ) 8 - T.O. 9 - Reggie Wayne (Great blocker also) 10 - Greg Jennings
Marques Colston should be there if he could stay healthy. Unfortunately he can't.
Right now the #1 between Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss is like the Manning/Brady debate - there's not really a right answer and decisions are going to be based on who you watch and what you particularly like about WR play.
The only thing that baffles me is why anyone would say that a guy who posted a league single season record for TD receptions two years ago and led the AFC in TD receptions with a weak-armed first year quarterback last year is on the decline. Physically, maybe a little bit, but we're judging WRs on their production, not their physiques, and his production isn't declining at all.
MSUAAlum2000, u are joking right? U know Steve Smith 5'9 189 double covered every play and still out jumps and out plays every1 covering him. Reggie Wayne is close to being as good, but Marques Colston, Greg Jennings,Roddy White, and Dwayne Bowe can only hope to be as good as he is ONE DAY. And he missed 2 games last yr and still was in the top of the NFL and one of the other seasons u named he missed games with a pulled hamstring..(broken leg from a hose collar tackle was the only real INJ he has had)... lol the funnyest post ive read in a long time Smitty not in the top 5 in WRs. Watch a Panthers game and u will see he is close to the best in the NFL and he dont have the 6'3-6'5 body build that most of the WRs u named have so he has to work harder and like somone said STATS dont always tell the real stroy, the Panthers are a RUN 1st team if the coach could he would run the ball on every down, u do know the RBs the Panthers have right?
