Jerry Rice “Moss can be the GOAT, for me it was all about the Rings”
Joe Johnson
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Okay, I’m paraphrasing.
In a story that was first covered from the Jerry Rice angle by me last week (that went super viral), Randy Moss recently stated on Terrell Owens’ podcast that he considered himself the best wide receiver of all-time, Terrell Owens second best, and then Rice “third or fourth best”.
That lit a fire on the internet that has yet to be extinguished and that also reached Rice himself. Rice temporarily responded on social media by stating that Moss had been “Mossed” by the stats, something that proved little as Rice is by far the most ACCOMPLISHED receiver of all-time (which also has to do with circumstance). Moss? The most talented/game changing/dangerous/freakish.
Despite deleting the above, Rice did elaborate further on 95.7 The Game in San Fransisco by saying:
“It was not about me being the GOAT,” Rice said. “I don’t care if I’m the one, the second, or the third receiver. It was all about me winning Super Bowls for the city of San Francisco, my teammates and my family. I was able to win three Super Bowls, I was an MVP, I pretty much hold every record right now. He continues to say it’s political or whatever, but if Randy wants to be No. 1 that’s fine. . . . If T.O. wants to be No. 2 that’s fine. But my main thing is it was all about the rings, the championships. And that’s why we play the game.”
Again.
It’s a semantics issue.
Rice was great. I’m not saying he wasn’t. But he also spent his first decade-and-a-half with two quarterbacks; Joe Montana and Steve Young. From his rookie season in 1985 until 1999, Rice had Hall of Fame players throwing him the ball. Moss only played 14 seasons, and had quarterbacks like Jeff George, Spergon Wynn, Todd Bouman, Gus Frerrotte, And Kerry Collins throwing him the rock.
He made almost all of them (with the exception of Wynn) look Pro Bowl caliber. Imagine if Moss came into the league with an established (but young) Tom Brady throwing him the ball. Look what they did in 2007, when Moss was already not the same player we saw in his first seven seasons in the league.
He made Daunte Culpepper look like Peyton Manning in 2004 to the point that if not for Manning’s then record breaking 49 touchdown season, Culpepper would’ve been the MVP in 2004. So, Rice is essentially conflating circumstance and team outcomes with who was the best all around receiver.
If you break it down the way it should be, you’ll get what I mean. Speed? Moss. Hands? Moss. Route running? Rice. Work ethic? Rice. Talent? Moss. Leaping ability? Moss. Body control? Moss. Longevity? Rice. Impact? Moss. Luck? Rice.
The above contribute to the stats, and achievements of both and thus naming those achievements isn’t actually part of what should be the breakdown of who is greater. Let me put it another way; if you were picking ANY receiver in league history at the height of their powers to add to your team before playing in a winner-take-all $1 million dollar Madden tournament, who would you take?
Me? I’d take this guy:
Then there’s the fact that, as I’ve said a few times now, Moss changed how defenses played where as Rice was the product of a new system that revolutionized offenses. A little something called the West Coast offense. Moss would just out run/jump/catch coverages, Rice never did that.
One could argue that Cris Carter would’ve accomplished similar numbers and accolades had he played with Montana/Young, where as Moss showed the difference between guys like him and Carter whilst playing opposite guys like Carter.
Either way, we’re splitting hairs here because both Moss and Rice are the 1A and 1B in the GOAT convo (with Carter the 2A or B, to most everyone except perhaps Moss who hasn’t mentioned Carter in the GOAT or best WR in Vikings history talks recently). But, it’s fun to talk about these things.
Because, it feels like Rice is conceding in a few ways. First by saying Moss can “have” the GOAT title. Secondly, by pointing out who was on better TEAMS. Even in today’s pass happy NFL, how often does a wide receiver get credit for winning the Super Bowl? Quarterbacks clearly impact outcomes the most, but even they need a good line and defense to go all the way.
So for Rice to somehow conflate rings with individual talent or achievement, is intellectually dishonest. Moss would have as many or more rings as Rice had he played his entire career with Montana/Young. Would Rice have made those Vikings teams a dynasty? Does anyone think that?
Of course not. Because Carter and Moss couldn’t and there’s not much difference between Carter and Rice. Carter ran a 4.63 40, Rice a 4.71 (Moss a reported 4.25). Carter is 6’3”, Rice 6’2” (Moss 6’4”). Both ran great routes (as did Moss), and had great hands.
Moss is and was different, he just didn’t end up on teams that were as balanced and all around great as Rice did/had. That’s the difference, and so if we’re covering this the way we should (who the better player was, not who the better teams were), it’s no contest.