He retired yesterday. Growing up in the Bay Area during the 70’s and 80’s I was up close as the Niners transitioned from hapless goofs to the dynasty they became under Bill Walsh. Jerry was central to that. I remember when he was first drafted and had a tough first year after a bit of hype, then settled down and began to perform. And perform. And perform. What a joy to watch - he took pride in his job and loved the game.
Clearly the greatest receiver to ever play the game - some argue Don Hutson of the Packers, but Jerry’s numbers far outstrip Hutson’s. One could argue that Jerry is the greatest scoring threat ever.
As for the greatest football player - even I am unwilling to go that far; I think folks like Jim Brown were better - but he is clearly worthy of including in the discussing.
Man, it sucked to be a Vikings fan while that talented scum buckett Moss was here. I wish Moss would learn some class from Jerry. Talent and class, such a rarity these days (Marvin Harrison learned from him though).
is he the one i watched make 2 90 yards returns at the end of the game to win the playoff (quite a while ago) and then his team lost the superbowl. i’m thinking it was for or agains Buffalo for some reason …
Jerry Rice has provided a lot of highlights to Bay Area fans while he was with the Niners. To me, the best catch of all was in the 1989 SuperBowl (XXIII) with the Niners behind 16-13 with a little over 3 mins to go. Most people will remember the touchdown catch by John Taylor to seal the come-from-behind win, but it was a catch by Rice to keep the final drive alive that was the big play. He caught it over the middle and almost went all the way for the TD. Soon after, Montana to Taylor and another SB win. Rice was deservedly the MVP for that SuperBowl. And six years later he scored TDs at will against the Chargers in SuperBowl XXIX. What a player!
What’re you talking about? Jerry Rice retired after going to Super Bowl 37 with the Raiders, ending his career on a high note.
:sticks fingers in ears, sings “la la la la la…”:
Jerry Rice’s nickname is GOAT. Greatest Of All Time. 'nuff said. He is easily the best receiver EVAR, and has to be in the conversation when it comes to greatest players in the history of the sport. 5 years and he’s in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, anyone who doesn’t vote for him should have their HOF voting priveledges revoked for being a jerk. He has 67 TD’s, 448 receptions and 7961 yards over the next closest player in each category. I’m not going to say those numbers are untouchable, but I can’t imagine another current player breaking those anytime soon. And I’m a Redskin’s fan.
It makes you wish more players could’ve ended their careers on high notes. Emmitt Smith retired as a Cowboy, Magic Johnson didn’t make 17 comebacks, and most dramatically: Michael Jordan retired after his 6th championship.
Nah, I think that whole concept is overrated and talked about much too often. I would have killed to have seen Jordan play in person, even when he was with the Wizards. I’d rather be there to see a great athlete do his thing past his prime than watch old stuff on TV. Not that there isn’t a place for both.
Anyway- how prolific was Jerry Rice? He has about 10,000 more receiving yards than I have posts on the Straight Dope. And I can come here and post any time - he could only play once a week, 16 weeks a year, and had cornerbacks and safeties chasing him and hitting him. Big number, yeah?
For a more normal comparison, it seems to me that Rice’s numbers are about as far past the rest of the pack as Wayne Gretzky’s. He finished with almost twice as many receiving TDs as the former record holder. It seems like he doesn’t just have records, he has them by such enormous margins!
It still blows my mind that Rice was there for the 49ers to take so late in the first round. Apparently, word among scouts was that Rice “Wasn’t fast enough.”
Well, I don’t know what his time was in the 100 yard dash, but I do know that defenders always seemed to be chasing HIM and losing ground in the process. If he wasn’t fast, he sure did a great imitation.
What made him scary was the way he took cheap 5 or 6 yard passes and turned them into breakaway scores.
One HOPES the scouts who told their bosses Rice wasn’t fast enough to be a great receiver are working at Wal-Mart today.
You may be thinking about the Jets @ Raiders Wildcard game, when Rice played the game of his post-49er life. It was the second week in a row that Gang Green had to travel to the Black Hole, as they played in week 17 and then again in the wildcard round.
I wonder if it’s because he went to Mississippi Valley State, not a big school. They may have thought his stats were inflated against weaker competition. Naturally, there are tons of exceptions (McNair, Payton, Bradshaw, Favre, etc etc), but overall, your first-round players tend to be from the large football programs.