Jerry Rice played the full 16 games 17 different times...

[MossFan4Life]

...why then did he not ever get more than 22 tds, even though he played with Montana and Young? Moss will hold the "season record", no ifs, ands, or buts about it, if he gets 23 tds. He's not trying to claim the 12 game record. By the way, who has the 11 game record or the 14 game record? Does anybody care? :singing:

 

[JoeSixPat]

...why then did he not ever get more than 22 tds, even though he played with Montana and Young? Moss will hold the "season record", no ifs, ands, or buts about it, if he gets 23 tds. He's not trying to claim the 12 game record. By the way, who has the 11 game record or the 14 game record? Does anybody care? :singing:

i'm not sure why we need three threads about this... but hasn't Moss played more than a few 16 game seasons and didn't break Rice's record in any of them?

I find this very silly. 22 TDs is a tremendous record. So too is 22 TDs in a strike shortened 12 game season. Moss will have the record, but Rice has every reason to be proud.

How many more TDs would Rice have had if it was not a strike shortened season? Who knows... Jerry should have considered that before going out on strike. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk now.

 

[MossFan4Life]

i'm not sure why we need three threads about this... but hasn't Moss played more than a few 16 game seasons and didn't break Rice's record in any of them?

I find this very silly. 22 TDs is a tremendous record. So too is 22 TDs in a strike shortened 12 game season. Moss will have the record, but Rice has every reason to be proud.

How many more TDs would Rice have had if it was not a strike shortened season? Who knows... Jerry should have considered that before going out on strike. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk now.

22 is a great 12 game record because no one has ever scored that much in 12 games. 23 will be a great Season record, in fact THE season record which no one can deny (not even stats-minded Jerry!).

 

[Rawky77]

...why then did he not ever get more than 22 tds, even though he played with Montana and Young? Moss will hold the "season record", no ifs, ands, or buts about it, if he gets 23 tds. He's not trying to claim the 12 game record. By the way, who has the 11 game record or the 14 game record? Does anybody care? :singing:

i believe the strike year was more like a preseason, in that a lot of players were out of shape and a lot of other distractions. It was not a normal quality NFL season by any objective standard.

 

[PatSunday]

i'm not sure why we need three threads about this... but hasn't Moss played more than a few 16 game seasons and didn't break Rice's record in any of them?

Moss has more 17+ seasons than Rice had. And Moss is still in mid-career. And everyone else in the history of the NFL has only scored 15+ touchdowns just once, if at all. Jerry Rice's 22 touchdowns were caught during a freak year.

 

[fnordcircle]

Everyone complaining about Jerry Rice should really take a step back and ask themselves how they'd feel if Brady's TD record (assuming he gets it this year) was broken next year in an 18 game season by Manning.

Or if there was a strike-shortened season and the Colts went 12-0 and were given all the accolades of an undefeated season.

23 TDs in 16 games is phenomenal. 22 TDs in 12 is moreso. If Randy ends up with a TD per game numbers equal to or surpassing Rice then Rice should shutup, otherwise I think he's got a pretty valid point.

 

[MossFan4Life]

Everyone complaining about Jerry Rice should really take a step back and ask themselves how they'd feel if Brady's TD record (assuming he gets it this year) was broken next year in an 18 game season by Manning.

Or if there was a strike-shortened season and the Colts went 12-0 and were given all the accolades of an undefeated season.

23 TDs in 16 games is phenomenal. 22 TDs in 12 is moreso. If Randy ends up with a TD per game numbers equal to or surpassing Rice then Rice should shutup, otherwise I think he's got a pretty valid point.

That would only be fair if Brady had a chance to play in 18 game seasons too. Rice had a chance to play in 16 game seasons.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Sure Moss will have the record.

If the claim is that 23 in 16 is more of an accomplishment than Rice's 22, it's debatable to say the least.

If you want the "record" automatically be a proxy for "better," of course it's not. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. Whether it would be in the case is debatable. My opinion, which is exactly and only that, is that Rice's accomplishment is amazing.

 

[Xzibit23]

i believe the strike year was more like a preseason, in that a lot of players were out of shape and a lot of other distractions. It was not a normal quality NFL season by any objective standard.

People keep on ignoring this fact...I dont know why.

 

[RussFrancis]

Rice was just on NFL network's pregame show and reiterated that he'll congratulate Moss, but again pointed out to anyone listening that he did it in 12. What I dont get is how everyone knows this, and realizes how impressive Rice's 22 TD season was, but how he still feels the need to call for the asterisk. I cant believe Im saying this of Rice, but it really came off sounding kind of weak.

 

[MossFan4Life]

I used to like Rice pretty much, but I have a pet peeve for legends who try to cut down today's stars. It's just classless imo.

 

[VJCPatriot]

This same debate came up when Roger Maris hit 61 homers in a 162 game schedule. Meanwhile Babe Ruth, the previous homerun king, hit 60 in 154 game schedule. They wanted to put an asterisk next to it. I believe that the asterisk didn't happen. And if they aren't going to put an asterisk next to Bonds for hitting 73 on the juice... then this discussion of the merits of Moss' record begins to look very tame in comparison.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

I was actually just thinking about this the other day. The conclusion that I came to is that records aren't about beating another individual, rather doing something that no one else has ever done.

Getting 23 TDs isn't about Moss beating Rice, it's about Moss doing something no one has ever done. Jerry Rice has never scored 23 TDs, and had many years in which to do so. I don't care what would have happened if he played more games that year. He didn't.

Thank God Brady will break Peyton's record before week 17, otherwise we'd hear that Manning didn't play in week 17 in 2004. My response would be "if Peyton wanted to keep the record longer he should have chosen to play."

 

[solman]

i'm not sure why we need three threads about this... but hasn't Moss played more than a few 16 game seasons and didn't break Rice's record in any of them?

I find this very silly. 22 TDs is a tremendous record. So too is 22 TDs in a strike shortened 12 game season. Moss will have the record, but Rice has every reason to be proud.

How many more TDs would Rice have had if it was not a strike shortened season? Who knows... Jerry should have considered that before going out on strike. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk now.

Err, Rice's record in a 16 game season is just 17 TDs (achieved just once). Moss has already beaten it with three games left in the season. He has also tied that number on multiple occasions.

You can't compare the weirdness of a 12 games season with a full length season. How do you adjust for the chaos that the strike effected on opposing defenses?

I think that treating the strike shortened season as equivalent to a 16 game season is a fair approximation as far as the record book is concerned.

Rice will still own the TDs/game record. But 22 is much catchier than 1.833333 as a number to beat.