First, Elliot Harrison left out Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis when listing the league
’s all-time-best pass rushing duos.But more recently, the NFL Media analyst committed an even more egregious faux pas, when he left off Peyton Manning and Marvin
http://www.authenticsteelersshop.com/shop-by-players-cameron-heyward-jersey-c-2_18.html Harrison on his list of the
“Top 5 Most Talented QB-WR Tandems Of All-Time.”That
’s right: the two guys who broke Joe Montana and Jerry Rice’s all-time quarterback-to-receiver touchdowns record — No. 18 and 88 had 112 between them from 1998 to 2008 — didn’t make the cut.I will say this for Harrison, however: when tweeted at about the Freeney/Mathis omission, he responded with:
“It wasn’t an all time career list…it was for one season only. If by career as teammates, Mathis and Freeney would easily make it.” I’d say that’s a fair point, though many would still argue the two should’ve been on the list, regardless.But I
’m not so sure Harrison can have the same response about leaving Manning and Harrison off this this.Yes, for 11 seasons, these two were virtually unstoppable; that
’s unprecedented longevity.But do you want to pick one season? It
’s difficult to choose just one, but let’s go to 2004. That year, Manning broke the all-time single-season record with 49 touchdown passes (to just 10 interceptions, throwing for 4,557 yards) for a career-best 121.1 QB rating. By all accounts, it was one of greatest, if not the greatest, single seasons ever by a quarterback in NFL history.Harrison that year caught 86 passes for 1,113 yards with 15 touchdowns, tying a career high in that category. So that's a career-best year for a Hall of Fame wide receiver.
Here
’s Harrison’s full Top 5 list, with some notes on each tandem — none of which certainly aren’t deserving to be in the conversation, but only a couple of which really stack up to that 2004 season from Manning and Harrison:No. 5: Ben Roethelisberger and Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2014: Roethelisberger that year led the league with 4,952 passing yards on a then-career best 67.1 percent completion percentage (408 of 608) with 32 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. Brown had a league-leading 129 receptions and 1,698 receiving yards to go along with 13 touchdowns.
No. 4: Joe Namath and Don Maynard, New
http://www.coltsshopauthentic.com/shop-by-players-32-tj-green-jersey-c-1_18.html York Jets, 1967: In a 14-game season, Namath threw for 4,000 yards
— Maynard caught 1,400 of them. That��s very impressive in era about 10 years before these stats really started becoming the norm for quarterbacks and wide receivers. Namath, by the way, became the first 4,000-yard passer in NFL history that year, though his touchdown-to-interception rating was 26-to-28.No. 3: Dan Fouts and John Jefferson, San Diego Chargers, 1980: The future Hall of Famer Fouts was amazing that season, throwing for 4,715 yards and 30 touchdowns (though he also threw 24 intercepetions), while he had three 1,000-yard receivers: Jefferson (1,340 yards, 13 touchdowns), Kellen Winslow (1,290 yards, nine touchdowns) and Charlie Joiner (1,132 yards, four touchdowns). Harrison went with Fouts/Jefferson, though, because of
“talent,” and, “for a three-year window, you couldn’t stop them,” Harrison said. Hmm. Imagine not being able to stop someone for almost three times that long.No. 2: Tom Brady and Randy Moss, New England Patriots, 2007: This one is pretty obvious, as Brady broke Manning
’s single-season record with 50 touchdown passes, 23 of which went to Moss. That year, his first of four in New England, Moss caught 89 passes for 1,493 yards.No. 1: Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, San Francisco 49ers, 1987: Obviously. Rice had 23 touchdowns (one rushing) in a 12-game, strike-shortened season. Montana threw for 3,054 yards with 31 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions (also in just 13 games), while Rice would catch 65 passes for 1,078 yards. Yikes.
The analysis from those producing
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