49ers Wide Receiver History: Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice Thank You Very Much
by David Fucillo on Nov 9, 2010 10:01 AM PST
in San Francisco 49ers News
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PrintLast night, while watching the Bengals and Steelers on Monday Night Football, Terrell Owens impressive performance got me thinking about wide receivers and the San Francisco 49ers. TO finished the game with 10 receptions for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns and was a key reason the Bengals almost came back last night. His combination of size, speed, and improved hands put him in a position to make play after play after play. He showed it all as he made nice over the shoulder touchdown grabs, he provided some excellent possession receptions more or less boxing out defenders, and he held onto a ball after getting blasted by safety Troy Polamalu.
TO is in the midst of quite the resurgence as he is on pace for one of the five best seasons of his career. Eight games into his 15th NFL season, Owens is currently fifth all time in receptions, second in receiving yards, third in receiving touchdowns, and fifth in total touchdowns. I know some may disagree as to how high Owens ranks among all wide receivers, but I would say it's an absolute fact that Terrell Owens has been one of the best receivers in NFL history.
I bring all this up simply because it amazes me that the 49ers drafted two of the greatest receivers in NFL history. Rice is the greatest and TO is one of the all time greats at wide receiver. It remains to be seen whether Michael Crabtree will join the pantheon of great wide receivers in 49ers history, but he's off to a very solid start.
I was amused earlier this season when folks were absolutely dogging Crabtree's abilities and stating the team should trade him. I understand if you don't like his attitude or felt the draft choice was unnecessary given other holes on the team. Those are reasonable arguments even if I disagree. However, to say Michael Crabtree is nothing more than a glorified possession receiver or that he really isn't all that good (as some folks stated around here earlier in the season) is just plain wrong.
It remains to be seen whether Crabtree emerges as a great receiver in this league, but he certainly has many of the necessary tools to make it happen. He showed some decent chemistry with Troy Smith last week in London, and if Smith ends up starting this Sunday and potentially going beyond, it will be interesting to see if that chemistry leads to bigger numbers for Crabtree.
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I can't wait for this game
I hope Troy gets everyone involved early. I think if he passes the ball first and gets everyone some touches, then the running game will open up. Please bootleg and run if its open. Delanie and westbrook are neglected too much. Crabs and Vernon are a for sure doubleteam. Let’s go niners!!!!
"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone"
The surest way to have those same folks trashing Crabs to come around and proclaim his status as an elite receiver is to trade or cut him.
Then they’ll never forgive the FO for making such a ridiculous mistake, repeating it ad nauseam, until the 49ers win and they jump back on the bandwagon.
Or, the money for the operation finally comes through and they have the sticks surgically removed.
Of course he isn’t “great” now- this is his 2nd(ish) year in the league, and he hasn’t developed enough chemistry with anyone who can throw to get him the ball where he can play to his strengths.
The more I think about this team and all the positives (or the lack of negatives), the more I think we’re looking at a BW style dynasty, starting off a little rocky but roaring back with a vengeance, maybe even in time to save the second half of the season.
49er 'til I die! (if they don't kill me first)
Seriously though
- A true shutdown corner is good for flipping 2-3 of our losses.
- No Jimmy Raye has got to be good for at least one of our losses.
- Keeping Alex or putting in Troy @ Carolina and we’re looking at another likely W.
The only problem we haven’t really addressed is the pass coverage going forward, which also happens to be the biggest problem we’ve had all season.
Beyond those though, the rest of the team can only get better- the rookies on the O-Line, our WR corps, VD, Taylor Mays, P-Willy…
The only reason I’m against canning Singletary is that a monkey would be able to come in next season and coach these guys to a solid win, and Coach will probably never get deserved credit for helping assemble this pretty incredible roster for the years to come.
49er 'til I die! (if they don't kill me first)
Totally agree
Boy I miss guys like freddie soloman, dwight clark, RRRRiiiicccceeee and even TO…..remember that block he made for Hearst when he ran all the way inside the 5 yard line……
Crabtree has the potential to be great
With that said, I hope they let Troy Smith throw the ball. Smith looked competent throwing the ball when they let him.
The Art of War
Rivers is illustration
why you need elite QB. He’s thrown to 14 diff receivers this year and still leads the league in yards. Amazing how a top notch QB can make a middling team look good.
Manning
Same w/ Peyton—he has Wayne, but other than that he gets the ball to whoever steps on the field.
"The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before." ~Steve Young #8
by Young_To_Rice on Nov 9, 2010 12:02 PM PST up reply actions
Manning is really the prototype of this.
In 2010, teammates Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell perfected the art of brotational hitting.
by howtheyscored on Nov 9, 2010 1:25 PM PST up reply actions
Just think...
how good would TO be if he had Rice’s attitude?
For the record...
I wanted to trade Crabtree because I don’t like him but more significantly because I thought that maybe, just maybe we could plug a hole in our leaky secondary by doing so. I firmly believe that it would have been worth it and still do…
A great receiver isn’t as valuable as a great cornerback, in my opinion.
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