Randy Moss says Jerry Rice is the “3rd or 4th” greatest receiver ever

Every so often, someone says something stupid. And every so often, someone else hears that stupid thing and thinks, “You know, that person may be right about that.” I am not going to let this be one of those times. Randy Moss appeared on the Getcha Popcorn Ready Podcast with Terrell Owens and Matthew Hatchette last week, and when he was asked who the greatest receiver of all-time was, he said this.

“I’ll put myself first, I’ll put T.O. second. Jerry’s probably third or fourth. I’m talking about dominating the game and changing the game of football. I don’t live on statistics because if you live on statistics and live on championships that’s all political. You’ve seen guys released or cut from a team just by a couple words in the media. You’ve seen guys not given contracts just because of the color of their skin. You’ve got to throw politics out of the game of football, and look at the impact of what each individual was able to make in the game of football.”

I can’t speak to the part about guys not getting contracts due to the color of their skin. If that is true, it’s horrible. I hope it isn’t true, but Randy Moss would certainly know better than me about that.

As for the other parts of the argument, I don’t get where he’s coming from. Moss claims to not care about statistics, but then goes on to cite his incredible rookie year, and being part of two of the highest-scoring offenses of all time. Those sound a lot like stats to me.

(By the way, you can hear me rant about this in today’s Stats & Eggs Podcast. Click below)

Personally, I think he doesn’t like hearing about statistics because Jerry blows him (and everybody else) out of the water. If Randy could play right now and produce at an average Randy Moss level, he’d still have to suit up for another 4 years to reach Jerry’s touchdowns, seven years to reach Jerry’s yardage, and eight years to reach Jerry’s receptions.

Jerry has 13 Pro Bowls to Moss’s six, 10 All Pro teams to Moss’s four, and three Super Bowl rings to Moss’s zero. Not to mention Rice’s MVP in Super Bowl XXIII.

There really is no measure in which Randy Moss beats Jerry Rice, unless you give Randy more points for being able to jump higher and run faster. Last I checked, though, they don’t give you any more points for a touchdown that you catch by jumping over somebody else.

“I really don’t like talking about being the best wide receiver in the game because I never set my goals to being the best,” Moss went on to say in the podcast.

Mission accomplished, Randy.