ZoisKing
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
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- Sep 16, 2010
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I always appreciate how the Patriots continue to add to their postseason successes and accolades. Seeing a Patriot in the all time leaders of any category gives me pleasure. After JE11's monster game against LA, he put himself into some prime postseason company, and I wanted to reflect on his accomplishment's and how they measure up to other all-time great playoff performers.
There are officially six players above Edelman in receiving yards in the playoffs. Many all-time comparisons use yardage as a starting point, so I'll follow suit.
The six ahead of JE11 are Rice, Irvin, Cliff Branch, Wayne, Reed, and Ward.
**I'll actually narrow the list down to five, as Jerry Rice shamefully admitted to using Stickum during his career, and was a very outspoken advocate about the negatives of cheating (specifically the Patriots), and how they define a player, or team. In my book, he crossed himself off the all-time list in any category by voicing such a strong opinion, yet clearly cheated himself in a very obvious manner. Feel free to disagree with this point, but Rice set himself up for a major fall, and didn't receive any blowback over his admittance. In my mind, he's crossed off the list.**
Moving on, here are the numbers for the five players currently ahead of Edelman:
Michael Irvin-16 games, 87 recepts, 1315 yds, 8 TD, 3 SB
Cliff Branch-22 games, 73 recepts, 1289 yds, 5 TD, 3 SB
Reggie Wayne-21 games, 93 recepts, 1254 yds, 9 TD, 1 SB
Andre Reed-21 games, 85 recepts, 1229 yds, 9 TD
Hines Ward-18 games, 88 recepts, 1181 yds, 10 TD, 2 SB
And Julian's numbers:
Julian Edelman-16 games, 98 recepts, 1175 yds, 5 TD, 2 SB
With another strong game or two, JE will be at the top of the leaderboards in receptions and yards, and would be within striking distance of the TD total as well.
A SB win, and some good performances, and he's equaled the postseason accomplishments of any WR to every play the game. That's pretty impressive for a 7th round QB turned receiver.
From the list above, there is a legit argument between Irvin, Edelman, and Ward, based purely on stats (and the number of games played being fairly similar) being the best performer ever. For me, just being in that company is satisfactory. Just being mentioned. I never saw this reign of dominance coming, and never expected a guy like JE11 to etch his name into the record books.
It's pretty cool being a Patriots fan.
There are officially six players above Edelman in receiving yards in the playoffs. Many all-time comparisons use yardage as a starting point, so I'll follow suit.
The six ahead of JE11 are Rice, Irvin, Cliff Branch, Wayne, Reed, and Ward.
**I'll actually narrow the list down to five, as Jerry Rice shamefully admitted to using Stickum during his career, and was a very outspoken advocate about the negatives of cheating (specifically the Patriots), and how they define a player, or team. In my book, he crossed himself off the all-time list in any category by voicing such a strong opinion, yet clearly cheated himself in a very obvious manner. Feel free to disagree with this point, but Rice set himself up for a major fall, and didn't receive any blowback over his admittance. In my mind, he's crossed off the list.**
Moving on, here are the numbers for the five players currently ahead of Edelman:
Michael Irvin-16 games, 87 recepts, 1315 yds, 8 TD, 3 SB
Cliff Branch-22 games, 73 recepts, 1289 yds, 5 TD, 3 SB
Reggie Wayne-21 games, 93 recepts, 1254 yds, 9 TD, 1 SB
Andre Reed-21 games, 85 recepts, 1229 yds, 9 TD
Hines Ward-18 games, 88 recepts, 1181 yds, 10 TD, 2 SB
And Julian's numbers:
Julian Edelman-16 games, 98 recepts, 1175 yds, 5 TD, 2 SB
With another strong game or two, JE will be at the top of the leaderboards in receptions and yards, and would be within striking distance of the TD total as well.
A SB win, and some good performances, and he's equaled the postseason accomplishments of any WR to every play the game. That's pretty impressive for a 7th round QB turned receiver.
From the list above, there is a legit argument between Irvin, Edelman, and Ward, based purely on stats (and the number of games played being fairly similar) being the best performer ever. For me, just being in that company is satisfactory. Just being mentioned. I never saw this reign of dominance coming, and never expected a guy like JE11 to etch his name into the record books.
It's pretty cool being a Patriots fan.