Before the 2012 NFL season, Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson boldly proclaimed he was not only targeting Jerry Rice’s (then) record of 1,848 receiving yards but was aiming for the hallowed and untapped 2000 yard mark.
At the time, many fans and pundits shook their heads and wrote the comments off as preseason swag. Others wondered if he’d bumped his head in training camp and needed a baseline concussion test or two. He was the Madden cover boy after all, so he would surely break a kneecap or something by Week 3, right?
Well, the Madden curse must be retired like the big, beloved broadcaster because the only thing it cursed in Megatron’s season was the acclaim he received after one of the greatest seasons by a position player in history.
Going into Week 16, all the TV and media coverage was focused on Adrian Peterson and his quest to break Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record. It made sense, considering Johnson had already taken down Jerry Rice’s receiving record – once thought to be unbreakable. Reaching 2K would’ve just been icing on the cake after all.
But what bothered me about Johnson’s historic mark is the way it was largely ignored by nearly everyone. People were so busy calling Peterson the greatest person who ever lived that they shunned the guy who actually broke a record for one who got painfully close.
No shade towards AP. He deserved all the fanfare he earned in racking up a monster season just months after ACL/MCL surgery. But Johnson’s season was better. Period.
Sportswriters are quick to write off Johnson’s eye-popping stats by suggesting that today’s NFL is different from when Rice set the record. They claim that every team is chucking the ball around the field with no conscience. They say teams don’t run the football anymore. It’s a passing league.
There is certainly some truth in those statements, but Johnson’s lack of acclaim is largely due to revisionists’ history. If you go back and look at the 1995 season when Rice set the high-water mark, there were three other receivers who surpassed 1,600 yards: Isaac Bruce (1,781), Herman Moore (1,686) and Michael Irvin (1,603).
How many receivers not named Megatron broke the 1,600 barrier this season? Zilch.
For the record, I do think today’s pass interference rules are a joke and help inflate passing and receiving numbers a bit. But let’s take a gander at the record-breakers versus their contemporaries.
Rice, widely considered the greatest NFL player ever, beat out Bruce by a mere 67 yards back in ‘95. Johnson crushed his closest competitor, Andre Johnson (1598), by a whopping 366 yards. That means Megatron could’ve took a megabreak and still finished first this season.
But when you hear the chatter about MVP, you hear Peterson, Brady and Manning. There’s not a whisper about Johnson. Maybe it’s because his team grossly underachieved at 4-12. Maybe it’s because he posted a shockingly low 5 TDs after amassing 16 just a year ago. But with a below-average running attack and routine red zone triple teams, it was hard for Johnson to get more scores.
I’m not arguing that Johnson is better than Rice. I’m not even saying he should be a lock for the MVP. I’m just wondering why the man is getting no love, despite terrorizing defensive backfields the same way AP terrorized defensive lineman and linebackers. When the awards snubs come, expect Johnson to be even more motivated and I have no doubt that next season the 2K walls will come tumbling down. Hopefully, a flood of respect will come with them.
