What on earth will this accomplish?
Let’s pretend I ran a football team, and the team I was running was having some trouble. Well, the whole team isn’t having trouble. It’s more like one player is causing the trouble. He’s selfish, makes ridiculous statements to the media and is not a “team player.” Because of this one player, the rest of the team is constantly forced to say and do the right things in order to make up for this one guy. An unspoken level of stress and animosity builds up throughout the team because they can’t understand why this one player who does everything wrong off the field gets all the attention.
Now, if you had to guess what position that guy played what would you say? Wide receiver, right? (Or, Terrell Owens to be specific because that’s who I was thinking about as I wrote the previous paragraph.) A lot has been written about T.O. and why he acts the way he does. But I don’t think I have ever seen an article about what it is about receivers that make them act that way. People like T.O., Chad Johnson, Randy Moss, Kellen Winslow and Jeremy Shockey are just a few in the long line of receivers who are outspoken, talented when they want to be and quite frankly, really annoying. (I know the last two are tight ends, but they are receiving tight ends so save your comment corrections.)
The first thing that needs to be looked at is the nature of the position. Wide receivers are reliant on someone else getting them the ball. While running backs have plays called specifically for them, and linemen are smart enough to realize their importance on the field, a receiver needs the quarterback to throw him the ball. Sure, you can design a passing play for a receiver; in fact, most passing plays have a primary receiver, a secondary receiver and so on. But, every time the quarterback drops back he has anywhere from two to five choices where he is going with the ball.
Look at it this way, if a receiver has a big day he usually has between seven to ten receptions. On the same day, a running back will have 20 attempts and the quarterback will throw the ball 25 times. In terms of pure touches, a receiver’s contribution to a game can easily be minimized.
Have you ever been watching a football game and the stats will flash up and the leading receiver for team X has 7 catches for 94 yards, and someone will invariably say, “Holy shit, when did that happen?” I just described Hines Ward’s career. Unless you are a big play guy, your contributions get lost except when you have been consistently good for years like the aforementioned Ward and Marvin Harrison. Then “football guys” like John Madden and Ron Jaworski, ceaselessly praise you for “doing the right things.”
Which brings me to my next point, receivers, by design, make big plays. Whether it’s a 65-yard bomb or an eight yard stop route that turns into a 53-yard touchdown, wide receiver is a glamour position. Let’s say in the same game a running back rushes 26 times for 103 yards with two touchdowns and no run over 8 yards. In the same game, one of his receivers has four catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns. One touchdown was a deep ball and the other was a short route he broke. Whose highlights do you think we’ll see? I understand it’s not the receiver’s fault that his highlights make for better television, but this is the paradox receivers operate under.
Receivers, by the simple design of the game of football, are constantly fighting for more touches while getting deserved praise for limited receptions. A receiver thinks to himself, look how well the team is doing when I average six receptions, imagine if I averaged ten. He then makes an innocuous statement to a reporter like, “I should get more receptions,” and suddenly he’s selfish and only cares about himself.
Yeah, I take plays off. I play for the Raiders. Fuck you.
This is usually when receivers go two directions. They jump on the crazy train like Terrell Owens, or they “take plays off” like Randy Moss. In both cases, it is a ploy to get more receptions. Terrell Owens does sit ups in his driveway to say, “Look, I’m crazy. Maybe if you threw me the ball more I’d stop acting this way.” And Randy Moss takes plays off because “Look how good we do when I try, but now that I am unappreciated I am going to suck to show you all how valuable I am. Because when I suck, you suck”
Again, this kind of thinking allows itself to fester and grow simply by the design of the game. Wide receivers are lined up away from everyone else. They are isolated by the formation. Receivers are literally and metaphorically on an island. They aren’t like linemen who need the guys next to them to be successful, or running backs who need the line to be successful, or quarterbacks who need everyone to be successful. They just need the ball. So the Terrell Owens brand of receiver will act out, act crazy for attention. “Look at me, I’m out here all alone doing sit-ups in my driveway, throw me the ball.” While the Randy Moss brand of receiver will take plays off. “Look at me out here all alone. No matter what I do, he still might not throw it to me. Fuck him.”
The final point I will make about why receivers act the way they do has to do with contact. The perception of any wide receiver within the team dynamic is that they are soft. Lineman clobber each other all practice, running backs get clobbered all practice and receivers catch balls all practice. Whether this characterization is right or not doesn’t matter. The fact that it does exist further marginalizes the success of a receiver. Imagine this conversation between Terrell Owens and Flozell Adams
Owens: Flo, I had 8 catches today for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Want to go get a drink to celebrate?
Adams: I just spent three hours fighting with Dwight Freeney. I’m tired, and I am going home to bed. So fuck you, and you drink.
This is why receivers are crazy.
October 21, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I am a bit offended since I played WR and am a die Hard Randy Moss fan, but you make some valid points, especially pertaining to your argument. I agree totally on most the reasons why so many Receivers are crazy, but some of your football accusations ruffled me! Let me go through and make some comments:
1. “Receiving Tight Ends” – Mind meet Gutter, Gutter meet Mind.
2. I guess WRs do depend on others to get them the ball, but football is a game that everyone out on the field depends on someone. Running backs in college depend on the quarterback’s read to get the ball, just like in Oregon’s Offense – case in point, Masoli having 24 carries on the read option against UCLA compared to JJ’s 11 and Blount’s 7. That is just the read option, what about speed or triple option? Once again the RB is dependent on someone else to get them the ball. Not just WRs.
3. You state “In terms of pure touches, a receiver’s contribution to a game can easily be minimized.” – I am not sure if you mean by the defense or by the fact that the offense could just not call plays or the QB wouldn’t throw to him.
-If you mean the defense, this is true in terms of pure touches, but it could be the exact same as a RB. What if they stack the box with 8 or 9. I guess you could still limit the touches of the WR, but that is only if the coaches are stupid and continue to run it. Also, isn’t this the goal of all pass defenses? Aren’t they constantly trying to limit the contribution of the Wr’s, i am sure any coach would love to see no completed passes from their secondary (that is of course if they are stopping the run too!). If it was “easy” to do this as suggested, then we wouldn’t have the Moss’s and TO’s of the world, because I guarantee a lot of defense would love to stop their touches if they could.
-That was assuming it was easy for the defense. As for the offense, i kind of talked about it before, but if you stubbornly call run plays constantly, then yeah, you can limit the touches, but you are also limiting your offense and will most likely lose. Now, if the QB just doesn’t throw to him, that too could happen, but why wouldn’t you throw to your best WR if you are going to pass? This is of course assuming he is open, which if he is as good as some of the guys you mentioned, he will be. Another way to limit their touches is to just bench the guy. That would work also.
-Lastly on this point, I don’t think the touches to contribution ratio is a valid theory as true contribution. I remember in one playoff game with the Vikings, randy Moss had 3 catches (they limited his touches), I believe one was a 5 yard gain, while one one was a 60 yard Deep Bomb for a TD and the other one was a WR Screen that went for 65 yards and a score. They won that game and I believe that his contribution was apparent, despite his lack of touches.
4. You say that Hines Ward could have 97 yards with some receptions and people will be surprised, but then you describe almost the exact same situation in the next paragraph about a receiver who overshadows a RB who had the exact same workmanlike game as Hines Ward did. I guarantee you that a RB with 100yds with a long of 8 yards will get people also saying “Holy Shit, when did that happen?”. It works both ways, It’s not just WR’s who have un-flashy contributions.
-I have seen Cowboy highlights where we see a Felix Jones 22 yard TD run or a 60 yd TD run and he finished with 6 carries for 62 yards. Just like a WR with limited touches making big plays, but that same game Jason Witten had 6 catches and 96 yards and a TD, he didn’t get any highlights, just a stat line. Is this the Running Back’s paradox as well? Does this mean Felix Jones, Darren Sproles and other big play third down backs are gonna go crazy as well?
5. I would Probably want more touches too if every time I got a pass it was 18 yards and a first down.
6. Can we please get a pic of Randy in a Vikings or Pat’s uniform! Raiders years,ehhhhh…..
7. Your last point about contact, are you saying that Wr’s are cocky and crazy and abrasive because their lack of contact in football marginalizes their contribution? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Tell that to the WR who catches the the Cross route for 11 yards on 3rd & 10 and gets absolutely lit up by the MLB, but still holds on to the ball. You think all the lineman and backs would still say “oh, that was just OKAY, he doesn’t do it everyday, I don’t care that it may lead us to a score and a win, he just catches balls all day.” Also, I do think most WR’s are soft, compared to a lot of the other players on the team. But just saying that they are looked down upon because they only catch is ridiculous, I do not think that WR’s look down on Lineman because they “only block” or RBs because they “only run”. A WR knows that the pass was able to be completed to him because the line blocked and that the defense had to respect the run because of the RBs ability. For me, the hardest thing in football was blocking, but i bet a lot of lineman would have trouble catching and running routes, as would some RBs. Hell they all would have trouble reading coverages and throwing the ball while feeling backside pressure (lol-backside pressure). I am just saying that catching the ball at full speed while running a precise route is not something everyone can do, and I am sure many teammates realize that.
Also, what other players are usually the ones saying crazy things and complaining and being cocky? Warren Sapp, Jerry Porter, Ray Lewis, Simeon Rice, Deion Sanders and even Michael Strahan. I think their positions are contact filled, and they are still crazy. It not just “marginalized contribution because of lack of contact” guys who go off the deep end to the media. And if that was a reason why players go crazy to the media, then why aren’t kickers out there complaining to the media all the time? Talk about no contact, but I think when they hit that game winning FG or a 50 yarder that their lack of contact doesn’t marginalize their contribution.
All in fun, I was just giving my opinionated counter argument. Good work Jake! i enjoy reading your blog and I still miss that picture of you as superman on the roof from your old blog! Bring it back, bring it back! Take it easy my friend.
October 21, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I’m glad someone took the time to call me out on my shit. That’s the whole reason I started this thing. Also, as I was writing this I kept saying to myself, “Man, this is going to piss off Ryan.”
1. I agree that running backs are dependent just like receivers. What I should have made clearer is that receivers dependence is magnified by their isolation on the field.
2. Minimized is the wrong word. I should have said marginalized. A receiver doing his job, let’s say 5 catches for 55 yards and no touchdowns does not get the same level of respect as a running back who does his job. This leads to them feeling disrespected.
3. Your point about running backs having workmen like contributions that go unnoticed is a good point. The running back who typified this is Curtis Martin. Also, the idea that third down backs may go crazy has yet to be seen. The “position” hasn’t existed long enough for there to be a body of work. I’d be willing to bet they do.
4. I agree with you when you say “I would Probably want more touches too if every time I got a pass it was 18 yards and a first down.” The point of this article was not to make receivers look bad. I just think they are victims of how the game works. Football is the ultimate team game, and receivers often might say “I should get more touches” because they honestly believe it will be good for the team. But because the football mentality is so anti-individual this is seen as selfishness. This becomes a story on PTI and NFL Live drive the receiver further into the abyss.
5. I picked that picture of Randy Moss because it made me laugh. Sorry.
6. I wasn’t trying to say that all receivers are soft. I am saying that in the hierarchy of a team, receivers are perceived to be soft. Now, most teams will give credit where credit is due. If you make that catch and get pounded by the linebacker I’ll give you a congratulatory slap on the ass. Something I should have put in this article that I guess is implied is that receivers are constantly trying to prove themselves and because the way the game treats them they can’t.
7. I think your point about defensive players is a good one. You could say the same things about them that you could about receivers. Plus, some people are just obnoxious.
I’m going to hunt for that superman picture right now.
October 22, 2008 at 12:16 am
whats a football?
November 13, 2008 at 10:35 am
What about Hines Ward? That guy fucking slays.
November 13, 2008 at 1:12 pm
CJ, I’m very disappointed in your blog reading comprehension skills.
“Have you ever been watching a football game and the stats will flash up and the leading receiver for team X has 7 catches for 94 yards, and someone will invariably say, “Holy shit, when did that happen?” I just described Hines Ward’s career.”
November 14, 2008 at 5:33 am
Aw, shit. Never mind. I was just watching some videos of Ward, like, breaking a dude’s jaw, and I got really excited.