Here are the statistical numbers of Jerry Rice's 5 best scoring years, Randy Moss's 4 best, Cris Carter's and Terrell Owens' best, as well as some dominant Larry Fitzgerald seasons and Wes Welker's scorching start to this season. (YAC = yards after catch, and YAC wasn't computed as a stat until 1994)
| Player | Rec/Game | Yds/gm | TD/gm | YAC/gm |
| 86 Rice | 5.375 | 98.125 | 0.9375 | |
| 87 Rice | 5.416666667 | 89.83333333 | 1.833333333 | |
| 89 Rice | 5.125 | 92.6875 | 1.0625 | |
| 91 Rice | 5 | 75.375 | 0.875 | |
| 93 Rice | 6.125 | 93.9375 | 0.9375 | |
| 95 Carter | 7.625 | 85.6875 | 1.0625 | 27.45 |
| 98 Moss | 4.3125 | 82.0625 | 1.0625 | 15.5625 |
| 00 Moss | 4.8125 | 89.8125 | 0.9375 | 18.9375 |
| 01 Owens | 5.8125 | 88.25 | 1 | 32.55 |
| 03 Moss | 6.9375 | 102 | 1.0625 | 27.4375 |
| 07 Moss | 6.125 | 93.3125 | 1.4375 | 18.3125 |
| 08 Fitzgerald | 6 | 89.4375 | 0.75 | 28.8 |
| 09 Fitzgerald | 6.0625 | 68.25 | 0.8125 | 18.1875 |
| 11 Megatron | 5.8 | 90.2 | 1.8 | 16.6 |
| 11 Welker | 9 | 148 | 1 | 57.6 |
Now what does this all mean? First, Wes Welker is #1 in every per-game stat shown above, and rightfully so. He's had an amazing year-to-date, and this could be a record-setting year for him as well. However, one of his stats points to a potential setback in Welker's season of greatness: his YAC/game is a whopping 57.6. This leads me to believe that Welker has been relatively lucky in breaking tackles and finding seams downfield after catching the ball, and I would expect that number to drop significantly toward the rest of the pack as the season progresses. So let's all realize that Wes Welker is having a great year, and then move on. Because this blogpost isn't about him.
Now, Megatron has only played in 5 of the Lions' 16 scheduled games this season, so the record books are far from his. But what I'm looking for is: how repeatable are these numbers for the rest of the season? Compared to the rest of the pack (of Hall of Fame NFL receivers...he's in good company), Johnson is right in the middle of the group in terms of receptions and yards per game. As for receiving touchdowns, Calvin trails only 1987 Jerry Rice in TDs/game, and in terms of YAC/game, Johnson is second-to-last.
My take on that set of numbers: Johnson's receptions and yards are consistent with other great receiving years, so they seem to be repeatable for the duration of the season. It would be amazing and unlikely for Megatron to continue hauling in TDs at the rate he is currently at, but there is room for improvement in the disparity of YAC Johnson is currently gaining per game. In addition to this, Detroit's lack of a punishing goal-line running back to finish off drives means that quarterback Matthew Stafford will be looking to Megatron more and more as the season progresses.
Allow me this one last giddy outpouring over these statistics: in 1987, Jerry Rice caught 22 touchdown passes and had 1078 receiving yards...in 12 games played. That season, he had only 65 receptions, which means that ONE out of every THREE passes he caught from Joe Montana that year went for a score. Many people have said this before, but analysis like this proves what the Naked-Eye Test has hypothesized: Jerry Rice is the greatest wide receiver of all time, and in my estimation the greatest football player who ever lived.
Seeing Johnson replicate what Rice did for most of his career, aka own opposing defensive backs, is truly something special. As a Detroit bandwagon jumper and a Calvin Johnson fantasy owner, I am a tiny bit biased in rooting for Megatron to continue his machine-like domination of opponents through the rest of this season. But hey, as a football fan, it's just a lot of fun to see history being made.
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