Did you even look at what Sharpe did back then? He won the damn triple crown in his last year he scored 18 tds with a young Favre. And you say Rice blew Sharpe away in 95 I say your a smart one there lol Sharpe wasn't in the league in 95 his last year was his 18 td year in 94 and his last game ever he played with that injury and ended the game with 9 receptions for 132 and 3 tds. I think besides him playing with mediocre qbs I am more amazed at his ypc for his career is 13.7 yds. Now we know you do your homework and find facts to back your statements but I would like to throw this comparison out there. From 1988 to 1994 these are the averages for the 2 players Catches per a year in that span Rice = 88.57 Sharpe = 85 average yards a year Rice = 1386 Sharpe = 1162 average per a catch Rice = 15.94 Sharpe = 14.78 and finally TDS Rices fame average = 13 Sharpe 9.25 . So by looking at this and I don't see Rice in a different stratosphere and when you take in that Sharpe was hurt by his rookie season when Rice was already a star and of course in that time frame lets do the other obvious comparision. Rice had 2 average qbs in Montana and Young throwing him the ball and Sharpe had the HOF qbs in Randy Wright, Don Majkowski, Mike Tomczak,Blair Keil, Anthony Dilweg before he got the gun slinger in Favre for his 2.5 years. Now I am really curious and lets compare apples to apples Rice with Young and Sharpe with Favre.
Ok in those 3 years when the qbs could be comparable Rice averaged 98 catches (pretty impressive) Sharpe averaged 104.6 (not to shabby) Rice average yards 1401 (very Impressive) Sharpe 1284.6 (he sucks) Average per catch Rice 14.3 and Sharpe 12.6 and finally Rice will run away with this right TD average per year 12.6 and poor Sharpe only averaged 14. So when you put them on a level playing field I can see how you can say Rice is another stratosphere. Get the hell out of here and I would say they were both pretty elite and if players like Owens and Bruce and Irving can make the hall then Sharpe deserves to be in there.
Originally Posted by: dhazer
Why would I compare Rice and Sharpe while Sharpe was at his best while ignoring Rice's accomplishments? Rice played before and after Sharpe was in his prime. You have to cherry-pick stats to make it look like Sharpe was anywhere near the player that Rice was. This isn't even a knock on Sharpe. Rice was better than every WR that played the game.
I mentioned '95 because Rice caught more balls for more yards than Sharpe did in any year he played. He also scored more TDs in '95 than either year that Sharpe broke 100 receptions. Sharpe's run from '92-94 was excellent, but Rice put up similar performances for 11 straight seasons from '86-96, a truly legendary achievement. Everything Sharpe did, Rice did better at some point in his career.
Rice played for 20 years and wasn't the same guy at 42 that he was at 32, so the fact that he has better career averages in most categories than Sharpe, who didn't have the opportunity to play long enough to decline physically, is truly remarkable. At the age of 40, rice put up 92/1211/7. Rice's sustained excellence is what makes him the best WR of all time, and one of the greatest players regardless of position.
If you want an apples-to-apples comparison, look at Rice's first 7 years vs Sharpe's 7. Over this span, Sharp caught more balls but for fewer yards and a lot fewer TDs.
Rice: 526 rec, 9072 yards, 93 tds, 17.2 avg
Sharpe: 595 rec, 8134, 64 tds, 13.7 avg
Or take '88-94, when they were both playing, and Rice caught more balls, for more yards, and more TDs.
Rice: 620 rec, 9700 yards, 91 tds, 15.6 avg
In my view, getting into the HOF should be about the accomplishments of a player's career. Not whether they put together 2 or 3 excellent seasons. Preist Holmes had an amazing 3 years from 2001-2003 too, but he shouldn't be in the HOF. Holmes and Sharpe can be let into the Hall of What If They Didn't Get Hurt.
Listen, I was a big fan of Sharpe when he played. It was devastating when he got hurt. I won't be upset if he gets into the HOF. Honestly, I would prefer to live in an alternate universe where Sharpe was healthy enough to play another 10 years so that we could have a debate about whether Sharpe was better than Rice. But it didn't actually happen.