Jerry Rice Versus Richard Sherman Rant

I just watched an interview with Jerry Rice on the NFL network where Rice was asked if he thought Sherman had the ability to shut down Rice when Rice was still playing. Rice looked disgusted and irritated that he was being asked this question. Rice's reply was a very quick 'no'. To me it seemed almost disrespectful and over confident. Later on in the day Sherman tweeted to Rice that it sure is easy for Rice to talk when he isn't able to prove it on the field which is exactly what I was thinking during the Rice interview.

During Rice's interview he was also asked about Calvin Johnson breaking one of Rice's records last season and the possibility that Calvin might break all of Rice's records eventually. Rice again was somewhat disrespectful as he talked about Johnson. Rice indicated that Johnson wasn't yet a complete player (but on his way to becoming one). I thought this was absurd; Johnson almost had 2,000 yards receiving in a year! Johnson also just had the best receiving game in history (overtime excluded) only a few weeks back. In my opinion Calvin has already proved that, at his best, he is more dominant than Jerry Rice ever was. I may not be right, but I think it is at least a debatable topic.

Anyway, my point is that Jerry was running his mouth about a player who is clearly one of the best WRs to ever play the game and is still young. He also ran his mouth about Sherman. Sherman, in my opinion, is one of the best CBs, if not the best CB, in the league right now.

So back to Sherman's tweet... Rice could have approached the questions he was asked during his interview in many different ways, especially because we will never know what the answers are to these questions he was asked. He could have let the stats speak for themselves or he could have run his mouth and try to remind us all of how special he was. Rice choose to run his mouth. And we all know how Sherman feels about people who run their mouths... I wish a day would come where this match-up could happen (time travel or something) because i would pay to see Sherman ask Rice 'You mad Bro?'.

BTW, I think a player like Calvin Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, etc. would have answered these questions differently; with more respect. Rice, in my opinion, is insecure and a dick and in my opinion was never a true Hawk but only a dick who tried to steal a true Hawk's number... rant over...

I apologize if this topic was already posted... I looked for it but couldn't find anything; I thought it was worth mentioning though.

Ego, all great players have 'em its a fact of life, I'm sure even our favorite QB has a bit of an ego.

Michael Jordan has the same ego when it comes to LeBron James.

"A very quick 'no'" is now disrespectful and running one's mouth?

This is an outrage!

Jerry Rice is pretty much the best WR of recent memory. Why should he think that any corner could stop him? Come on now. This is silly.

I don't understand how he was wrong. If you don't believe that you are the greatest, you can never play like or become the greatest. You don't become great without arrogance to go along.

Rice wasnt disrespectful or running his mouth.You are kind of making his response more dramatic than it was.He answered the question and stated why.He said he took pride in beating the press man to man.And he was right.Rice and Montana or Young would have eaten his lunch.They beat better CBs than Sherman.Why would Sherman even tweet about it?That sounds more arrogant or disrespectful than what Rice had to say.

Jerry Rice was always a dick, even in his playing days. Yeah, he was a great receiver. He also had the advantage of being surrounded by great talent (Dwight Clark and Roger Craig don't get half the credit they deserve) and played with two of the best quarterbacks of all time.

Sherman would have stolen his lunch money though. He's bigger and faster than anyone Rice ever faced, including rice himself.

Jerry Rice gets way too much individual credit. Put him on the Browns in 85 and you'd never have heard of him.

justafan":25zcvvw5 said:

They beat better CBs than Sherman.

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Name one. The only CB as good as Sherman he ever faced was Deion Sanders and having watched them both, I think Sherman is better.

HansGruber":1z84jtkq said:

justafan":1z84jtkq said:

They beat better CBs than Sherman.

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Name one. The only CB as good as Sherman he ever faced was Deion Sanders and having watched them both, I think Sherman is better.

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Up for discussion prime time was a pretty complete player

Haha, Sherman couldn't cover rice even if you let him hold the first ten yards. Dion couldn't cover rice, and now Sherman can? I know the league started for Seattle in 2001, but we are talking about the best receiver of all time, vs a top five corner this season?

The Megatron comparison is ridiculous.

Rice had longevity yes, but also played almost his entire career with Montana and Young.

Megatron put up a 1300 yard season on the 0-16 Lions with the Dan Orlovsky/Daunte Culpepper dreamteam behind center, then he had to put up with a year of Stafford growing pains and a year and a half of injuries from him, giving Shaun Hill and Culpepper more playing time.

In Stafford's last 2.5 healthy seasons Megatron has put up 115 yards per game on average, and 2 TDs every 3 games.
On top of that, his best season is better than Rice's best. His second best is better than Rice's second best, and he's on pace to best Rice's best season again this year.
All without Joe Montana and Steve Young at QB.

There is no other possible answer for Rice. Like someone like that would ever say "yes, my playing abilities are nothing compared to the almighty god Sherman"... Its just a dumb question to ask.

Best wr in nfl History vs a very good cb the last 2 yrs. I'm taking rice. It's hard to compare rice vs Sherman and rice vs Johnson because of how different the game is today. You can't touch a wr today, imagine rice playing today.

He's confident in his abilities. He's earned the right to brush off third year cornerbacks. If Sherman keeps up his level of play for a bunch of more years, he might give a different answer 5-10 years down the road. Sherman hasn't done anything yet.

Dick Johnson":30am38gj said:

Haha, Sherman couldn't cover rice even if you let him hold the first ten yards. Dion couldn't cover rice, and now Sherman can? I know the league started for Seattle in 2001, but we are talking about the best receiver of all time, vs a top five corner this season?

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Seattle doesnt have "Five Rings" but we have knowledgeable and passionate fans that pre-date 2001 by quite a few years.

And even though I wont go as far as the OP, its not fair to discredit Sherman just because he is early in his career. Sherman shows every ounce of potential to be the best at his position over a 10 year period like Rice was, so why not ponder the possibility? Sherman very well may have been able to cover him just fine, we will never know.

The game has also just really changed.

Calvin Johnson came into the league in 2007. Ten of the top twelve passing seasons by a quarterback of all time happened in just the six full years that Calvin Johnson has been in the league. We're on pace for that to be eleven out the top twelve by the end of this season.

Another way to look at it is that in Stafford's two full seasons he has had 663 and 727 passing attempts. Steve Young only had over 500 attempts (517) once in his entire career, and the same is true for Joe Montana (515 once). They were both closer to 425-430 attempts in most seasons.

Not taking a single thing away from Calvin Johnson who is an amazingly talented player and the best receiver in his era IMO, but what Jerry Rice was able to do in comparison to the other players at his position in his era is really just unfathomable. I mean heck, even in this era where passing and receiving stats flow like water, it's still incomparable.

Jerry rice did it with HOF Qbs, Calvin has done it with scrubs and Stafford. If you gave every team the choose between a 23 yo Calvin Johnson or 23 yo Rice, I bet it would be pretty close but Calvin would be takin more times.

Another way to look at it is Rice played with his eras version of Tom Brady, imagine the insane numbers Calvin would have with Brady.

Dick Johnson":fxsaa41c said:

Haha, Sherman couldn't cover rice even if you let him hold the first ten yards. Dion couldn't cover rice, and now Sherman can? I know the league started for Seattle in 2001, but we are talking about the best receiver of all time, vs a top five corner this season?

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Yeah and Niners fans came out of hiding in 2011...see how stupid that sounds?

Anyways...back to the topic. Rice is and always will be my favorite WR of all time. It seems like a lot of fans still hold a grudge over the whole Largent # situation. I don't understand why. But then again, I never hated TO for his sharpie incident.

These type of comparisons are interesting, but impossible to conclude. They are opinion based.
I've always believed that Barry Sanders would have blown away Emmitt Smitt if he had played with that Dallas team. But thats my opinion. No way to prove it. Would be a crazy competition to see Rice vs Sherman, both in their prime. Rice well past his, Sherm not yet at his, so who really can say how it would turn out.

They are all hypothetical opinion questions, and thus stupid.
The one truth is that Rice is as ass. He calls himself GOAT. Which means he could never admit anyone is as good as him. Never.