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Better Peak Larry Fitzgerald V Sterling Sharpe


mdonnelly21

Better Peak  

35 members have voted

  1. 1. Better Peak

    • Sterling Sharpe
      19
    • Larry Fitzgerald
      17


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On 11/23/2017 at 5:20 PM, sammymvpknight said:

I honestly think that Fitzgerald’s prime was a bit disappointing. Expectations were really high...but he never put up a 1500 yard season. He was consistently great for a very long-time...but he was never a juggernaut like Moss, Owens, Harrison, Johnson, or even Brown. 

Sterling had a very similar prime...yet in an era less dominated by passing. 

He's tied for the 2nd most 1400+ yard seasons with Randy Moss.

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  • 7 months later...

Sharpe was the better receiver. Way better after the catch and way quicker out of his breaks. Fitzgerald of course beats him on the jump ball. 

From Todd Haley onward, Fitzgerald benefitted from playing in a wide open spread offense in the pass-oriented NFL. If he had to work out of pro set offenses of the past, there's no way he would have been as productive. You can only catch so many balls when you're wearing the coverage. 

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1 hour ago, ET80 said:

96/1,431/12 isn't one game...

It’s a good season but let’s be real...lots of non-HOF WRs have put up those types of stats. Larry’s one of my favorite football players, but as good as his career has been, it could have been much better if he took the first half of his career more seriously. 

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21 minutes ago, sammymvpknight said:

It’s a good season but let’s be real...lots of non-HOF WRs have put up those types of stats. Larry’s one of my favorite football players, but as good as his career has been, it could have been much better if he took the first half of his career more seriously. 

It's not as if that was the first time he's put up those kind of numbers (or the last time, for that matter). He's had nine 1,000 seasons (four of those nine were 1,400 seasons) and five seasons of double digit TDs. He's got nine playoffs games under his belt and is averaging over 100 yards in those nine games. From 2007 to 2011 he averaged 92 catches for 1,296 and 10 TDs. His numbers started to tail off in his 30s, but he's re-emerged as a dependable WR with the last two seasons - in a time where his counterparts are all retired. 

21 minutes ago, sammymvpknight said:

but as good as his career has been, it could have been much better if he took the first half of his career more seriously. 

I really don't know what to say to this part - Fitzgerald has always been one of the hardest working people in football, picking up his training methods from Jerry Rice and Cris Carter. I don't know where'd you get something like this from, because it could not be more further from the truth.

 

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14 minutes ago, ET80 said:

It's not as if that was the first time he's put up those kind of numbers (or the last time, for that matter). He's had nine 1,000 seasons (four of those nine were 1,400 seasons) and five seasons of double digit TDs. He's got nine playoffs games under his belt and is averaging over 100 yards in those nine games. From 2007 to 2011 he averaged 92 catches for 1,296 and 10 TDs. His numbers started to tail off in his 30s, but he's re-emerged as a dependable WR with the last two seasons - in a time where his counterparts are all retired. 

I really don't know what to say to this part - Fitzgerald has always been one of the hardest working people in football, picking up his training methods from Jerry Rice and Cris Carter. I don't know where'd you get something like this from, because it could not be more further from the truth.

 

That’s a false assumption. He is a very skilled player...but watch his football life and you’ll see that he got by on natural ability for the majority of his career. I honestly felt that he could have been the closest thing to Jerry Rice, but he squandered his prime and only started to care about the nuances of the game in the Super Bowl season. Still a great player...but I don’t think that we should even have the opportunity to debate his greatness.

 

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4 hours ago, JaguarCrazy2832 said:

Holy Thread Bump Batman

The numbers that Sharpe put up in the early 90s when throwing 4000 yards was unheard of is incredibly impressive but its so hard to compare their primes when they were done in completely different NFL eras

Yeah I didn't feel like this got enough of a conversation when I originally posted it, plus new posters...ect 

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It's Sharpe, but I don't blame people for thinking it's Fitzgerald.  It's easier to look at a guy who has been playing for 12 years than a guy who hasn't played for over 20 years. 

Sterling Sharpe's prime was better than anything Fitzgerald could hope to have emulated. 

Larry's best three year stretch: 293 catches, 3,932 yards, 25 TD. 
Sharpe's best three year stretch: 314 catches, 3,854, 42 touchdowns.

Before you point to Larry's higher yards per catch, one of those stretches was 1992-1994.  The other was 2007-2009.  2007 is the year the passing game in the NFL changed forever making it easier to pass, and every year since the rules got easier and easier for passing. 

Sharpe was the first player in NFL history with consecutive 100 catch seasons. 

In 7 more seasons, Fitzgerald managed one more double digit touchdown season. 
in 7 more seasons, Fitzgerald managed 4 more 1,000 yard seasons. 

With all that considered, and considering the wildly different eras, I really don't know how anyone could say that Fitzgerald had a better prime than Sharpe.  Obviously Fitzgerald has had a better career, but Fitzgerald didn't get a career ending injury.  If Sharpe had been able to continue playing, he'd be considered a top 10 receiver all time.  Especially considering the era he played in.  I don't think Fitzgerald will ever be considered a top 10 receiver all time.  

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