Jerry (Rice) Is Better Than (Terrell) Owens

I am sorry.  I can't take this anymore:

TO was more dominant .. jerry rice wasnt this uncoverable wr .. he played in the late 80s where the corners    werent great .. and he had 2 great qbs .. he was good .. not the best .. its like in hockey .. is gretsky the best ever? nope .. ovechkin is .. never been a more dominant player .. but cuz wayne played in the late 80s early 90s where goals were scored like crazy in a wide open nhl with shitty goalies. . he has all records .. so what .. ovechkin is more dominant and the better player .. jerry rice = wayne gretsky (Jibta on the "Best in NFL" post) 

And P.S.--no hard feelings, JIBTA.  I'm with you all the way on Macho.  He blows.

I know this is an Eagles blog.  But it's a long offseason, so bear with me and listen to conclusive, ball smashing, rebuttal shredding, irrefutable evidence that Jerry Rice is indeed better, in every conceviable way, than Terrell Owens at the position of Wide Reciever.

Jibta states that "corners weren't great" in the late 80's.  I don't know what matrix he is using to judge the comparative "greatness" of corners from then to now (and I guess he forgets the Darrell Green, Eric Allen, Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, Mike Haynes, etc. crew), but I will provide a brief breakdown of rules changes that a) were against Jerry Rice and b) benefitted Terrell Owens.

First: In 1996 the 5 yard rule started being enforced more stringently.  Cornerbacks were forced to play less physical, less bump-and-run coverage

Second: The many rules protecting quarterbacks (blows to head, helmet-to-helmet, etc.) become bolstered and enforcement of these rules increases to a lunatic degree

Third: The quarterback gets to wear a GODDAMN LISTENING DEVICE TO HEAR PLAYS CALLED

Fourth: Defensive pass interference changed from a 15 yard foul to a spot foul.  This is a definite boon for the offense

The NFL is much more "wide open" now, so your hockey metaphor is moot.

There are no statistics where these two are even close.  Rice had 4 100 catch seasons with San Fran. despite sharing the field with John Taylor, Brent Jones, Tom Rathman, Roger Craig...the list goes on.  For anyone to say he is not dominant is lunacy at best.  TO has NEVER amassed 1800 receiving yards in a season like Rice did in 1995 (when he had 122 receptions, a number TO has never even come close to).  Listen, TO is a great talent, and a great football player.  Someday, he'll be in the Hall of Fame.  But he is not Jerry Rice.  He's not even close.

For more information comparing these two players statistics, kindly visit our friends at Pro Football Reference

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RiceJe00.htm

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/O/OwenTe00.htm