1995 stud receivers (1 Viewer)

I was just tinkering around, sifting through some of the greatest seasons for receivers, and I noticed something bizarre.

Of the top twelve marks for receiving yards in a season, four occurred in 1995. That's Jerry Rice 1848 (still #1), Isaac Bruce 1781 (still #2), Herman Moore 1686, and Michael Irvin 1603. At the time, those receivers posted four of the top five single season efforts of all time.

The same holds true for single season leaders for receptions: four of the top eight seasons occurred in that year and at the time in 1995 four of the top five marks were posted.

I vaguely remember that year, but I can't seem to find any explanation as to why that season stands out as the best year for stud receivers ever. Obviously, Rice, Bruce, and Irvin are three of the best receivers of all time, but to do it all at the same time and be joined by the likes of Herman Moore?

It's not like 1995 was especially kind to the passing game. On the list of the top 250 single season passing yardage totals, 1995 has 11 quarterbacks. A decent mark, but not that special. 2011 has 14 quarterbacks on the list. 2010 has 12. 2009 has 17. 1995 was the highwater mark of the 90s, but it's been far surpassed in the last 12 years. And yet the receiving marks stand.

Of the 1995 quarterbacks on that list, only Scott Mitchell of Detroit was tossing balls to a receiver on the short list of best seasons ever. The highest 1995 quarterback on the list is Brett Favre at 38 with 4413 yards.

1995 Steve Young doesn't appear in the top 250 single-season marks for passing yards. He might have made the list if he wasn't hurt and replaced by Elvis Grbac for five games. The two quarterbacks combined for nearly 4600 yards, which would have been good for top 25 numbers. But think about that: Elvis Grbac is 1/3 responsible for the best receiving year ever?!?! That's absurd.

No 1995 St. Louis QB appears on the list. (Chris Miller and Mark Rypien split duty. YIKES!) And 1995 Troy Aikman only threw for 3,300 yards that season. Nearly half of which were to Irvin.

Relatively speaking, passing yards were high that year but in recent years have been surpassed multiple times over. Yet more current receivers aren't shattering those 1995 marks. If overall passing yards weren't that high, why all the great single seasons? Were shut down corners required to play without hands? Wear two left shoes? Were the top receivers juicing?

Perhaps there's some members here who remember that year and can offer an explanation. But my google-fu turned up very little by way of explanation as to why 1995 still stands as the greatest year for #1 receivers.

You are underestimating the size of Herman Moore's hands....like Gronk x 2

The mid-90's were an age when the NFL seemed to be testing out a lot of things, rules changes and such. This may have been one of those years where they cracked down heavily on DBs and allowed receivers to do whatever they wanted (sort of like todays NFL). Statistical abberations come and go just as injuries of the year. Remember when players were "breaking their neck" on a regular basis (Trent Green)? How about when QBs used to turn around and tell the ref "Dude, I can't hear over the crowd"...and actually get away with it

In addition to the guys you listed, Cris Carter, Brett Perriman, Eric Metcalf, Larry Centers and Robert Brooks all caught over 100 passes and Carl Pickens finished with 99.

I remember the year pretty well but I can't remember if there was one particular cause. It was an expansion year so the defensive talent may have been diluted.

'cracKer said:

You are underestimating the size of Herman Moore's hands....like Gronk x 2The mid-90's were an age when the NFL seemed to be testing out a lot of things, rules changes and such. This may have been one of those years where they cracked down heavily on DBs and allowed receivers to do whatever they wanted (sort of like todays NFL). Statistical abberations come and go just as injuries of the year. Remember when players were "breaking their neck" on a regular basis (Trent Green)? How about when QBs used to turn around and tell the ref "Dude, I can't hear over the crowd"...and actually get away with it

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Yeah, but what about those rules benefited #1 receivers but not so much the entire passing game? Recently, quarterbacks have been obliterating passing marks each year, but receivers have still had a tough time getting close to those old records. Perhaps it was a softening of receiving rules alongside an opening of the passing game but while maintaining traditional one and two receiver sets? Fewer receivers to eat up growing portions of the passing-yardage pie? That's the best I can come up with...

'strong said:

I was just tinkering around, sifting through some of the greatest seasons for receivers, and I noticed something bizarre. Of the top twelve marks for receiving yards in a season, four occurred in 1995. That's Jerry Rice 1848 (still #1), Isaac Bruce 1781 (still #2), Herman Moore 1686, and Michael Irvin 1603. At the time, those receivers posted four of the top five single season efforts of all time. The same holds true for single season leaders for receptions: four of the top eight seasons occurred in that year and at the time in 1995 four of the top five marks were posted. I vaguely remember that year, but I can't seem to find any explanation as to why that season stands out as the best year for stud receivers ever. Obviously, Rice, Bruce, and Irvin are three of the best receivers of all time, but to do it all at the same time and be joined by the likes of Herman Moore? It's not like 1995 was especially kind to the passing game. On the list of the top 250 single season passing yardage totals, 1995 has 11 quarterbacks. A decent mark, but not that special. 2011 has 14 quarterbacks on the list. 2010 has 12. 2009 has 17. 1995 was the highwater mark of the 90s, but it's been far surpassed in the last 12 years. And yet the receiving marks stand. Of the 1995 quarterbacks on that list, only Scott Mitchell of Detroit was tossing balls to a receiver on the short list of best seasons ever. The highest 1995 quarterback on the list is Brett Favre at 38 with 4413 yards. 1995 Steve Young doesn't appear in the top 250 single-season marks for passing yards. He might have made the list if he wasn't hurt and replaced by Elvis Grbac for five games. The two quarterbacks combined for nearly 4600 yards, which would have been good for top 25 numbers. But think about that: Elvis Grbac is 1/3 responsible for the best receiving year ever?!?! That's absurd. No 1995 St. Louis QB appears on the list. (Chris Miller and Mark Rypien split duty. YIKES!) And 1995 Troy Aikman only threw for 3,300 yards that season. Nearly half of which were to Irvin. Relatively speaking, passing yards were high that year but in recent years have been surpassed multiple times over. Yet more current receivers aren't shattering those 1995 marks. If overall passing yards weren't that high, why all the great single seasons? Were shut down corners required to play without hands? Wear two left shoes? Were the top receivers juicing? Perhaps there's some members here who remember that year and can offer an explanation. But my google-fu turned up very little by way of explanation as to why 1995 still stands as the greatest year for #1 receivers.

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My only explanation would be that maybe those guys were just THAT good. That was also a time where PI wasnt called as frequently on DB's.Herman Moore had a pretty nice stretch too...he was awesome for a while and not many remember his name.

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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My first year ever playing was the year after this. My first two picks were Moore and Mitchell. Ah, the good old days of totaling your own points from the newspaper boxscore. Well actually from the AP wire because I worked at the NBC news station in San Diego at the time.

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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He was. And Tom Moore was OC in Detroit then.

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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I remember Herman Moore well growing up in UV and he was a beast. He was the 10th overall pick in the draft after being very good at UVA. 6'4 210 with good speed and hands. He had a great 4 year stretch and I'm not sure what happened after that. I think injuries did him in but his fade coincided with my undergrad days so my memory is a little foggy.BTW- Moore is from the same hometown as David Wilson.

I remember the Lions running a lot of short passing plays in the last game to get Moore the reception record ahead of Carter

it's an interesting question, but maybe it was just a random statistical outlier.

of the top 15 yardage seasons by wr, 8 were in the 5 year stretch 1999-2003.

I left a couple afl's in there.

'mad sweeney said:

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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My first year ever playing was the year after this. My first two picks were Moore and Mitchell. Ah, the good old days of totaling your own points from the newspaper boxscore. Well actually from the AP wire because I worked at the NBC news station in San Diego at the time.

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I had the duo of Mitchell and Moore on my fantasy team as well. Moore was a beast. We used to score the games from the stats in the USA Today. If the Monday night game finished too late, the stats from that game were not posted until the Wednesday paper. Those were the days!

I recall reading a Cold, Hard Football Facts article that had the following on the 1995 season...

The 1995 season was a passing explosion with teams averaging 34.8 passes per game, which is still a record. The 1995 NFC Central featured a group of quarterbacks that put up huge numbers.

Some were to be expected, as Brett Favre won the first of his three MVP awards that year. Warren Moon was a great veteran with the Minnesota Vikings, and no stranger to big numbers with the Houston Oilers. We’ll forget about the dreadful Buccaneers.

But what no one could have seen coming were the seasons from Erik Kramer and Scott Mitchell:

• Kramer passed for 3,838 yards and 29 TD with only 10 interceptions and a 93.5 passer rating. The yards and touchdowns are still Chicago franchise records.

• Mitchell led the league’s No. 2 offense with 4,338 yards and 32 TD. He had a 92.3 passer rating and Detroit made the playoffs at 10-6.

Kramer was undrafted out of North Carolina State and got his first NFL action in the replacement games of 1987. He returned with Detroit in 1991 and even won a playoff game that season. After having a good quarter of a season in 1993, he signed with the Bears as a free agent.

Though Kramer would reach 3,011 yards in 1997 with the Bears, he never had the same success as he did in 1995. He threw just 14 TD in 1997, which was the second most prolific season of his career. Kramer finished up in San Diego in 1999.

Mitchell made a name for himself as a replacement to Dan Marino in the 1993 season for Miami. Detroit went after him, and his first season was a struggle to say the least. That made his huge performance even more remarkable in 1995.

He self destructed in the playoffs, but Detroit thought they finally found the successor to Bobby Layne. In 1996, Mitchell’s touchdowns dropped to 17, and he was just 4-10 as a starter with a 74.9 passer rating.

In 1997 the Lions did make the playoffs again, though Mitchell had 19 TD and 14 INT, which were far from the success he had in 1995. He also failed in the playoffs again, and was gone after the 1998 season. He spent a year in Baltimore and finally two more with Cincinnati.

After 1995, Mitchell was just 15-24 as a starter, threw 41 TD to 49 INT, and had a 69.0 passer rating.

The Bears and Lions have done so much to try and find a franchise quarterback after last having such players in the 1950s, and for just one year, Kramer and Mitchell gave them some hope that they had the right guy.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/nfls-greatest-one-year-wonders/15532/

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'mad sweeney said:

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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My first year ever playing was the year after this. My first two picks were Moore and Mitchell. Ah, the good old days of totaling your own points from the newspaper boxscore. Well actually from the AP wire because I worked at the NBC news station in San Diego at the time.

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'96 was our inaugural year for our league that's still in existance. Checked the Monday Philly Daily News for the scores and the Commish sent paper scores via USPS. Good times!

Another Cold, Hard Football Facts tidbit...

The 2011 season (57.1% pass) saw huge passing numbers, but in terms of playcalling, it still trails the 1995 season (57.4% pass), which was the pass-happiest season in NFL history.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/chff-super-study-the-evolution-nfl-pass-run-ratio/15992/

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Great thread. Thanks for posting.

Wasn't Herman Moore also the benificiary of the old Detroit Run and Shoot offense? Called the "Silver Gun". I could be wrong, but wasn't Wayne Fontz the coach at the time? The Run and Shoot offense was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. I think the lack of pass protection caused its demise.

I was in my second season or so of fantasy football when this happened, I'm getting old.

Maybe expansion played a role? They did add two teams that year, which would dilute the talent pool (though I don't know how big of an impact that would have in this case).

'Bruno2 said:

Wasn't Herman Moore also the benificiary of the old Detroit Run and Shoot offense? Called the "Silver Gun". I could be wrong, but wasn't Wayne Fontz the coach at the time? The Run and Shoot offense was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. I think the lack of pass protection caused its demise.

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ding ding ding. The spread before the spread.

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).

Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.

And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Was 1995 the year Mike Utley got paralysed and Detroit made it into the playoffs?

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Herman and Johnnie Morton were beastly

So do the quarterbacks come back to Earth this season?

'Sarlakticacid said:

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Was 1995 the year Mike Utley got paralysed and Detroit made it into the playoffs?

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Not sure about Utley but they definitely made the playoffs in '95. That's when Rodney Peete hung 58 on them in the WC game

'Sarlakticacid said:

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Was 1995 the year Mike Utley got paralysed and Detroit made it into the playoffs?

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Mike Utley's injure was in 1991. The Lion's went on to the NFC Championship game that season.

There are a bunch of factor that contributed to the breakout passing year -

NFL Expansion - Carolina and Jacksonville's first season.

NFL Rule changes - First year with the headset in the helmet for QBs. Better communication.

Trends - NFL was trending up in passing yardage anyway.

Also Bruce, Moore, and Rice had some huge single games that season. Rice put up 6 gms north of 140 yds with a 289 3 TD performance against Minnesota in Wk 16. Moore put up 3 gms north of 140 yds playing on a team with Perriman (1488 yds) and Barry Sanders. Bruce put up an amazing 4 gms north of 170 yds with a 210 1 TD performance against Miami in Wk 17. As a side - Bruce did it with Chris Miller and a 33 year old Mark Rypien.

Michael Irvin was pretty steady putting up 11 - 100 yds games over the season. Dallas may have cut his workload at the end of the season because in Wks 15 through 17 he never went over 100 yds and it looks like his receptions were down.

Schedule played a factor as well because Miami got torched by both SF and Stl for huge receiving games by Bruce and Rice. Detroit and Minnesota were in shoot outs with SF.

So I doubt you can point to one of these things and say that's the reason 1995 saw a bump in passing, but taken as a whole, I'd say that everything led to better more efficient passing games. Or at least gave the Offense an upper hand.

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Indeed, those annual 6-3 Pats/Jets/Colts games were Bill Pidto staples (and I think Robin Roberts & Stuart Scott for a while too). Fond memories of that year. Billy Brooks was also a monster that season playing in place of an injured Andre Reed.

'yabahos said:

Rice put up 6 gms north of 140 yds with a 289 3 TD performance against Minnesota in Wk 16.

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Lost my SB by one pt because of that Monday night game. And we were 1pt/25 yds so all they had to do was hold him under 250. Bruce, Pickens, and Tim Brown were great that year for me though.

'LawFitz said:

'Bruno2 said:

Wasn't Herman Moore also the benificiary of the old Detroit Run and Shoot offense? Called the "Silver Gun". I could be wrong, but wasn't Wayne Fontz the coach at the time? The Run and Shoot offense was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. I think the lack of pass protection caused its demise.

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ding ding ding. The spread before the spread.

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The Lions had scrapped the run & shoot by 1995. I think it was gone by the 1993 season, but I could be wrong about that. They were running it when Mouse Davis was their OC; Tom Moore (the OC in '95) was/is not a run & shoot guy.

In addition to QB's having radios in their helmets... 94 was one of the years that the NFL made a point of emphasis on illegal contact. Such penalties tripled that year. So 95 would have also seen some uptick from that compared to other years.

I'm not good on my football history, so maybe 1995 was in fact a special year. What I suspect, however, was that it was at a time when passing was beginning to explode but teams didn't spread the ball out as much as they do now.

I intend to study this more in depth in the future, but I suspect that the passing explosion has added a lot of depth to fantasy receivers, but has not helped (and probably hurt) the top WRs relative to their peers. Even though there is a ton more receiving yardage league wide now, the top guys still get around 1500 yards, which I don't think is very different from the past few decades.

It was my first year in FFB. Only 2 other guys in the league had ever done it before. My WRs that year were Bruce, Carter, Moore, and Brooks. In our scoring system they finished the season 2-5, with Rice first. Favre was my QB and I crushed the league. Every week was like techmobowl scoring for me. How could I not become addicted? What a magical year...

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

'Sarlakticacid said:

'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:

Ah, the good old days. When NFL Primetime was a must watch Sunday night to see if your team MIGHT have won (wouldn't know for sure until the Monday morning box scores).Side note on Primetime: everyone loves to rip on Berman now and rightly so, as his shtick has aged badly. But not in 1995. You wanted Berman calling the highlights of your team's game. In fact, you knew your favorite team sucked if Berman threw your highlights over to Bill Pidto.And agree with those who say that even though his peak years weren't nearly as long as some of his peers, Herman Moore was an awesome WR.

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Was 1995 the year Mike Utley got paralysed and Detroit made it into the playoffs?

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Not sure about Utley but they definitely made the playoffs in '95. That's when Rodney Peete hung 58 on them in the WC game

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Couple quotes from that year:"I'm like that big buck that's in the field. They're trying to hunt him down, trying to shoot him. I just keep dodging those bullets. Everybody wants my rack on the wall."Wayne Fontes when the team was 3-6 and had lost it's first five road games. They won their last 7."There is no question to my mind that we're going to win this game. It's just a matter of bow much we are going to win"Lomas Brown the week of the Wild Card game in Philly. The Eagles won 58-37, but that score doesn't come close to capturing the humiliation. Pretty sure it was 51-7 going into the last quarter.Fontes would finally get fired after the 1996 season, and Lomas went off to the desert to play for the Cardinals.

'UlyssesNorris said:

'LawFitz said:

'Bruno2 said:

Wasn't Herman Moore also the benificiary of the old Detroit Run and Shoot offense? Called the "Silver Gun". I could be wrong, but wasn't Wayne Fontz the coach at the time? The Run and Shoot offense was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. I think the lack of pass protection caused its demise.

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ding ding ding. The spread before the spread.

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The Lions had scrapped the run & shoot by 1995. I think it was gone by the 1993 season, but I could be wrong about that. They were running it when Mouse Davis was their OC; Tom Moore (the OC in '95) was/is not a run & shoot guy.

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1989-1991ETA: Fontes called it the "Silver Stretch"

My first year doing fantasy football. I had Jerry Rice and Herman Moore. Add in Barry Sanders and Jeff George on my team and their was my 1st title. Didn't win a 2nd one until 2008. Herman Moore was awesome and NFL primetime was must see tv.

Imagine a fantasy football league where you called in your starting lineup to your opponent on Saturday night. Then, you added up your score by the newspaper box scores. If you won, you would call your win into the comissioner who kept track of standings. He'd print up a weekly newsletter each week with the league standings. On Fridays, we had free agent pick ups. You would call at 7 pm and tell the commish who you wanted. It was first come, 1st serve based on his clock. I remember calling from a payphone outside of work getting a busy signal till about 7:10 every week. I can say that our league has evolved a little since then,

'Bigboy10182000 said:

'strong said:

I was just tinkering around, sifting through some of the greatest seasons for receivers, and I noticed something bizarre. Of the top twelve marks for receiving yards in a season, four occurred in 1995. That's Jerry Rice 1848 (still #1), Isaac Bruce 1781 (still #2), Herman Moore 1686, and Michael Irvin 1603. At the time, those receivers posted four of the top five single season efforts of all time. The same holds true for single season leaders for receptions: four of the top eight seasons occurred in that year and at the time in 1995 four of the top five marks were posted. I vaguely remember that year, but I can't seem to find any explanation as to why that season stands out as the best year for stud receivers ever. Obviously, Rice, Bruce, and Irvin are three of the best receivers of all time, but to do it all at the same time and be joined by the likes of Herman Moore? It's not like 1995 was especially kind to the passing game. On the list of the top 250 single season passing yardage totals, 1995 has 11 quarterbacks. A decent mark, but not that special. 2011 has 14 quarterbacks on the list. 2010 has 12. 2009 has 17. 1995 was the highwater mark of the 90s, but it's been far surpassed in the last 12 years. And yet the receiving marks stand. Of the 1995 quarterbacks on that list, only Scott Mitchell of Detroit was tossing balls to a receiver on the short list of best seasons ever. The highest 1995 quarterback on the list is Brett Favre at 38 with 4413 yards. 1995 Steve Young doesn't appear in the top 250 single-season marks for passing yards. He might have made the list if he wasn't hurt and replaced by Elvis Grbac for five games. The two quarterbacks combined for nearly 4600 yards, which would have been good for top 25 numbers. But think about that: Elvis Grbac is 1/3 responsible for the best receiving year ever?!?! That's absurd. No 1995 St. Louis QB appears on the list. (Chris Miller and Mark Rypien split duty. YIKES!) And 1995 Troy Aikman only threw for 3,300 yards that season. Nearly half of which were to Irvin. Relatively speaking, passing yards were high that year but in recent years have been surpassed multiple times over. Yet more current receivers aren't shattering those 1995 marks. If overall passing yards weren't that high, why all the great single seasons? Were shut down corners required to play without hands? Wear two left shoes? Were the top receivers juicing? Perhaps there's some members here who remember that year and can offer an explanation. But my google-fu turned up very little by way of explanation as to why 1995 still stands as the greatest year for #1 receivers.

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My only explanation would be that maybe those guys were just THAT good. That was also a time where PI wasnt called as frequently on DB's.Herman Moore had a pretty nice stretch too...he was awesome for a while and not many remember his name.

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Herman Moore was tearing the league up (and mostly with suspect QB play). He was a 4x Pro Bowler and 3 time first team All Pro. For those 4 years, he was as good as any WR in the league not named Rice: 405 receptions 5448 yards 42 TDs.

'BobbyLayne said:

'UlyssesNorris said:

'LawFitz said:

'Bruno2 said:

Wasn't Herman Moore also the benificiary of the old Detroit Run and Shoot offense? Called the "Silver Gun". I could be wrong, but wasn't Wayne Fontz the coach at the time? The Run and Shoot offense was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. I think the lack of pass protection caused its demise.

Click to expand...

ding ding ding. The spread before the spread.

Click to expand...

The Lions had scrapped the run & shoot by 1995. I think it was gone by the 1993 season, but I could be wrong about that. They were running it when Mouse Davis was their OC; Tom Moore (the OC in '95) was/is not a run & shoot guy.

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1989-1991ETA: Fontes called it the "Silver Stretch"

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It is really interesting. The Run n Shoot was way ahead of it's time. It was the predecessor to spread and even the new offense that Ok. State has popularized that is all about making post snap reads. There are some cool quotes about it that hint at the type of devastation and change this offense will eventually bring to football:"I asked this guy, this NFL scout, 'How do you stop this thing?' He told me, 'You don't." - Bruce Keidan (1992-01-06)

"When the league switches totally to the run-and-shoot, I'm gone. Retiring. I can't tell you what a nightmare it is." - Howie Long (1991)

"Now I look around, and the Patriots and the Colts and people like that are running what we ran and saying, 'That's how you play the game.' Knowing I was a part of that with Jerry and Mouse (Davis) gives me a lot of satisfaction. Now everybody in the National Football League does what we do now. It just so happens that New England does it every play." - June Jones (2008)[59]

'fantasy stud said:

My first year doing fantasy football. I had Jerry Rice and Herman Moore. Add in Barry Sanders and Jeff George on my team and their was my 1st title. Didn't win a 2nd one until 2008. Herman Moore was awesome and NFL primetime was must see tv. Imagine a fantasy football league where you called in your starting lineup to your opponent on Saturday night. Then, you added up your score by the newspaper box scores. If you won, you would call your win into the comissioner who kept track of standings. He'd print up a weekly newsletter each week with the league standings. On Fridays, we had free agent pick ups. You would call at 7 pm and tell the commish who you wanted. It was first come, 1st serve based on his clock. I remember calling from a payphone outside of work getting a busy signal till about 7:10 every week. I can say that our league has evolved a little since then,

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Yeap. I did the stats every week from the paper and plugged the numbers into a Works spreadsheet which was like the free excel. I remember a couple years later doing it from a computer with a dial up connection. I opened a window for every game and went and got a beer while the data trickled through my 14.4 modem. About an hour later I would do the stats, confirming them the next day against the paper. I miss those days of hand writing what my team and opponents team was doing on Sunday. Now I get up to the minute stats...

'socrates said:

'mad sweeney said:

'NYGiantsGuitar said:

Those were four epic wide receivers....Obviously Rice, Bruce and Irvin, but I think people forget how good Herman Moore was...Guy was a total beast...

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My first year ever playing was the year after this. My first two picks were Moore and Mitchell. Ah, the good old days of totaling your own points from the newspaper boxscore. Well actually from the AP wire because I worked at the NBC news station in San Diego at the time.

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I had the duo of Mitchell and Moore on my fantasy team as well. Moore was a beast. We used to score the games from the stats in the USA Today. If the Monday night game finished too late, the stats from that game were not posted until the Wednesday paper. Those were the days!

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That was one of the advantages of working the late shift on Mondays, we could jump on " the Internet" AP wire from the station. But I do remember having to wait. Now people freak out if their live scoring software doesn't have a TD listed, or properly credited 7 seconds after it was scored.