Andre Reed
???
I'm just passing through tonight, but:
Hayes was good, but not in the same class as our own Bobby Mitchell and Charlie Taylor, who played during the same era. I think Mitchell, more than Hayes, changed the WR. Consider that year when the entire Redskin offense was Norm Snead throwing about 90 miles downfield to Bobby Mitchell...wasn't there a loss to the champion Giants (the YA Tittle Giants) of about 65 - 49, when Snead threw about 7 TD passes?
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Compare to Monk, and notice that Monk (a) set the league record for receptions in a season -- 106 or so...on a team with a balanced attack -- (b) broke Largent's total receptions record, and (c) broke the record for consecutive games with a reception.
Go to Ray Berry's stats and compare...teams threw less, so Berry had fewer catches than an average receiver today. But he was one of the two or three best of his day.
Same for Monk.
What did Monk NOT do?
(a) Never boasted, never made jazzy news copy, never said much to anyone. He just played winning football.
(b) Never caught a TD in a Super Bowl. He only was healthy for two SB's, and I think he caught a TD in SB 26...it was called back by replay, but I think the replay showed he was pushed out. Even so, I think -- have to check -- that he was the leading receiver in the game.
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Andre Reed? Find a tape of SB 26, and watch Monk and Reed, same field, same big game. Reed kept dropping passes under pressure, and Monk kept catching them. Reed lost his temper after being hit so hard, so often, by Brad Edwards, the Redskins safety.
A special moment, a Michael Westbrook moment: end of the first half, Bills within FG range, trailing 17-0, and Reed drops a pass after a hard hit by Edwards. Reed thinks it was interference, and, when no flag is dropped, he pulls of his helmet and slams it into the turf.
Flag: unsportmanlike conduct, and the Bills are pushed out of range.
Not a game-turning momement, sure, because the score might have been 17-3, and we know the Skins came out in the 2nd half and tore the Bills apart...remember Jumpy Gaithers in coverage, Andre Collins bliztes up the middle, Jim Kelley panics, and throws a perfect pass to Kurt Gouveia, who returns it to the 1 or 2. Bang, Redskins TD, game over.
But compare Reed under pressure to Monk under pressure. Who played big? Recall that Reed played in the no-huddle gimic short-pass offense...an offsense that ran up statistics...
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Sumary:
- Monk was always the featured receiver on a team that was 16-5 in playoffs. (He was hurt during two of those playoff runs, but he was the main receiver who got them there.) Monk was a big-time player on teams that played under the highest pressure, and won.
- Monk set all the records that were available to be set in his time
- The only negative about him is that he didn't have an agent who got him starring roles in the movies. He didn't date super-models. He didn't appear on MTV. He didn't get a job as a TV commentator. He didn't put advertisements on his helmet or a neck scarf, or put messages on his socks. So????
