By John Steigerwald
January 13, 2019
Lynn Swann and John Stallworth
Antonio Brown, the greatest wide receiver in Steelers history …
Hold on a minute.
It seems to have become a requirement to include the declaration that Brown is the Steelers’ greatest receiver ever in any story about his most recent immature, narcissistic, selfish, stupid behavior.
If you’d like to make the argument that he’s the Steelers best wide receiver ever, go ahead. There are plenty of stats to back you up. Multiple 100-catch, 1,000-yard seasons. Touchdowns. He’s among the NFL all-time greats if if we’re talking about stats.
But could we please acknowledge the obvious fact that NFL passing and receiving numbers have been ridiculously inflated over the last 10 years?
To say that Brown is the Steelers’ best receiver ever is, of course, saying that he has surpassed both Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. If we’re going by raw numbers there is no argument, but we’re talking about different eras.
Ben Roethlisberger threw 675 passes this season.
Terry Bradshaw led the NFL in just about every important passing statistic in 1978 and he threw the ball 368 times. He had four games with more than 30 attempts and never more than 33. This season, Roethlisberger had three games with fewer than than 30 attempts — and it was 29 in two of them. He threw more than 50 passes three times.
In 1984, when he was 32, John Stallworth caught 80 of the 443 passes thrown by Mark Malone, David Woodley and Scott Campbell, none of whom is expected to make the Hall of Fame. That’s actually a slightly higher percentage of catches than Brown’s 104 of Roethlisberger’s 675 this season.
Only someone who never saw Stallworth or Swann play or has no appreciation for the huge difference in eras would believe Brown is the undisputed best wide receiver in Steelers history.
Of Brown’s 104 catches this season, 78 were on passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage to 10 yards “down” field. Those stats aren’t available on Swann and Stallworth, so you’ll have to trust me or someone else who saw most of their games: They didn’t make their living catching passes within 10 yards of scrimmage. Or, I guess you could try YouTube.
Swann averaged 19.7 yards per catch in 1978 and 16.3 for his career. Stallworth averaged 19.5 in 1979 and finished at 16.2. Brown has averaged over 16 once — in 2011 — and has averaged 13.4 for his career.
Back then, the Steelers meant business when they threw the ball. There were no five wide receiver sets on third-and-2.
Brown does nothing better than either Swann or Stallworth. All three could make the acrobatic catch and were great runners after the catch. Brown is the only one with the advantage of gloves as sticky as gaffer’s tape. That comes in handy on those one-handers.
Would Brown have been great in the Swann/Stallworth era?
Probably.
But he would have had to survive the first four years against the bump-and-run when defenders could knock a receiver on his butt anywhere down field before the ball was in the air. Swann and Stallworth dealt with that from 1974-1977. And the league didn’t have much of a problem if those hits were to the head. Including helmet to helmet. We’ll never know if Brown would have been tough enough.
And then there is the Super Bowl. The Steelers, speaking of different eras, completed a total of 18 passes in Super Bowls IX and X. Stallworth only caught three passes in IX for 24 yards but had 11 catches in four Super Bowls for 268 yards. That’s 24.4 per catch.
Swann may be the greatest wide receiver in Super Bowl history. After no catches in his first one, he caught 16 passes for 364 yards and three touchdowns in his last three. That’s 23 yards per catch.
I’ll have to get back to you on Antonio Brown’s Super Bowl numbers.
John Steigerwald is a freelance writer.
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