I'm sick of this Biletnikoff stuff. SICK OF IT!
 

NFL Network was doing a list of the ten receivers with the best hands. Cris Carter was #1, which is not a bad call, and Raymond Berry was #2 and Steve Largent was #3. Larry Fitzgerald was #4, which was purely a media ploy.

But what really chafed me was #5. They named Fred Biletnikoff #3. Now, I'll acknowledge that he made a lot of catches, and with the help of artificial sticky substances he generally had good hands.

But for crying out loud, talk about an overrated receiver. Best hands? Hall of Fame? Gets a college award named after him? Let's compare him to the best receiver for his arch-rival, a fine gentleman named Otis Taylor.

Speed: Otis Taylor left that Raider in the dirt. Not even close.

Hands: Please. Otis Taylor by a mile. Watch the games.

Routes: Maybe even.

Big-Play Ability: Who turned a short pass into a long touchdown in a Super Bowl? Who? Otis.

Production: Over the course of their careers, Otis averaged 56 yards per game. That Raider averaged 47.

Size: Otis Taylor was a scary speciman. That Raider was small and skinny.

Blocking: See "size".

Long-term Dominance: Biletnikoff made 6 pro bowls and 2 all-pros. In those seasons, he averaged 49 catches for 781 yards. Otis made 3 pro bowls and 2 all-pros. In those seasons, he averaged 57 catches for 1076 yards.

Single-Season Dominance: Otis' best season was 58 catches for 1,297 yards and 8 TDs, averaging 22.4 yards per catch. Biletnikoff's best season was 61 catches for 1,037 yards and 17.0 yards per catch, with 6 TDs

Career Performance: Otis played in 130 games and made 410 catches for 7,306 yards and 57 TDs,17.8 yards per catch. Biletnikoff played in 190 games and made 589 catches for 8,974 yards and 76 TDs, with 15.2 yards per catch. See "longevity" below.

Longevity: This is the only area that the Raider wins, since he lasted 14 years, compared to Otis' 10 seasons (excluding one season where Otis was active but didn't catch any passes). Biletnikoff had 10 seasons where he caught 40+ passes, while Otis had 5.

So why does Biletnikoff get all the credit? He played longer, so he caught more passes. But in a typical game, Otis outplayed him, outgained him, and was a scarier guy to play against.

Man, it ticks me off that Otis doesn't get the attention, and that also-ran gets all the glory.

Although he's not a WR, I'd put Tony G on par or better than anyone on the list.

Tony G. was actually mentioned as someone who "barely missed" being on the list.

Sacrilege!
























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QFT, I've never understood why he is one of "the best ever". IIRC, there was another guy on the team who was way better, but no one every mentions him.

ill post name later

edit: I think his name was Powell.

Fitzgerald does have some really awesome hands, he will catch basically anything near him.

Learn Bowe, Learn!

Yeah, I've got nothing against Fitzgerald and he's certainly a dominant player, but five years into Wesley Walker's career, or John Jefferson's career, they were also dominant. I think there are other players who are more proven at this point over a five-year active player.

Bilitnekoff was infamous for stickum on his hands. Otis' size is now considered normal. nuff said.

He, like Buck, Bobby and Wille, were ahead of their time.

Rain Man would have trolled the shit out of Raiders boards in 1970.

the first time I saw Otis, I thought he was a tight end.

until I saw him run.

I wouldn't.

For much of the early part (first 5 to 6 years) of his career, Tony had very inconsistent hands.

His consistent drops pissed me off.

Yeah but Biletnikoff was white.
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I saw that show too. They mentioned several times that this was about best hands, not best receiver. Of course Otis was a better receiver but Fred gave us nightmares for a very long time. And he sure was a goofy looking little dude.

I'd have to go with Rice for hands.

He could juke, he could run, he could move, could block, but he cought the ball EVERY ****ING TIME.

I can't remember Jerry Rice ever dropping a ball...

He dropped a number of balls in his rookie season, but after that he was money.

I swear I remember Rice dropping a key ball against the Chiefs as a Raider.

This is my hope. I saw Fitzgerald improve from the 2007 season to the 2008 season, and I couldn't believe it. I think Haley could make Jesus better at what he did. Bowe is gonna have a monster year.

Correct. He had a sure touchdown bounce right off his hands. Had the corner beat by 3+ yards, too.

Jerry Rice is #1 in any list of WR's.

I'm not old enough to have seen either on anything but a highlight reel, but from what I've read and seen on said highlight reels, give me otis taylor any day of the week and the next monday.

Biletnikoff was a good enough player for me to despise him for about 40 years now. But he was no Otis Taylor.

The list wasn't about best receiver. It was about the best hands.

Looks like a couple of people need to fess up about their votes and take the neg rep beatings they so richly deserve. And after that you can go to your rooms and think about what you've done.

there ARE raider fans who post here.

Some of my favorite Planeteers are Raider fans. I don't hold it against them, no more than I would a hare lip or a club foot. It's not their fault.

And I wouldn't neg rep them for their votes. I prefer public ridicule. :D

What, no Lake Dawson?

I would say the guy that holds every record had pretty damm good hands.

I don't have a problem with Fitzgerald being on the list, when it's all said and done for him he will go down as one of the all time greats

I really thought he won the Super Bowl (and MVP) with this catch and run....



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I'll take the greatest NFL WR ever.......Andre Rison

Stephone Page had better hands than Biletnikoff. Stephone Page was one of the greats.

It brings up the question of who truly had the best hands. The list was all big stars, so presumably they had really good hands and also had other attributes. It's quite likely that there are indeed players like Stephone Paige who had the best hands, but since they didn't have other parts of the package they didn't get any attention.

I actually had Stephone Paige pop into my mind, too. Guy never dropped passes.

I can't recall ever seeing Devard Darling drop a pass.

He gave every team fits. As much as I hate the guy he deserves his accolades.

In one of the classic AFL battles of days gone by, Fred ran a route across the middle and Willie Lanier, on a deep drop, waited.... waited... Lamonica or Stabler delivered the ball and Lanier hit F.B. with a forearm shiver right in the nose as the ball arrived. (If you recall F.B. wore a single bar facemask). His nose was smeared all over his face. One of the most disgusting images ever as Fred was notoriously ugly mf'er anyway. That forearm caused him to change his facemask to the two bar + one down the middle that most RB's wore at the time.

And he did NOT hold onto the pass. Whatta biotch.

Carving your opinions into those stone tablets back then was a ton of work.

I've got my fingers, toes, legs, and eyes crossed that the St. Louis market latches onto Warner and slots a shit ton of Cards games this season. With the Rams in the dumper they were sure on his dick last winter. It'll be a good time rooting for ol' Greybeard next season.

Oh, and as I sat down to watch this I figured Chris Carter #1 was a lock. That guy was sick.

They were showing him making one-handed catches in practice that you'd otherwise swear were video trickery. It was pretty amazing.

'sat' is STILL the past tense of 'to sit,' isn't it. ;)

This is also a fond memory. thanks for the reminder.

yep.