Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Tony probably gets a ring if he has Mahomes at QB. I have a hard time using rings as part of the argument.
For me it's just a question of peak vs. duration. Do I value Tony's impossibly long prime more than Kelce's impossibly high standard during his peak?
My answer is Kelce and the reason why comes down to two words, words we've used in this very thread: Jason. Witten.
Jason Witten is the nearest thing the league has ever seen to TG in terms of reliable production and longevity. Witten played in 271 games to Tony's 270. he had 1220 receptions to TGs 1320. 13K yards to Tony's 15K.
He was, by virtually any measure, about 90% of what Gonzalez was and in a virtually indistinguishable manner.
Did you EVER concern yourself with Jason Witten? Was he ever someone you thought to yourself 'man, we have GOT to gameplan for Witten or he'll just destroy us'? I don't believe either of those things to be true.
And can Jason Witten say "hey, I just never had a quarterback I could win a championship with?" I don't believe this to be true either. Witten had Pro Bowl quarterbacks throwing the ball to him at various points throughout his prime. And in the end it just didn't mean that much.
So it makes me ask, in all sincerity - did Tony G do THAT much more for us than Jason Witten did for the Cowboys? And since neither team ever won a damn thing - did what they did really move the needle as much as we think it did?
At a point I have to wonder if BOTH of those guys greatness isn't dependent on being compilers. And in the process of compiling those stats, did they really make a major difference?
We have a hard time answering the question when it's Kelce vs. Tony but none of us would hesitate for a millisecond if it's Kelce vs. Witten. And Witten is a hell of a lot closer to Tony across the board than he is to Kelce.
So...should this question actually be that difficult afterall?
I kinda think that maybe it shouldn't be.
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Can't argue with any of that. Though imo, TG was a lot better than Witten, the eye test, if you will.
But yeah, Witten, though a very solid TE, never scared me. He was never going to take over a game. He'd just do Witten things.
TG was far more athletic and so could and did on occasion, but Kelce seems capable of doing it nearly every week. But then, the game is quite different than it was when TG was in his prime. The middle was a much more dangerous place back then.