RiceWatch: Game 1, Saints
It was a typical Rice game that will lead the typical fan to believe Rice is "the best ever" despite doing nothing spectacular.
Rice caught 5 balls for 84 yards. Yes, sounds like a good day-- 5 catches was pretty poor, but the yards per catch was way up, especially for Rice. And the touchdown, don't forget the touchdown, since that's one of the big numbers people point to when "proving" Rice is "the best ever."
All during the off-season, we answered numerous angry letters arguing how Rice never scores "2 yard touchdowns." We had to laugh when Rice reached the endzone in typical fashion for the first time in 1996: a 2 yard touchdown.
The receptions were, for the most part, not the product of Rice's skill, but the 49er system and blown coverage. Here is the breakdown of the passes intended for Rice (note that yardage is an estimate as to where Rice caught the ball):
- 10 yard out. The DB was covering the curl zone, not Rice, for an unknown reason, leaving the flat wide open. Rice went out of bounds.
- 5 yard slant. The DB was playing an outside position with no one inside to cut off the slant. Dragged down.
- 30 yard post. DB dropped to deep third while there was no safety in the middle. Completely blown coverage that led to most of Rice's yards on the day. Fell while making the catch.
- 7 yard slant, incomplete. Saints OLB actually got to the zone in time. Announcer Kevin Harlan miscalls the coverage "double coverage." Rice jogs to a halt as pass goes over his head.
- 2 yard drag. LBs dropped out so he was wide open. Dove under the tackle of the LB.
- 8 yard out. This was actually the product of Rice legitimately beating a DB that was covering him 1-on-1 on 3rd down. Went out of bounds.
- 4 yard curl, incomplete. Two guys were all over Rice and actually made a hit on him. Rice got up slowly.
Here are the proper conclusions from Rice's performance:
- As you can see, of the 5 catches, 3 were caught around or under 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.
- Rice had 8 opportunities to be hit during the game (if we include the 2 yard TD run) and took one legitimate hit during the whole game. This hit still wasn't even a hard hit but enough to make Fifi need help up. He was only tackled twice all game.
- Rice had 1 legitimate catch that can be attributed to the skill of beating a DB 1-on-1 out of the 7 attempts to him.
In summary, Rice's performance exemplified everything we've been saying: he scores 2 yard touchdowns, he catches passes under 5 yards downfield, and Rice is not tough-- the fact that he hasn't been injured is because he rarely gets hit. He rarely beats DBs 1-on-1; most of his receptions are the product of the 49er system or blown coverage. This is not just one bad game for Rice. We've seen this breakdown all throughout his career, and he should not be regarded as "the best ever."