Is Antonio Brown the Steelers greatest WR ever?

it would have helped, but it wouldn't have helped that much. Lipps was a very good player, but he wasn't even close to Brown's level.

 

Not sure an adequate evaluation can be done. The rules now favors WRs and offenses. Back in the day, a DB could really mug a WR. AB is great but the old ruled were brutal on the offenses.

 

I agree, and that's why stats aren't a good indicator across eras. There are other comparators I think, but it will always be speculative.

It's like you can't really compare General Montgomery to Napoleon or Julius Caesar, but you can maybe compare what they did with the resources available to them.

 

Aside from talent, AB appears to be an absolute gentleman, a terrific father and role model.. I dont live in PA so I wouldn't know but is he active in the community? He is far and away one of my favorites of all time.

 

That is why you compare players against their peers. Brown is the best in the game and has been for a while. That was never true of Ward or Lipps. Was it ever true of Stallworth or Swann?

 

So are you.

 

Please. He went on to argue that Lipps would be at the top of the list if he had Roethlisberger throwing to him. He needs to stop yelling at kids to get off his lawn and learn to appreciate what Brown is doing.

Few people on this board appreciate Lipps more than I do. I was born in 1972, so I was a bit young to fully appreciate the Super Bowl teams in the 70s. I was something of a casual fan until 1984. That was the year I truly became a football junkie. It was also the year the Steelers drafted Lipps in the first round.

I was living in Louisiana at the time and even got to see the Steelers play the Saints on a Monday night in the Superdome. The Steelers played like crap and lost to a mediocre team that night, but John Stallworth and Luis Lipps were great. Stallworth caught a touchdown pass early, but Lipps really put on a show with a punt return for one score and a touchdown reception late in the game. Even on an ugly night for the team, my fandom and my appreciation for his game just became stronger.

A little over a year later, shortly after the Steelers' 1985 season ended, there was a surprise guest at the reception after my Bar Mitzvah. It was Lipps. For weeks, my father had worked to make that happen. He tried going through the team and his agent, but both said no. Then somehow he got phone number for Lipps. My father sold him on what a fan I was and he showed up. He had my cousins bringing him drinks and updates on the Dolphins-Browns playoff game. He was nothing but polite and thoughtful.

It is one of my fondest memories of my father, who has dead for 19 years. Both of those moments still stay with me over 30 years later and I can still get past that to see that Brown is better.

 

I have drank with Louis up at Redbeards on Mt Washington. Nice guy.

 

Where did I say that Lipps would be at the top of the list??? I said that Lipps may have been one of the best in team history HAD HE HAD someone like Ben throwing him the ball. The amazing thing about receivers is that they really seem to play so much better when they have a competent quarterback throwing them the ball. Lipps had a bunch of D-3 wannabes throwing him the ball. And who said I don't appreciate what Brown is doing??? I said AB is possibly the most talented WR we've ever had. He works his butt off and I admire what he's been able to do coming in as a 6th round pick and possibly transforming himself into one of the greatest, if not the greatest, receiver in team history and arguably the best receiver in the game today. Get your facts straight before you start accusing me of yelling at kids to get off my lawn!

 

LMAO

 

It is not arguably or debatable------------- He is the best receiver in the game...... And has been for like 5 years now... That is pretty impressive

 

It is both arguable and debatable. To be the best receiver in the game, you've got to be at least 6'3".

 

Given who you are placing ahead of Brown, no, you clearly don't properly appreciate what he is doing.

 

Really? Who is 6.3 that is better than brown? Dont say julio cause he was like 2nd in dropped balls last year in the entire NFL....

 

Tyler, you seem to have missed the reason for the green font.

 

He's missing more than that.

 

Uh, notice the green font...

On second thought, never mind.

 

Don't tell me I don't appreciate what Brown is doing. I could say the same thing about you, that you clearly don't appreciate what Swann and Stallworth meant to the Steelers. I said Swann, Stallworth and Hines are higher on the Steelers receiver hierarchy BECAUSE they have contributed to Steelers Super Bowl wins. Two of them are now in the HOF. Brown is a great receiver but the fact is he still has not contributed to a Steelers Super Bowl win. Is that all his fault? Of course not. But some of his actions have given indication that he is somewhat of a me first individual and that seems to be an epidemic on the Steelers at this point. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate what a tremendous talent he is and the fact that he was a 6th round draft pick makes his story even more remarkable. IMO, he's the best receiver in the game today and arguably the most talented receiver the Steelers have ever had. But there is a difference between the MOST TALENTED and the GREATEST. In Pittsburgh, GREATNESS is achieved in part by the number of Super Bowls you help to bring to the organization. At this point, Brown has ZERO. Swann and Stallworth had FOUR and they were Super Bowl MVPs. Hines had TWO and he was a Super Bowl MVP. I hope that changes for Brown in the next few years and he contributes to multiple Super Bowl wins. Time will tell.

 

I would say Randy Moss is the best over 6-3 receiver I ever saw play that position and his stats prove him out, he was the smoothest receiver to ever play the game and certainly deserves to go into the HOF this week, and if I had to pick moss or AB to be on this team right now I would take moss over ab..........

 

Prime Moss over Prime AB? oh wait it's just AB because he's always prime lol

 

"AB will be the best WR to never win a super bowl"

-Heinzmustardhotness

 

Let's start with the clear factual error. Swann was a Super Bowl MVP. Stallworth was not. He could have easily won one against the Rams, but it went to Bradshaw.

You want to measure these guys by their teammates. I'll stick to measuring them by what they actually did and do. You were right when you said it isn't Brown's fault that he hasn't been part of a Super Bowl championship team, but you should have stopped there. The difference isn't what he does. He does far more for the current Steelers than Swann and Stallworth did for the teams in the '70s.

For one thing, you have to consider that they had each other for so long. Swann had Stallworth with him his entire career. Stallworth played briefly without a great threat on the other side, then bounced back with one last big season in 1984, when he had Lipps on the other side.

Swann and Stallworth also didn't just have a Hall of Fame quarterback throwing to them. They had a Hall of Fame running back drawing the focus of defenses. They had a Hall of Fame center anchoring the offensive line, helping to allow time for them to get down field. They had Hall of Famers all over a defense that was a huge part of those four Super Bowls.

Brown has a Hall of Fame quarterback throwing to him and maybe Bell gets there, too. Maybe.

I'm a big Stallworth fan. He should have gotten in the Hall of Fame sooner. He belonged there ahead of Swann. I don't think the gap between Brown and Stallworth is a big one, but it does exist. Brown is better.

Brown isn't just more talented. Your phrasing is flawed at best. Swann was incredibly gifted. Also, using the talented label negates the work he has put into developing his game. Brown isn't the most talented receiver in the NFL right now. Just as Jerry Rice wasn't the most talented receiver in NFL history, but he was the best. Right now, Julio Jones is probably the most talented receiver in the game. but Brown is the best.

You are putting too much emphasis on team accomplishments. It's an old argument, but I will dust it off again here. By your logic, Trent Dilfer was a greater quarterback than Dan Marino or Dan Fouts because Dilfer has a Super Bowl ring. It becomes even sillier when you apply that logic to receivers, who have even less control over a team's wins and losses than quarterbacks.

You keep on judging players by their teammates. I'll keep on judging them by what they do themselves.

 

You are correct, Stallworth was not an MVP but without him going off against the Rams we don't win that Super Bowl, PERIOD!

By my logic, Trent Dilfer was a greater quarterback that Marino or Fouts??? Give me a break, Scribe. Trent Dilfer is NOT a Hall of Famer, is NOT a Super Bowl MVP and did not play a major role in his team's Super Bowl victory. He simply managed the game and let the defense win it. Are you really trying to say that I compared a mediocre quarterback to two of the greatest WRs to ever play the game and are in the HOF? That was not my logic at all, you can't compare mediocrity to greatness. Go back and read my argument again. I think most rational thinking fans would find it much easier to put Swann and Stallworth in a class ahead of AB than to put Dilfer ahead of Marino or Fouts. Nice try though.

 

It's hard to pick, but let's give AB a few more years. I think AB will be better in the 2nd half of his career than Moss was. After '07, Moss was above average, but not great.

 

No actually I am not looking at the colors of the font as I am looking at phone with glare so go find your baseball Warren.................