Moss was very good when his teams won.
I looked at all games, including playoffs, from 1960 to 2011, for all players with at least 4,000 receiving yards over that time period. The table below lists the following information for each player:
– His first year (or 1960, if he played before 1960) and his last year (or 2011, if still active)
– All the franchises he played for (which you can search for in the search box)
– His number of career wins, and his career receptions, receiving yards, yards per reception, and receiving yards per game in wins
– His number of career losses, and his career receptions, receiving yards, yards per reception, and receiving yards per game in losses
You might be surprised to see Andre Johnson at the top of the list, but his career average should decline the longer he plays; that said, 2012 didn’t drop his numbers. On the flip side, Calvin Johnson moves up into the #2 slot; part of that was due to a great season (although Detroit didn’t get many wins) and part of that was due to Randy Moss slipping. Larry Fitzgerald comes up high on the list for the same reason as both Johnsons, although it’s often easy to forget how great Fitzgerald can be thanks to his current situation.
The table is sorted by receiving yards per game in wins:
In 37 losses from 2006 to 2011, New Orleans attempted at least 33 passes 34 times, and two of the other games were meaningless week 17 games. That didn’t change in 2012, where New Orleans’ philosophy seems to be “whatever we do, don’t lose by forgetting to pass 35 times.” A couple of early AFL stars, Charley Hennigan and Art Powell, had short but high peaks, and also rank high in yards per game. They were sandwiched around Anquan Boldin – who was a brief superstar on a bad Cardinals team. Also worth noting: Cris Collinsworth averaged over 75 receiving yards per game during losses. I’m surprised NBC hasn’t shown us that statistic yet.
How about the more interesting question: which wide receivers perform better in losses than wins? The table below shows the same biographical information and then also displays the player’s career totals (subject to the same caveats) in receptions, receiving yards, receiving yards per game, and yards per reception. The next four columns reproduce the information above, showing each player’s yards per reception and receiving yards per game in wins and losses. To make things easier for you, I’ve highlighted the two win columns in light blue and the two loss columns in light red.
The final two columns show the differences in each player’s yards per reception and receiving yards per game in wins and losses. It is sorted by the differential in receiving yards per game. The top man on the list is Brandon Lloyd, and interestingly enough, Lloyd kept this trend up in 2012: he averaged 109.5 yards per game in four Patriots losses. Twelve of his career 14 100-yard games have come in losses.
Here’s a surprising one: Randy Moss has, at least prior to 2012, averaged 25 more yards per games in wins rather than losses. Part of that is due to his days in Oakland, but people who dislike Moss will see what they want to see in that split.
Among receivers with 13,000+ yards, Hines Ward has the largest positive differential. I hesitate to ever call a Steeler underrated, but I think Ward was often overlooked because he played on such a run-heavy offense. The fact that he actually averaged four more yards per game in losses than wins is a testament to that.
