How About More ’Possession’ Receivers?

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How About Some More Possession Receivers?


Here is a typical scenario from an NFL football game:


A "highly athletic" receiver with "world class speed" sprints from the line of scrimmage, uses his "superior athletic ability" to elude the cornerback that's covering him (who also has "superior athletic ability"), bursts into the open, whereupon the quarterback delivers a laser sharp pass right on the numbers of his jersey and directly into his hands -- and he drops it! This scene plays out over and over and over. Players that are selected specifically for the position of receiver often seem to be unable to catch the football.


Virtually all NFL receivers are black. They are all praised for their athletic ability (even if they have little of it), and almost without exception they are unable to consistently do the only thing that is really required of them â€â€- catch the football. Sure, occasionally a player will make a highlight reel grab by leaping and making a spectacular catch. And generally speaking they catch enough balls to move the chains forward; after all were not talking gymnastics here, just catching a football.


However speaking as someone who has watched football for a couple of generations I can honestly say that the quality of receivers playing today is worse than ever. Pre-Caste System, receivers were selected based on their ability to catch the ball. Not any more. Now coaches look for a certain type of player to be a receiver. They want fast, tall (and short) black players for the position. They reason, with blind adherence to an objectively faulty standard, that they can teach any player to catch the football. But the failed results are there for all to see virtually every game.


Unfortunately virtually no one who sees it comments on it. Despite the incredible number of dropped passes by guys who literally make millions of dollars to catch the ball, no one has the courage to admit that the direction that football has pursued in selecting only black players as receivers has been an abject failure.


The only possible competition for those pass droppers is the large cadre of ignored white receivers that can actually catch the ball. Consider: white receivers are derisively referred to as "possession" receivers, meaning their best skill is that they really do "receive" the football.


Other terms are used to describe the catching ability of white receivers, terms that are for some bizarre reason almost considered insults, such as "glue-fingered" and having "sticky-hands." White players are also referred to as "good route runners," "students of the game," and "smart."


But since white players playing ball handling positions other than QB has become verboten in modern pro football, there remains little competition for the black receivers that are unable to catch passes. A white player can be a record setting receiver in a major college football conference but his "hands of glue" are not desired in the NFL. They want black players, fast if possible, tall preferably, ability to catch -- not important.


The prevailing paradigm that says blacks are always better athletes than whites prevents people from acknowledging what is obvious to anyone who looks at the issue honestly. It also causes people who remember how the game used to be played to forget what true pass receiving ability is like.


Consider that last year in the NFL, a league where there are less white players at the receiver position than there are black people at a Republican fundraiser, the NFC leader in receptions (that's "catching the football") was white: Mike Furrey.


Mike Furrey has kicked around professional football for years, always catching everything in sight and always being ignored. Given a chance to play he was a "glue-fingered" white receiver that caught more passes than nearly any "athlete" in the game. If Furrey, who was basically ignored his whole professional career, is such a good receiver in comparison to the black "speedsters" whose supposed physical abilities should allow them to put up better numbers in comparison, then the question begs to be asked: how many other white receivers are also being neglected?


Mike Hass was the Biletnikoff Award winner as the best receiver in college football in 2005. He caught more passes than anyone in the PAC 10, an elite conference. This is another "glue-fingered" white receiver who the pro game has no use for. Hass was drafted late and has bounced around with a couple of teams, always catching everything thrown his way in training camp and pre-season games -- and always finding himself on the bench or cut in favor of "athletes" that speed up and down the field dropping passes and killing drives.


A couple years ago John Standeford of Purdue set the Big Ten career record for receptions. This "glue-fingered" receiver should have been a prized commodity in the NFL, where ball control offenses win by tossing quick passes to tall receivers as the bread and butter of their spread offenses. What happened to Standeford? Not even drafted. He has also bounced around with several teams watching "athletes" bobble, fumble, drop, and whiff, at passes he could catch in his sleep.


What, besides the modern liberal desire to forcefully replace whites with blacks in positions of importance, has caused this ridiculous situation to arise, where the worst coordinated pass catchers are the most frequently used?


A few years ago Bob Hayes was elected to the Hall of Fame. Bob Hayes was a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960's through early '70's. He also won the 100 meter sprint in the 1964 Olympics. His natural ability to run fast was considered a tremendous asset on the football field.


At his election to the Hall of Fame there was a general consensus that Bob Hayes "changed the game of football." The implication was that his career was the impetus for the change from receivers (mostly white) that could catch the ball, to receivers (mostly black) that could run fast. Little note was actually paid to what Bob Hayes "changing the game" meant.


Like so many things that are not looked at critically, the idea that Bob Hayes changed the game may be true, but was it for the better? While Hayes had some good years in his career, he was never much better than the other receivers in the league, leading the league in TD's twice (once tied for the lead) and average yards per catch only once.


While Hayes can be considered a good career receiver there is nothing about his statistics which would indicate that he was such a standout that the game should be changed because of him. Furthermore, in his era he did not accumulate statistics better than the best white receivers of his time and therefore the idea that he was something special is in reality revisionist history.


Hayes' career did begin the great search for other Olympic track stars that could also catch a football. Somewhere along the way the part about "catching the football" was left to the wayside. In fact the whole "track star" stereotype has been altered to mean any black player no matter how fast he is. Frequently, black receivers run pathetically slow 40 yard dash times at tryouts yet are greeted as Olympic track stars by a fawning sports media that sees the ghost of Bob Hayes in every plodding black receiver.


The utter ridiculousness of labeling all black players fast sprinters has been thoroughly discredited by the actual numbers recorded at testing combines, which illustrate how patently false the idea is. When forced to acknowledge that every black player is not a speedster, black supremacists change the subject to some other quality the player is said to possess which sets him apart from white players. Invariably the new qualities are subjective and un-measureable.


Terms such as "loose hips" or "quick twitch athleticism" are euphemisms for those imaginary qualities said to be possessed by black players. The make believe attributes are created in an attempt to support the false belief that black players are in some way vastly superior to white players.


Without the creation of some amorphous non-measurable standards the debate would fall back upon known measurables such as 40 times, shuttle and cone drills, tests where the top white players equal or succeed their black counterparts.


White superiority in measured tests should have long ago wrecked the phony idea that blacks are better athletes than all whites in nearly every case. Unfortunately, like a "Great Society" welfare program, the tenacity of the "black as superior athlete" myth continues on long after it has been not only exposed as false by factual evidence, but also after it has been shown to have decreased the quality of the game by filling up NFL rosters with black receivers that cannot catch very well (and who often are poor route runners as well).


It is the height of absurdity that white players do not make up over 70 percent of NFL receivers. Only the resolute blindness of the people in charge of such things and the complete apathy and ignorance of the white fan base can explain such a travesty. White players are the best pass catchers, frequently are among the fastest of players, and are almost always hard working, smart, and team oriented. When will the NFL wake up and end this irrational and unfair discrimination?


Last week the few white players that do get a shot at receiver racked up some pretty impressive numbers.


Kevin Curtis of the Eagles had a 75 yard catch for a TD, and finished with 5 receptions for 121 yards.


Wes Welker of the Patriots had a career high 11 catches for 124 yards and 2 TDs. He also had 5 kick returns for an 18.4 yard avg.


Kevin Walter of the Texans led all NFL receivers with 12 catches for 160 yards.


Those players along with others like Mike Furrey, Brandon Stokley, Drew Bennett, Matt Jones, and Joe Jurevicious, should be the vangard of a new wave of receiver that can not only run fast but also catch the football. Possession receivers, what a great concept!
 

Kaptain

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Great timing for this article! The Falcon recievers dropped 6 passes last night. Kevin Walter led all recievers this week. Kevin Curtis led all recievers a couple of weeks ago. That means in 6 weeks of football the 4 or 5 white recievers allowed to start in the NFL have led the league 33% of the time. Will anyone notice?
 
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I have read about pro football since around 1960. I well remember when Bob Hayes came into the NFL. Hayes was a good football player who was the World's Fastest Human in 1964. He was not a trackman who tried to play football. John Carlos and Tommy Smith were track sprinters who failed when they tried pro football.

I don't recall anyone saying in the late 1960's that Bob Hayes "was changing Pro Football," though they will claim that now. Hayes was highly respected (he had post-football legal problems), but he could be defensed. The Packers stopped him in the 1966 and 1967 NFL Title games.

Lance Rentzel was the other WR for the Cowboys during 1967-70, and he had stats almost identical to Hayes. Rentzel (notwithstanding his own off the field problems) was the type of all-round white athlete that many WR's used to be.

I remember many times watching a game on TV were Bob Hayes got behind defenders and caught a long bomb. During the early 1970's, the zone defenses common at the time slowed him down.
 
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Great article. The foremost factor responsible for receiver success is the ability to CATCH THE FOOTBALL (what a concept). After that, amongst the population of athletes who can CATCH THE FOOTBALL, those who have superior leg power and running speed TEND to be the best receivers. This is proven in several studies of success as a wide receiver. The relationships between leg power and running speed and receiving success is not 100%, but is statistically significant, if the athlete can CATCH THE FOOTBALL. If he can't catch the football, leg power and running speed do not correlate with receiving success.

(Somewhat off-topic, but very related, is the situation at a high school that very seldom has a good male thrower (shot or discus) and never has a good female thrower. They keep on getting the biggest (oftentimes fattest)boys and girls to be their throwers and they are not good at it. I tell them to stop recruiting the biggest kids and start finding some who can throw far. Thus far this advice seems to fall on deaf ears because they continue getting excited about some big kid who ends up putting the shot 20 or 30 feet and throwing the discus 50-100 feet. Looking the part is not enough, talent is what really counts.)
 
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To add to your off-topic comment, when I was young my Dad competed at the NAIA level as a thrower (Shot & Hammer), so I was around his practices and picked up the proper techniques. When I got to High School I was about 6'1" 170, and was out throwing the Football around (QB) during P.E. instead of lifting because I was in my taper for swimming. Anyway, the point is the throwers on the track team were out there and I was watching them, and noticed a complete lack of technique. I went over and took the shot and threw it further then they were (And they were all fat). So I agree, technique is very important, and unfortunately in High School coaches are probably worse at stereotyping kids then at any other level.
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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administrator said:
[/b]How About Some More Possession Receivers?[/b]</font>
&gt;Here is a typical scenario from an NFL football game:
The utter ridiculousness of labeling all black players fast sprinters has been thoroughly discredited by the actual numbers recorded at testing combines, which illustrate how patently false the idea is. When forced to acknowledge that every black player is not a speedster, black supremacists change the subject to some other quality the player is said to possess which sets him apart from white players. Invariably the new qualities are subjective and un-measureable.
Terms such as �loose hips� or "quick twitch athleticism� are euphemisms for those imaginary qualities said to be possessed by black players. The make believe attributes are created in an attempt to support the false belief that black players are in some way vastly superior to white players.
Without the creation of some amorphous non-measurable standards the debate would fall back upon known measurables such as 40 times, shuttle and cone drills, tests where the top white players equal or succeed their black counterparts.
White superiority in measured tests should have long ago wrecked the phony idea that blacks are better athletes than all whites in nearly every case. Unfortunately, like a �Great Society� welfare program, the tenacity of the "black as superior athlete" myth continues on long after it has been not only exposed as false by factual evidence, but also after it has been shown to have decreased the quality of the game by filling up NFL rosters with black receivers that cannot catch very well (and who often are poor route runners as well).


The article makes great points. The above is my favorite part. I especially agree with the ignoring of the whites "with great hands" AND "who can also run fast." I agree it's definitely true that top whites frequently beat the top blacks in drills that would indicate better "agility" and "route running ability." Drills like the L drill, 3 cone and short shuttle whites usually outperform their black counterparts. Whites also match blacks in 10 yard dashes, which is about short burst explosiveness. Whites certainly have the "game speed" and "loose hips" that make up for the less than a "half step" (about a .05 second difference) the white prospects "on average" lose to blacks in the 40 yard dashes.

Very true, it seems when the NFL has a slow black player, he gets accolades for possessing the skills that are attributed to a white player. New guys like Jasan Avant, and Dewayne Jarrett and yes even Ernest Wilford, who runs a ridiculously plodding 4.78 were considered top prospects b/c of their "route running", "hands", "shiftiness" and "quickness." Yet the Mike Hass's (he even runs a respectable 4.59) and other whites that have those same abilities are holding the clip board or out of the league. Whose to say Mike Hass isn't the next Issac Bruce, or even Tim Brown or Jerry Rice? Their games are very similar.

And then you hear the strange quotes from coach Mike Shannahan about "Div. II record setter" David Kircus (he surely would have played Div. 1 if he were black) of Grand Valley State, who has great hands, when he got cut this pre-season. Paraphrases: "David possesses lots of great skills including good speed, we have just decided to go in another direction." Why are fast white players who have a "complete game" like this also including Jeremy Bloom, Chase Lyman, Dan Sheldon, Kevin Kasper, Troy Bergeron and many others not given a chance? The only plausible explanation is discrimination. This is why this site is here. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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whiteathlete33 said:
The league definetely needs more players like Kevin Curtis and Kevin Walter.

Yes, again that proves the point. Curtis has every skill including blazing speed. Yet spent his first 4 years in the league on the bench. Same thing with Mike Furrey who was somehow a walk on in college and had to go the Arena Football route to get in the league!
 
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Case in point?

From Oct. 22, 2007 Sporting News:

"WR Dwayne Bowe has been everything the Chiefs hoped he would be. He uses his big body (6-2, 221) to shield defenders and has the athleticism to go after the ball. The next step for Bowe is to catch the ball more consistently." (p. 41)

Gee, my understanding of the game of football is that it is the job of the wide receiver to catch the football consistently. If he can, he is good; if he can't he is not good enough. It's nice that a WR shields defenders with his body and has the athleticism to go after the ball, but what good is that if he does not catch the ball consistently?
 

SneakyQuick

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Another incredibly interesting thread that is long dormant.

for me the part that seems the most interesting was the bit about high school coaches being the worst at stereotyping kids.

a town i once lived in New Jersey had a decent small high school football team that was overwhelmingly white. It had literally one or two black players who were decent (and of course highly recruited) but they were used way out of proportion to their ability to actually catch passes and block.
 
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