Randy Moss' HOF Pursuit, and a Who's Better Question

Randy Moss has had a fantastic career lighting defenses up with impossible catches and performing "disgusting acts" to Packer fans in their house. chuckle Another one of our beloved purple wide recievers, Cris Carter, also had a great career with the best damn team in the NFL, but Carter's been out of the NFL for nine years and still isn't in the Hall of fame, but it is almost certain that he will get in, he deserves it. Battle Royale.....

So after the jump, let's take a look inside the Career of Randy Moss and Cris Carter, put their stats against eachother (in what should turn out to be a fantastic match), and see if Moss is in good shape to go into the Hall of Fame and to see who was the greatest reciever in Vikings history. Click the link... there you go.

Let's start with Cris Carter, since he's the control in this analysis :

Cris Carter started out his career with the Philadelphia Eagles being drafted out of the 1987 supplimental draft. In his rookie campaign, he appeared in nine games (never starting), catching only five balls for 84 yards and two touchdowns. He made a strong impression on the coaches that offseason and earned a starting role in 1988, and it was a very good choice by them. He brought in 39 balls for 761 yards, a career high 19.5 YPC and six touchdowns; a good year for any reciever. He had another good season in 89', catching 45 balls for 605 yards and 11 touchdowns.

However, Carter had a drug issue (unbenounced to the public) and a falling out with coach Ryan prompting a suprising trade to mine, yours, and Minnesota's own, Vikings. He saw few balls come his way his first season as a Viking, but impressed when they did, posting 27 receptions for 413 yards and 3 touchdowns. In 1991, Carter came known as Minnesota's top reciever. He led the team with 72 receptions, 962 yards, and 5 TD catches. The following year saw the Minnesota Vikings return to prominence with a 11-5 record and Carter remained the leading reciever leading the team with 53 receptions, 681 yards, and 6 TDs despite missing the final four games of the season with a broken collar bone and catching passes from two quarterbacks. In 1993, veteran QB Jim McMahon took the reigns and Carter had a breakout season. He posted career highs in receptions (86), and yards (1,071), while catching 9 TDs. All...team...highs... and he appeared in his first Pro Bowl.

1994-2000 were Carter's "finest hour's" posting 693 rec (99 rec/year) 8385 yards (average of 1198y/year) and 81 TD's (about 12/year) and ensuring him a "all time great" status. In 2001, Carter's production dipped to its lowest point since 1992 (thank QB Spergon Wynn for that one), with 73 catches for 871 yards and 6 TD's but it was still a great season by anyone else's standards. Sadly, his streak of eight straight Pro Bowls came to an end that year and when the season ended, he exercised an out clause in his contract that ended his career in Minnesota.

Carter went on to play for the injury filled Dolphins, but those stats are not being included because... I said so sticks out toung.

Now on to RRRANDY!!! Grab some food if you like, this story will still be here when you come back.

Randy Moss' entry to our organization was a peculiar one. He was projected to be a top pick in the draft, but his legal issues made him fall down to pick number 21, where we got wide-eyed, laughed maniacally, rubbed our hands together menacingly, and picked him. And what did he do? He came out and helped our 1998 team go 15-1 and make it to the NFC Championship game where we lost to the Falcons in overtime, became an instant fan and recieving favorite, and proved all his doubters wrong.

1998-2003 were fantastic statistical years for Randy Moss. During those, he posted 525 rec (88/year) 8375 yards (1396/year) and a massive 77 TD's (about 13/year). To say he was an asset to the team is like saying Christian Ponder is good, but he had numerous problems on and off the field including the plane crash incident, hitting a police officer with his car while high on marijuanna, walking off the field against the redskins, the mooning incident- er.. scratch that one, that was just awesome, and the "I still smoke weed" incident.

After a good, but not great, 2004 season in which he missed three games due to injury, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he still had success, but was nagged by looming injuries and traded to the New England Patriots during the draft for the bargain price of a fourth round pick. His 250 rec (about 83/year) for 3765 yards (1255/year) and 47 TD's (about 16/year) in three years easily made up for that and he once again proved the "experts" wrong.

And then there was the 2010 season in which he only caught 28 balls for 393 yards and 5 touchdowns, and played for three teams (started 11 of those 16 games); in cronilogical order, the Patriots, Vikings, and Titans.

My Take:

From the data I've presented, I conclude that Randy Moss had the better overall career (not factoring the off-field issues, just performance), but Cris Carter easily had the better career as a Minnesota Viking. I hope someone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it. What a first Fanpost.... I'd like to thank my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Basil for teaching me basic math skills and Pro Football Reference for helping me out. Feedback is welcome.