Calvin Johnson’s race to the record book

The facts are in.  Detroit Lions’ wide receiver Calvin Johnson has had an absolute monster of a season, and now aims to put his name in both the Lions’ record book and the NFL’s.  Johnson got into the Lions’ record book last week, as his 214 receiving yards were the third highest total in Lions’ history.

The monster day he had in Oakland wasn’t that surprising to Lions fans, who know the caliber of player Johnson can be.  As the year goes on, Johnson’s numbers continue to pile up, and now they give him a shot at history.

This season, Johnson has racked up the following numbers:

Receptions: 81

NFL rank: 4^th

Lions record: 123 (Herman Moore, 1995)

Yards: 1,335

NFL rank: 2^nd

Lions record: 1,686 (Herman Moore, 1995)

Touchdowns: 14

NFL rank: 2^nd

Lions record: 15 (Cloyce Box, 1952)

Johnson is also in the top ten this year in targets (4^th), yards per reception (t-10th), and catches of more than 20 yards (2^nd).

While Calvin will not come close to Moore’s 123 catches this year, the Lions’ touchdown record is well within grasp and the yardage total is feasible.  Johnson should at least tie the touchdown record, and will break it with a TD catch in both the Lions’ remaining games.  The yardage record is 351 yards away, which means two 175 yard games for Megatron.  Unlikely, yes, but after watching him gash the Raiders secondary, I believe anything is possible.

As far as NFL totals go, he won’t catch Wes Welker, who currently sits at 104 receptions.  However, he is just one score behind Rob Gronkowski for the league lead, and just 45 yards behind Welker in the yardage column.

I’ll take my chances with Calvin on the latter two categories.

Calvin Johnson’s race to the record book isportsweb

Original Story: http://isportsweb.com/2011/12/21/calv...