Super Bowls rarely feature WRs with gaudy stats

The Chargers' Vincent Jackson had just 623 receiving yards during the season, but has emerged as a big-time threat in the playoffs. John Sommers II/Icon SMI

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Reggie Wayne's mighty Colts lost at home. So did Terrell Owens' top-seeded Cowboys. Chad Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall and Braylon Edwards didn't even get to the playoffs. Neither did Roddy White, Marques Colston or Torry Holt.

Only one of the top 10 wide receivers in yardage this year played for a team that won a playoff game, and that's nothing new in the NFL. Over the past decade, there's been little correlation between stud wide receivers and teams that win Super Bowls.

Last year was the same story. Only one team with a receiver who ranked in the top 10 (the Colts had two) even reached the playoffs. Over the past five years, only 15 of the 50 receivers who ranked in the top 10 in yards made it to the postseason.

Everybody wants T.O. Everybody wants Ocho Cinco. Everybody wants game breakers who put up huge numbers. But historically, teams without those guys have just as good a chance to get to the Super Bowl and win as do teams with average wideouts.

It may be boring. It may be dull. But if the goal is to win it all, you're just as likely to do it with a bunch of reliable but borderline anonymous guys as you are with a future Hall of Famer.

Of the four semifinalists playing this weekend, only one -- the Patriots, with Randy Moss and Wes Welker -- has a receiver who ranked among the top 19 in the NFL in receiving yards this year. The Chargers' leading regular-season receiver, Vincent Jackson, didn't even reach 700 yards, although he's been terrific in the playoffs. Plaxico Burress of the Giants and Donald Driver of the Packers both had solid years and squeezed out over 1,000 yards, but neither was among the 18 NFL players who caught 1,100 yards worth of passes.

What about the stud wideouts? Non-factors so far.

Marvin Harrison committed a costly fumble in the Colts' loss to the Chargers. Wayne couldn't hang onto a critical third-down pass. Owens had just 49 yards against the Giants and a key drop. Driver had 18 yards against the Seahawks and Burress just five yards against the Cowboys. Even Moss had a season-low 14 yards against the Jaguars.

If the Patriots do win the Super Bowl, they'll become only the second team in the last five years to do it with a 1,000-yard receiver, which is really a symbol of receiving mediocrity these days. The same franchise won in 2003 and 2004 without anybody over 900 yards, and the Steelers won in 2005 with Hines Ward leading the way at 975 yards.

Of the last 14 Super Bowl teams, only four had a receiver with 1,200 or more yards -- and three of those teams lost: The 2001 Rams with Torry Holt, 2002 Raiders and Jerry Rice and the 2004 Eagles with Owens. The only exception was last year's Colts, the first team to win a Super Bowl with a big-time wide out since the Rams in 1999.

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