Another week, another impressive performance from the Steelers wide receivers. Mike Wallace added 54 yards on six receptions to his season totals, while Antonio Brown added 86 yards on six catches, all of which went for first downs. Brown has now crept into the top-20 in both receptions and receiving yards, and his 26 catches this past four weeks leads the NFL. Let's take a look at our updated Wallace numbers, and then throw Brown into our tour of the league leaders in receptions, receiving yards, yards per reception and receiving touchdowns.
Mike Wallace 2011 Weekly Totals
Game |
Receptions |
Yards |
Yards/Catch |
TDs |
| Week 1 @ BAL | 8 | 107 | 13.38 | 0 |
| Week 2 vs SEA | 8 | 126 | 15.75 | 1 |
| Week 3 @ IND | 5 | 144 | 28.8 | 1 |
| Week 4 @ HOU | 4 | 77 | 19.25 | 0 |
| Week 5 vs TEN | 6 | 82 | 13.66 | 1 |
| Week 6 vs JAX | 2 | 76 | 38.00 | 1 |
| Week 7 @ ARI | 3 | 118 | 39.33 | 1 |
| Week 8 vs NE | 7 | 70 | 10.00 | 1 |
| Week 9 vs BAL | 4 | 68 | 17.0 | 0 |
| Week 10 at CIN | 6 | 54 | 9.0 | 0 |
SEASON TOTALS |
53 | 922 | 17.4 | 6 |
ON PACE FOR: |
84-85 | 1,475 | 17.4 | 10 |
2011 WR Leaders (through Week 10)
Receptions (WRs and TEs only):
- Wes Welker -- 72
- Jimmy Graham -- 62
- Calvin Johnson -- 54
- Brandon Marshall -- 53
- Mike Wallace -- 53
- Antonio Brown (t-17th) -- 44
Thoughts: Wallace's six receptions were one more than his season average. With 53 catches on the year, Wallace should surpass 80 for the season barring injury. Walker continues to be the odds on favorite to win his third receptions title since 2007. He's on pace for 128 catches, which would best his career-high of 123 set back in 2009. Then there's Antonio Brown creeping up the leader board. Though some players have only played three games in the last four weeks while others like Brown have had four games to catch passes, Brown leads all wide receivers with 26 receptions the last four weeks. We'll see if he can climb into the top-15 or even top-10 by season's end.
Receiving Yards (Yards/Game):
- Wes Welker -- 1006 (111.7)
- Steve Smith -- 951 (105.6)
- Mike Wallace -- 922 (92.2)
- Calvin Johnson -- 885 (98.3)
- Jimmy Graham -- 873 (87.3)
- Gregg Jennings -- 723 (83.8)
- Antonio Brown (16th) -- 626 (62.6)
Thoughts: Just about everybody in the top five is tapering off in terms of yards per game. All the while, Antonio Brown is creeping up the charts and into the top 20 thanks to his third 85-plus yard performance in his past four.
Yards per Reception (minimum 20 receptions):
-
Jordy Nelson, Steve Smith -- 18.6-- 18.6
- Torrey Smith -- 18.5
- Vincent Jackson, Johnny Knox -- 18.1
- Jacoby Jones -- 18.0
- Larry Fitzgerald -- 17.6
- Mike Wallace -- 17.4
Thoughts: This is the category that I really care about, and after Wallace's 9.0 yards per reception outing in Week 10, he slid down a bit to eighth among players with at least 20 receptions. Wallace is gunning for his second yards/reception title in three seasons, having narrowly lost last year to DeSean Jackson.
Receiving Touchdowns:
- Calvin Johnson -- 11
- Rob Grankowski -- 8
-
Eric Decker, Greg Jennings,, Jordy Nelson -- 7
- Scott Chandler, Vincent Jackson, Jimmy Graham, Mike Wallace, Wes Welker, AJ Green, Plaxico Burress, Tony Gonzalez -- 6
- Four players -- 5
Thoughts: We'll see if Gronkowski can give Calvin Johnson a run for his money down the stretch. I wouldn't be surprised. How about Eric Decker continuing to connect with Tim Tebow for touchdowns? And then there's two Packers WRs in the top-five. Impressive. Thanks to a three-TD outing last month, Plaxico is also knocking on the door for a double-digit TD season, which would only be the third of his career and his first since 2007.