Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown poised to top franchise receptions and receiving yard marks

To even be this close to marks that no one in 81 years of Steelers football has ever reached says a lot.

The most impressive part of what Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is doing is how he could top those marks in less time than the players who previously set them - including himself.

Brown needs 125 yards to break his own single-season receiving yards record of 1,499 - a mark he set last season for the 8-8 Steelers of 2013. Adding nine catches to that today will make his 2014 season the most prolific receiving season in franchise history, taking the 12-year-old receptions record of 113 away from Hines Ward.

Brown had 110 catches and 1,499 yards last year. With 64 receiving yards in this game, Brown will crack 5,000 yards for his career. He's 26 years old.

Brown broke Yancey Thigpen's receptions record on the road last year in a game the Steelers won - 38-31 over Green Bay. There are too many parallels between the two. There's actually none that really matter, but the point is Brown can and should be expected to gain 25 yards in this game, and even nine catches isn't out of the question. He has 15 consecutive games with at least five catches for at least 70 yards, that's an NFL record - and an impressive one at that.

There was at least one game in 15 in which Hall of Fame WR Jerry Rice had less than five catches or less than 70 receiving yards. In 238 career games in San Francisco, Rice averaged 5.3 receptions and 80.9 yards a game, but he never had a streak like Brown's.

Randy Moss, Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Isaac Bruce - all leaders of the wide receivers in the passing era of the NFL - none of them had this streak. We can belittle it as much as we'd like and foolishly point out that the Steelers elected to have Brown extend that streak with a late completion in a win over Jacksonville when kneeling out the clock would have sealed it. If anything, that speaks for a team committed to the player.

It's easier to motivate a team by showing players you will work for them if they work for you.

Brown's records won't just speak to his skill or durability. They'll speak to excellent passing (Ben Roethlisberger has thrown every one of the 215 passes he caught in his last 30 games). They'll speak to team play (much of the Steelers offense is based on coordinated routes that set up one another). It speaks to an incredible work ethic that has seen Brown go from a sixth-round draft pick in 2010 to what will undoubtedly be his second All Pro nomination after this season.

Grabbing nine passes for 125 yards is a tall assignment for any receiver in any game, but today against Atlanta, Brown's chances are as good as any receiver's would be. If he doesn't do it today, odds are excellent he'd be within chip-shot distance from breaking them both at home next week against Kansas City.

And if the streak ends today, everyone will move on, having seen one of the game's best receivers achieve something truly unique. It just seems more likely it will continue to 16 games.