November 11, 2025 • 11 mins
On this episode of Daily Sports History, we celebrate Jerry Rice's monumental achievement as the only NFL player to reach 200 career touchdowns. Explore the legendary moments that led him to this record, his impact on the game, and how he redefined the wide receiver position. Discover why Jerry Rice's legacy remains untouchable in NFL history.
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Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On November eleventh, two thousand and one, greatest receiver of
all time, Jerry Rice becomes the first player in NFL
history to score two hundred touchdowns in a Monday night
football game against the Denver Broncos while playing for the
Oakland Raiders, doing this at the age of forty in
his eighteenth season in the league. We're going to dive
(00:22):
into how he became the greatest of all time and
how it is not even close when you look at
the numbers today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily
learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge as
(00:45):
we dive into Jerry Rice today. And today's trivic question
is in how many games did Jerry Rice set the
record for touchdown passes in a season? Now? Jerry Rice
grew up in a small town in Missississippi, and he
was the sixth of eight kids, and his parents provided
as much as they could for all their kids, but
(01:07):
that also meant the kids had to help out as well.
One thing Jerry often attributes to what helped him have
such great hands was that his father was a bricklayer
and him and his brothers would help his father out
before and after school laying bricks and they would throw
bricks to each other to help the jobs go faster.
So this worked on their hand at coordination and strengthen
(01:28):
their hands along the way. So Rice didn't really get
the chance to play organize sports until high school, but
not right away, you know. He would play pickup games,
sandlot games, but his mother didn't want him to play football,
so he didn't play his freshman year as she thought
it was too rough as Rice was relatively thin, and
as a parent myself, it's scary to put your child
(01:51):
in a sport where they're gonna get hit. But as
a sophomore, Rice was actually caught skipping class by the
assistant principle of his school and he chased after him
and Rice took off. His speed was not unnoticed, so
the assistant principal told the football coach that he needed
to offer Rice to position on the team, and they
all got together and talked to Rice's mother and Jerry
(02:14):
told his mom that he really wanted to and she
eventually gave up wi fi He's gonna figure out a
way to do it anyway. But on top of that,
he also played basketball and was on the track team,
but on the football team he actually played multiple positions,
going both ways, playing running back, tight end, receiver, defensive back,
but he really stood out as a receiver. Now, due
to the small size of the school and it being
(02:36):
in the late seventies, lots of his stats were gone,
but our best guess is that his senior year he
had fifty receptions and thirty touchdowns, which led him to
be All State for Mississippi. But because he was at
a small school, of course, he didn't get recruited by
a lot of schools, although he did get reached out
to by multiple big programs, including Mississippi State, which was
(02:58):
Rice's dream school, but they didn't offer a scholarship. In fact,
one of the only schools that did was Mississippi Valley State,
who ran a pass heavy offense, which Rice really enjoyed,
and so he joined Mississippi Valley State, which is a
historically black university, which we've covered on previous episodes, including
Prairie View's Losing streak and Steve McNair's Amazing season, and
(03:20):
we mentioned Rice in that episode. And Rice had a
solid first season, having four hundred yards and two touchdowns,
but the second season, he broke out, catching sixty six
passes and going for over one thy one hundred yards
and seven touchdowns, and in nineteen eighty three he set
n CUAA records for one hundred and two receptions and
(03:43):
one thousand, four hundred and fifty yards. It was named
first team Division two A All American. He even set
an nc double record during a game against Southern where
he caught twenty four passes, and he continued this streak
as the next year he broke his own records, having
over eighteen hundred yards and one hundred and twelve receptions
(04:05):
with twenty seven touchdowns and again was named an All
American and finished ninth in the Heisman in nineteen eighty four.
So this was just the start for Rice, and it
caught the eye of the many people in the NFL.
Although his production was amazing, he was at a lower
level and he didn't test that well, running between what
measured as a four four five or four to seven.
(04:28):
He never was the fastest, but he always worked harder
and he was always the first one in in the
last to leave, making sure his route running was on point.
And he had a connection with his quarterbacks and San
Francisco believed so much in him they actually traded picks
to move up in the first round to make sure
they were able to draft Jerry Rice with the number
(04:48):
seventeenth pick just a year after winning the Super Bowl.
But he struggled his first year as it took him
a while to acclimate to the new game and ununderstand
the new playbook. But he continued to s study and
continued to grow, and he finished the season strong, ending
with nine hundred and twenty seven yards in three touchdowns
his first season, and he added another rushing touchdown during
(05:10):
that year, and now understanding the rigors of the game
and having more connection with his Hall of Fame quarterback
Joe Montana, he was able to come back his second year,
getting eighty six receptions for over fifteen hundred yards and
fifteen touchdowns. He put himself on the map and it
really stood out. But arguably the next season was what
(05:32):
was one of his most impressive seasons, as it was
a strike shortened season and the teams only played twelve games,
and in those twelve games, he was able to have
over one thousand yards and a record twenty two touchdowns,
a record that was only broken by Randy Moss by
one touchdown in as sixteen game season, and because he
(05:56):
was able to get over one thousand yards, it continued
streak of over eleven years of having over a thousand
yards and arguably would have been more without if it
wasn't for injury. And this is what made him so
dangerous as a player is that he was so consistent.
(06:16):
In the nineteen ninety two season, he was able to
surpass Steve Largent catching his one hundred and one touchdown
pass to become the all time leader in touchdown passes,
and he would play another twelve years after this. This
is what made his numbers stand out for longevity. But
it wasn't that he played for such a long time,
(06:38):
which he did, It was that he was good for
such a long time. He would go on to win
three Super Bowls with the forty nine Ers, being Super
Bowl MVP of Super Bowl twenty three, where he had
over two hundred yards and a touchdown during that game
against the Cincinnati Bengals. He'd be a two time Offensive
Player of the Year and be named First team All
(07:00):
Pro ten times and second team once, thirteen time Pro Bowler,
and even when Safeisco thought he was done at the
age of thirty eight. He joined the Oakland Raiders and
had two more thousand yard seasons, helping lead them to
the two thousand and one Super Bowl, which was the
(07:21):
only one he lost. But that year, on November eleventh
against the Denver Broncos, he would set the record scoring
his two hundred touchdown, and that same year he would
go pass Walter Payton as the all time leader in
yards from scrimmage with over twenty one thousand yards. And
Jerry just didn't know how to quit, and that sadly
(07:44):
was his downfall, as after his two thousand and three
season with Oakland where he had over eight hundred yards,
he struggled the next season and Oakland would trade him
to Seattle, where he also struggled but was able to
have three touchdowns in over three hundred yards. He would
try to get on with Denver would decide to retire,
inning an historic twenty year career with numbers that are crazy.
(08:07):
He leads the NFL in receptions with over one thousand,
five hundred and forty nine. The next closest receiver is
Larry Fitzgerald, who is less than one hundred receptions away,
and there's even a bigger gap between and For the
career yards mark, he has twenty two thousand, eight hundred
and ninety five. No other receiver has over twenty thousand,
(08:30):
and Larry Fitzgerald's the next closest with over seventeen thousand.
He finished his career with one hundred and ninety seven
receiving touchdowns. Randy Moss has a second spot with one
hundred and fifty six, and he ended his career with
over two hundred and eight all purpose touchdowns including rushing
and fumbling returns. The next closest is Emmett Smith with
(08:51):
one hundred and seventy five touchdowns, and he has He
had fourteen seasons without least one thousand yards, and no
one else has had more than ten in their career.
What made Jerry so special was that work ethic he
learned as a child. He had to earn everything. He
wasn't the fastest, he wasn't the strongest, he didn't jump
(09:12):
the highest, but he was just great at every aspect
his route, running, his hands, his football IQ. He was
the perfect player. How many say that he lucked out
because he played with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and
Joe Montana and Steve Young. Now, maybe he did, but
he also made them better. They had their best seasons
(09:33):
with Jerry Rice. And for quarterback and receiver, it goes
hand in hand. There's not many quarterbacks that make the
Hall of Fame without having a receiver that did the same.
You can only play, and you can only play where
you end up. And Jerry made sure that he ended
up making his team better. And if you liked this episode,
(09:54):
you can check out the Behind the Mike podcast and
that's ad with an and A. We're host Mike Neil
discusses stories, games, draft, super Bowls, and team origins and more,
all to get you your sports history fix every day.
I'll put a link in the description below for you
to check it out. And if you enjoy today's episode,
(10:16):
please leave us a rating of review wherever you're listening.
It really helps us grow and it helps us make
more and more sports history for you every day. And
we'll see you tomorrow for more daily sports history. And
the answer today's trivia question in how many games did
it take Jerry Rice to set the record for touchdowns
in a season, And the answer is twelve. He scored
(10:40):
twelve touchdowns. He scored twenty two touchdowns in just twelve games,
and the record currently is twenty three touchdowns set by
Randy Moss in sixteen games they take and the patent
(11:06):
steep
On November eleventh, two thousand and one, greatest receiver of
all time, Jerry Rice becomes the first player in NFL
history to score two hundred touchdowns in a Monday night
football game against the Denver Broncos while playing for the
Oakland Raiders, doing this at the age of forty in
his eighteenth season in the league. We're going to dive
(00:22):
into how he became the greatest of all time and
how it is not even close when you look at
the numbers today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily
learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge as
(00:45):
we dive into Jerry Rice today. And today's trivic question
is in how many games did Jerry Rice set the
record for touchdown passes in a season? Now? Jerry Rice
grew up in a small town in Missississippi, and he
was the sixth of eight kids, and his parents provided
as much as they could for all their kids, but
(01:07):
that also meant the kids had to help out as well.
One thing Jerry often attributes to what helped him have
such great hands was that his father was a bricklayer
and him and his brothers would help his father out
before and after school laying bricks and they would throw
bricks to each other to help the jobs go faster.
So this worked on their hand at coordination and strengthen
(01:28):
their hands along the way. So Rice didn't really get
the chance to play organize sports until high school, but
not right away, you know. He would play pickup games,
sandlot games, but his mother didn't want him to play football,
so he didn't play his freshman year as she thought
it was too rough as Rice was relatively thin, and
as a parent myself, it's scary to put your child
(01:51):
in a sport where they're gonna get hit. But as
a sophomore, Rice was actually caught skipping class by the
assistant principle of his school and he chased after him
and Rice took off. His speed was not unnoticed, so
the assistant principal told the football coach that he needed
to offer Rice to position on the team, and they
all got together and talked to Rice's mother and Jerry
(02:14):
told his mom that he really wanted to and she
eventually gave up wi fi He's gonna figure out a
way to do it anyway. But on top of that,
he also played basketball and was on the track team,
but on the football team he actually played multiple positions,
going both ways, playing running back, tight end, receiver, defensive back,
but he really stood out as a receiver. Now, due
to the small size of the school and it being
(02:36):
in the late seventies, lots of his stats were gone,
but our best guess is that his senior year he
had fifty receptions and thirty touchdowns, which led him to
be All State for Mississippi. But because he was at
a small school, of course, he didn't get recruited by
a lot of schools, although he did get reached out
to by multiple big programs, including Mississippi State, which was
(02:58):
Rice's dream school, but they didn't offer a scholarship. In fact,
one of the only schools that did was Mississippi Valley State,
who ran a pass heavy offense, which Rice really enjoyed,
and so he joined Mississippi Valley State, which is a
historically black university, which we've covered on previous episodes, including
Prairie View's Losing streak and Steve McNair's Amazing season, and
(03:20):
we mentioned Rice in that episode. And Rice had a
solid first season, having four hundred yards and two touchdowns,
but the second season, he broke out, catching sixty six
passes and going for over one thy one hundred yards
and seven touchdowns, and in nineteen eighty three he set
n CUAA records for one hundred and two receptions and
(03:43):
one thousand, four hundred and fifty yards. It was named
first team Division two A All American. He even set
an nc double record during a game against Southern where
he caught twenty four passes, and he continued this streak
as the next year he broke his own records, having
over eighteen hundred yards and one hundred and twelve receptions
(04:05):
with twenty seven touchdowns and again was named an All
American and finished ninth in the Heisman in nineteen eighty four.
So this was just the start for Rice, and it
caught the eye of the many people in the NFL.
Although his production was amazing, he was at a lower
level and he didn't test that well, running between what
measured as a four four five or four to seven.
(04:28):
He never was the fastest, but he always worked harder
and he was always the first one in in the
last to leave, making sure his route running was on point.
And he had a connection with his quarterbacks and San
Francisco believed so much in him they actually traded picks
to move up in the first round to make sure
they were able to draft Jerry Rice with the number
(04:48):
seventeenth pick just a year after winning the Super Bowl.
But he struggled his first year as it took him
a while to acclimate to the new game and ununderstand
the new playbook. But he continued to s study and
continued to grow, and he finished the season strong, ending
with nine hundred and twenty seven yards in three touchdowns
his first season, and he added another rushing touchdown during
(05:10):
that year, and now understanding the rigors of the game
and having more connection with his Hall of Fame quarterback
Joe Montana, he was able to come back his second year,
getting eighty six receptions for over fifteen hundred yards and
fifteen touchdowns. He put himself on the map and it
really stood out. But arguably the next season was what
(05:32):
was one of his most impressive seasons, as it was
a strike shortened season and the teams only played twelve games,
and in those twelve games, he was able to have
over one thousand yards and a record twenty two touchdowns,
a record that was only broken by Randy Moss by
one touchdown in as sixteen game season, and because he
(05:56):
was able to get over one thousand yards, it continued
streak of over eleven years of having over a thousand
yards and arguably would have been more without if it
wasn't for injury. And this is what made him so
dangerous as a player is that he was so consistent.
(06:16):
In the nineteen ninety two season, he was able to
surpass Steve Largent catching his one hundred and one touchdown
pass to become the all time leader in touchdown passes,
and he would play another twelve years after this. This
is what made his numbers stand out for longevity. But
it wasn't that he played for such a long time,
(06:38):
which he did, It was that he was good for
such a long time. He would go on to win
three Super Bowls with the forty nine Ers, being Super
Bowl MVP of Super Bowl twenty three, where he had
over two hundred yards and a touchdown during that game
against the Cincinnati Bengals. He'd be a two time Offensive
Player of the Year and be named First team All
(07:00):
Pro ten times and second team once, thirteen time Pro Bowler,
and even when Safeisco thought he was done at the
age of thirty eight. He joined the Oakland Raiders and
had two more thousand yard seasons, helping lead them to
the two thousand and one Super Bowl, which was the
(07:21):
only one he lost. But that year, on November eleventh
against the Denver Broncos, he would set the record scoring
his two hundred touchdown, and that same year he would
go pass Walter Payton as the all time leader in
yards from scrimmage with over twenty one thousand yards. And
Jerry just didn't know how to quit, and that sadly
(07:44):
was his downfall, as after his two thousand and three
season with Oakland where he had over eight hundred yards,
he struggled the next season and Oakland would trade him
to Seattle, where he also struggled but was able to
have three touchdowns in over three hundred yards. He would
try to get on with Denver would decide to retire,
inning an historic twenty year career with numbers that are crazy.
(08:07):
He leads the NFL in receptions with over one thousand,
five hundred and forty nine. The next closest receiver is
Larry Fitzgerald, who is less than one hundred receptions away,
and there's even a bigger gap between and For the
career yards mark, he has twenty two thousand, eight hundred
and ninety five. No other receiver has over twenty thousand,
(08:30):
and Larry Fitzgerald's the next closest with over seventeen thousand.
He finished his career with one hundred and ninety seven
receiving touchdowns. Randy Moss has a second spot with one
hundred and fifty six, and he ended his career with
over two hundred and eight all purpose touchdowns including rushing
and fumbling returns. The next closest is Emmett Smith with
(08:51):
one hundred and seventy five touchdowns, and he has He
had fourteen seasons without least one thousand yards, and no
one else has had more than ten in their career.
What made Jerry so special was that work ethic he
learned as a child. He had to earn everything. He
wasn't the fastest, he wasn't the strongest, he didn't jump
(09:12):
the highest, but he was just great at every aspect
his route, running, his hands, his football IQ. He was
the perfect player. How many say that he lucked out
because he played with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and
Joe Montana and Steve Young. Now, maybe he did, but
he also made them better. They had their best seasons
(09:33):
with Jerry Rice. And for quarterback and receiver, it goes
hand in hand. There's not many quarterbacks that make the
Hall of Fame without having a receiver that did the same.
You can only play, and you can only play where
you end up. And Jerry made sure that he ended
up making his team better. And if you liked this episode,
(09:54):
you can check out the Behind the Mike podcast and
that's ad with an and A. We're host Mike Neil
discusses stories, games, draft, super Bowls, and team origins and more,
all to get you your sports history fix every day.
I'll put a link in the description below for you
to check it out. And if you enjoy today's episode,
(10:16):
please leave us a rating of review wherever you're listening.
It really helps us grow and it helps us make
more and more sports history for you every day. And
we'll see you tomorrow for more daily sports history. And
the answer today's trivia question in how many games did
it take Jerry Rice to set the record for touchdowns
in a season, And the answer is twelve. He scored
(10:40):
twelve touchdowns. He scored twenty two touchdowns in just twelve games,
and the record currently is twenty three touchdowns set by
Randy Moss in sixteen games they take and the patent
(11:06):
steep
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