So for years, the Skippers have told tales of their 2003 title, the details of which, thought to have been lost to the sands of time have been recovered! The WR corps of Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, and Marvin Harrison seem so legendary no one has ever questioned their supremacy – but there’s just one problem – this grouping never existed.
When I originally did this piece last year, I looked for the player totals and matchup scores from 2003, but they’re all empty. What had not tried until now, to just check Draft Results and Rosters, for which some of the info is still there. And my discovery, an accidental one while researching another article turned up some info about the mythical three-headed beast that was the ’03 Skippers. Yes they were dominant, but it likely had more to do with Ricky Williams and Shaun Alexander than it did the wideouts – at least until the playoff started…
For years I’d built this trio up too much in memory, but after going back and rechecking, it turns out that the Skippers’ big three that year did not include Owens or Harrison, but instead Chad Johnson and Anquan Boldin, both of whom started the year on the Bench behind Amani Toomer and Eric Moulds. As for Randy Moss – trade deadline acquistion who played only one regular season game – Week 13 – with the Skippers.
In the 2003 draft, Owens was taken 8th overall by Toepel, while Harrison (9) and Randy Moss (16) both went to Byrd. Jones would grab Eric Moulds (22), Donald Driver (46), and Toomer (51) in rounds 2, 3 & 5. Chad Johnson would come off the board at 123, and Boldin was a post-draft waiver pickup.
HERE IS WHAT I DID LAST TIME
Today I delved into the historical texts and pulled up the stats lines for that trio from 2003. I did the same for my 2013 Team Winterfell squad (Calvin, DeSean Jackson, and Josh Gordon). I used just the numbers from the first 13 weeks – our regular season – which admittedly hurt both Jackson and Moss, who had their best games in the playoff weeks. I then crossed them with the current scoring process, adding in rushing yards, fumble recoveries, tackles and other such misc. nonsense. These numbers are extrapolated out, assuming they each started every game they played.
This is how it shook out…to my surprise.
| Player | Catch Total | Rec. Yards | Total TDs | Rush. Yards | Misc. Pts | Point Total | PPG |
| Gordon | 71 | 1331 | 7 | 32 | 0 | 2068 | 206.80 |
| Moss | 90 | 1372 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 2476 | 206.33 |
| Calvin | 72 | 1299 | 12 | 0 | -5 | 2254 | 204.91 |
| Harrison | 79 | 1038 | 8 | 3 | -5 | 1831 | 152.58 |
| Jackson | 65 | 1080 | 8 | 2 | -5 | 1802 | 150.17 |
| Owens | 71 | 995 | 7 | -2 | 0 | 1698 | 141.50 |
This gives the Skippers a point total of 6005, with 36 games played between the original trio. Team Winterfell saw a total of 6124, with only 33 games played, Gordon missing two weeks to suspension, and Calvin out one game with an injury.
Team Winterfell had an average of 185.6 per WR slot, while the Skippers trio averaged 166.8 per spot, based on 2021 scoring.
THE UPDATE
So here is that chart with Chad and Aquan added in…
| Player | Catch Total | Rec. Yards | Total TDs | Rush. Yards | Misc. Pts | Point Total | PPG |
| Gordon | 71 | 1331 | 7 | 32 | 0 | 2068 | 206.80 |
| Moss | 90 | 1372 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 2476 | 206.33 |
| Calvin | 72 | 1299 | 12 | 0 | -5 | 2254 | 204.91 |
| Johnson | 75 | 1114 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1939 | 161.58 |
| Harrison | 79 | 1038 | 8 | 3 | -5 | 1831 | 152.58 |
| Jackson | 65 | 1080 | 8 | 2 | -5 | 1802 | 150.17 |
| Boldin | 75 | 1080 | 6 | 34 | -75 | 1714 | 142.83 |
| Owens | 71 | 995 | 7 | -2 | 0 | 1698 | 141.50 |
So Boldin and Johnson both look better than Owens and Harrison here, but Boldin is hurt when we take out weeks 14-16, as he had three big games there. This is also Boldin’s rookie year, and he got stronger as it went on, aside from lighting the Lions on fire during his debut – which was also Charles Rogers’ debut…
Team Winterfell stays at an average of 185.6 per WR slot, while the Skippers updated trio averaged 170.3 per spot, based on 2021 scoring. So while Boldin and Johnson ended up being an improvement over Harrison and Owen, it only changes our average by about 15 points per game – or about 5 points per slot.
REALITY
If we look at the actual season numbers at WR, instead of extrapolating everyone’s numbers out, it would look like this;
THE SKIPPERS – 2003 Championship Team (10-3)
| Player | Catch Total | Rec. Yards | TDs | Rush. Yards | Misc. Pts | GMS | Point Total | PPG |
| R. Moss | 10 | 160 | 1 | 5 | -25 | 1 | 240 | 240 |
| Chad J. | 53 | 802 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1467 | 163 |
| A. Toomer | 24 | 495 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 715 | 119 |
| E. Moulds | 35 | 489 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 714 | 119 |
| A. Boldin | 60 | 815 | 4 | 34 | -50 | 11 | 1299 | 118 |
| McCareins | 3 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 90 |
| D. Driver | 14 | 165 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 4 | 288 | 72 |
| Jurevicius | 3 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 58 |
So before Jones acquired Moss and ran through the playoffs, his regular season receiving corps was actually led by Moulds and Toomer for a big chunk of the year. For his season average per WR slot we get a respectable 135.8 ppg.
TEAM WINTERFELL – 2013 4th Place Team (8-5)
| Player | Catch Total | Rec. Yards | TDs | Rush. Yards | Misc. Pts | GMS | Point Total | PPG |
| Calvin J. | 72 | 1299 | 12 | 0 | -5 | 11 | 2254 | 205 |
| J. Gordon | 54 | 1103 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1673 | 186 |
| D. Jackson | 61 | 1021 | 7 | 0 | -5 | 12 | 1671 | 139 |
| T. Austin | 21 | 150 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 375 | 94 |
| T.Williams | 4 | 64 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 134 | 45 |
For Kronner’s Winterfell team we see only five different players for the year, as their big three were all on the roster from the get. Calvin was the third pick overall, Jackson came in round four (46), and Josh Gordon, who sat the first two games with a suspension, was selected in the tenth round (118). Add Tavon Austin at pick 75 and there’s a majority of the WR work for the year. Only rookie Terrence Williams (Dallas Cowboys, 2013-2018) got any other play here.
The Winterfell WR average for the year came in at 169.6 ppg, missing out on a huge game from Gordon in week three, in favour of Austin, who started the season hot.
So that’s it for this one. If there are other comparison pieces you’d like to see, let me know below by adding them to the poll.
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