LARGENT, JOINER SET RECEPTION RECORDS (original) (raw)
Sports|LARGENT, JOINER SET RECEPTION RECORDS
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/07/sports/largent-joiner-set-reception-records.html
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- Oct. 7, 1986
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Steve Largent of the Seattle Seahawks and Charlie Joiner of the San Diego Chargers set National Football League receiving records tonight, as the Seahawks routed the Chargers, 33-7.
Largent caught a pass in his 128th consecutive game, and Joiner surpassed Don Maynard's record for career reception yardage.
Largent, who was once considered too small and too slow to be an N.F.L. receiver, broke Harold Carmichael's record by taking a 17-yard slant-in from Dave Krieg with 4 minutes 16 seconds gone in the second quarter. Krieg, who threw for three touchdowns tonight, had missed him with four previous attempts, causing Largent to throw his hands out in frustration on the fourth.
It took Joiner until 5:11 of the third quarter to surpass Don Maynard's career yardage record of 11,834. He entered the game needing 19 yards to break it and finished with 11,855.
The game was halted while Largent received a standing ovation, with Carmichael present, and the ball was presented to Pete Elliott, director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Largent later moved past Lance Alworth's 10,266 yards to take fourth place on the career list.
Joiner's first catch from Dan Fouts came with 3:43 left in the half but it was good for just 2 yards. His second was a 5-yarder 4:38 into the third period.
He finally broke the record on the next play, a 20-yard pass over the middle. Joiner also received a standing ovation and Elliott got the ball for Hall of Fame.
Largent's streak began on Nov. 20, 1977, with a reception against the Houston Oilers, the team that drafted him in the eighth round of the 1976 draft. The Oilers traded him to the Seahawks before he had played a game for them. His height - 5 feet 11 inches - and relative lack of speed made him a questionable prospect.
But he became an instant starter in Seattle, then an expansion team, and caught 54 passes his first year. He made up for his lack of speed with intelligence.
''He knows how to get position on a defensive back and he concentrates extremely well,'' Carmichael said Sunday.
Joiner, the league's career leader in receptions with 728, is in his 18th season. He also began his career with Houston, spending four years with the Oilers and four with Cincinnati before joining the Chargers in 1976. Like Largent, Joiner is 5-11.
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