Much like a pick up football game in the backyard, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gets in the huddle, looks over at Mike Wallace, one of his new favorite wide receivers, and says, “Mike, you go long!”
The time was Sunday night at approximately 8:20pm, the Steelers faced the Colts, Roethlisberger hiked the ball and dropped back to launch an 81-yard reception to one of the fastest men in the NFL, Mike Wallace, for a touchdown.
Ok, so the verbiage you have just read was fabricated, however, if you watched the game on Sunday, the camera caught Ben Roethlisberger giving Mike Wallace the eye contact saying, “Go long, I’ll get it to ya!”
With a tradition of wide receivers that have filled the NFL’s stat books with records, the Steelers have a new addition on the team. You have to admit the wide receiver position in Pittsburgh casts a very large shadow – Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.
How is Mr. Wallace going to fill that shadow? Mike Wallace has commented many times “I want to be the first Mike Wallace.” Many NFL Purists don’t like to hear talk about a youngster that hasn’t put in the time yet to be compared to Jerry Rice; however, let’s look at the numbers. Below is the first two year statistical analysis in the Mike Wallace versus Jerry Rice comparison. (Statistics from NFL.com)
Player Year Rec Yards Avg. TDs
Wallace 09-10 99 2,013 20.3 16
Rice 85-86 135 2,497 18.5 18
Again, this is just two years, but what is really great is that in 2011 Wallace has already put up 377 yards in three games, scoring 2 touchdowns and averaging nearly 18 yards per catch. Put those statistics with a 40-yard dash clocked at 4.22 seconds (second in history to Deion Sanders of 4.19 seconds) and a goal to be the first wide receiver to catch more than 2000 yards in a season, we have a very driven young receiver.
While some may see Wallace’s goal as cocky, I do not. He is not claiming to be the best, he is simply setting a high standard for himself. Especially when he has four high efficiency receivers on the Steelers that Big Ben can throw to – Brown, Ward, Sanders, and also TE, Heath Miller.
As far as the comparison to Jerry Rice, well, Mike Wallace needs to repeat his production at this level for another 18 years, and keep his good reputation on and off the field (which always seems to be a problem in this era).
In the business world, when a business is asked to produce something, a business owner may reply, “Do you want it Cheap, Fast, or Good? I can give you any two!” Mike Wallace had a base salary in 2011 of $480,000 with some signing bonuses, however is crazy fast and incredibly good.
Right now the Steelers are getting a real “steal” for this young talent!
