Faceoff Edition 1: Dwayne Bowe vs. Vincent Jackson

Being Chiefs fans, we all know how it is not to get any real national exposure. We see our players snubbed from top x lists all the time, snubbed from probowls, snubbed from the All-Pro lists. In this post, I'm going to compare one of our players to another player that the media or casual football fan deems "better". Here we go...

A few weeks ago I was serving one of my tables at work. The guy had a Chargers tattoo on his arm, which isn't uncommon here in Southern Cali. We got to talking and it turns out this guy was a pretty big San Diego fan, who was for the most part pretty knowledgeable about his team. One thing he said though really pissed me off, and I just couldn't let it go, even weeks later: "Listen man, I don't care if he caught 15 touchdowns last season, Bowe is not better than Jackson!" This inspired me to take a look into each of these players careers and determine statistically who was better. 

I know a lot of people outside of KC don't know much about Bowe. They don't care about his first two seasons and how he broke 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns. And why should they? We won only four, and two games respectively in his first two years. He wasn't relevant because our team wasn't relevant. In 2009 he started out in Todd Haley's doghouse when he showed up to training camp out of shape. Later in the year he was suspended four games for using a diuretic, and had only 600 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. 2010 however, the Chiefs offense finally began functioning and Bowe had his breakout year, catching 72 passes for 1,162 yards (career high), and 15 touchdowns (career high/league leading). 

So far in his career, Dwayne Bowe has caught 275 passes for 3,768 yards and 31 touchdowns. How does Vincent Jackson match up? Follow me after the jump.

Jackson was selected in the second round of the 2005 draft by the San Diego Chargers. Playing with Drew Brees, Jackson posted 3 receptions for 59 yards and no touchdowns. Brees was let go by the Chargers the following season and Philip Rivers took over as quarterback. The Chargers posted one of the best seasons in recent memory going 14-2. Jackson caught 27 passes for 453 yards and 6 touchdowns as the third option in the passing game behind Antonio Gates and Keenan McCardell. Although the next season he had more receptions (41), yards (623), he cut his touchdowns in half, scoring only three.

The next two seasons Vincent Jackson posted quality numbers for a receiver, posting over 2,220 yards and 16 touchdowns, becoming the first Charger receiver since 2001 to have over a thousand yards receiving. 

In 2010 however, the wideout held out most of the season, appearing in five games catching 14 receptions for 248 yards and only three touchdowns.

Let's see how these stats compare with Bowe's: 

Jackson: 212 receptions, 3,648 yards and 28 touchdowns. 

Bowe: 278 receptions, 3,768 yards and 31 touchdowns. 

For the most part they look pretty similar right? Let's throw in another factor: Games played. 

Dwayne Bowe has appeared in 59 games. Vincent Jackson has appeared in 76 games. Jackson has played 17 more games than Bowe, which equates to a full season, plus another game. So Bowe beats Jackson out in receptions, yards and touchdowns despite playing with less games. 

If that's not enough, let's throw in another factor: Who were their quarterbacks?

In 2006 when Dwayne Bowe was drafted, he started off right in the middle of a quarterback controversy: Brodie Croyle vs. Damon Huard. As we all know, neither of these guys were the answer. In 2008, one of the more strange years for us Chiefs fans, we saw Bowe play with Tyler Thigpen. In 2009 the Chiefs traded a second rounder for quarterback Matt Cassel, who Bowe has easily had his most success with.

Jackson, on the other hand, has played with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. Both quarterbacks are considered elite, and are included in most top ten, if not top five, lists. Let's take a look at their stats during the years our receivers played with them:

Chiefs quarterbacks: 2338 attempts, 1348 completions, 13,069 yards, 82 touchdowns and 61 interceptions. That would give them a measly 57% completion rating, and an overall quarterback rating of 74.2.

Chargers quarterbacks: 2947 attempts, 1,882 completions, 23,204 yards, 159 touchdowns and 73 interceptions. That would give them a solid 63% completion rating and an overall quarterback rating of 95.77. 

Statistically, even the quarterback play blows them out of the water. Overall this shows that during the span of each careers, Jackson consistently played with better quarterbacks. 

One more final stat we're gonna take a look at is total offensive stats and how each team was ranked that season. This shows how balanced the teams were. If the offense is performing at a high level, the receiver should also be functioning at a high level.

2010- Chargers #1, Chiefs #12

2009- Chargers #10, Chiefs #25

2008- Chargers #11, Chiefs #24

2007- Chargers #20, Chiefs #31

Statistically, the Chargers have had not only the better quarterback play year after year, but also the better offense. So I ask you AP, if you had to decide would you rather have this guy: 

or this guy: