While Antonio Brown is obviously great—one of the greatest players in the game of football today—the trait that best defines him is consistency, and his setting of longevity records bears that out better than any other. His five consecutive seasons of 100 or more catches was a first in NFL history.
He recently topped a Jerry Rice record for the most receiving yards in a six-year span in NFL history, and he still has three more games with which to pad that total. On Sunday, he will have an opportunity to take down another record for a six-year span, and should do so against the team that set it.
Brown enters tomorrow’s game with 668 receptions over the course of the past six seasons. That is just five receptions shy of surpassing the 672 receptions that former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker caught between the 2007 and 2012 seasons, which included two years of over 120 catches and five of over 110.
Brown only has three seasons of at least 110 receptions, though in all likelihood he would have five if not for injuries and rest over the past two years. He does have one season over 130 receptions, however, one of the highest totals in NFL history.
Needing five receptions to overtake Welker’s best six-year span for catches, it seems almost assured that it will occur on Sunday. Brown has caught at least five passes in every single game so far during the 2018 season, including exactly five receptions on five separate occasions, most recently on Sunday.
He actually is statistically coming off of his worst game, with just five receptions for 35 yards and no scores. That was preceded by his best game when he caught season highs of 10 receptions for 154 yards and added a 12th touchdown, which is one off of his career high.
One the season, Brown is sitting at 86 receptions, so if he continues to catch five passes per game, he should end up with at least 100, which would expand his NFL record of consecutive 100-catch seasons to six.
He is also sitting at 1063 receiving yards. For the moment, he is on pace to exceed 1300 yards on the year, which would mark a fifth instance for him in his career. He has already secured his seventh 1000-yard season and the sixth in a row.
Meanwhile, the Steelers need Brown to be his old self in order to get through the next three games and into the postseason, on which they maintain a fragile lead for the lead in the AFC North, and thus the fourth seed in the AFC playoff picture.
