Underappreciated Detroit Lions NFL record could fall this season

An NFL record you may not realize a pair of former Detroit Lions hold may go down this year, but there’s more than meets that eye.

In 1995, quarterbacked by Scott Mitchell, the Detroit Lions had the NFL’s No. 1 offense (382.1 yards per game), and the league’s No. 2 scoring offense (27.3 points per game). Barry Sanders was of course a key cog, but wide receivers Herman Moore and Brett Perriman had big seasons.

Moore set the single-season record  for receptions (123), which stood until Marvin Harrison passed it in 2002. He was also third in the league with 1,686 receiving  yards, along with 14 touchdowns (tied fourth in the league).

For his part, Perriman had 108 catches (sixth in the league) for 1,488 yards (also sixth in the league) and nine touchdowns.

The 3,174 receiving yards Moore and Perriman combined for in 1995 still stands as an NFL record for a pair of teammates in a single season. Without an exact accountig, the 231 receptions betweem them has to be up their in the single-season ranks too.

An underrated record held by the Detroit Lions may go down this year.

Two receivers (Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson) may be coming for Calvin Johnson’s single-season yardage record this season. So it’s not too shocking to learn Hill may combine with a productive teammate to pass Moore and Perriman’s record.

Through 12 games this season, Hill (1,379) and Dolphins’ teammate Jaylen Waddle (972) have combined for 2,351 receiving yards. They are on-pace for 3,330 combined yards, which would surpass Moore and Perriman.

This is where I mention Hill and Waddle have 17 games to pass what Moore and Perriman did in 16. Miami’s duo is on a 16-game pace for 3,135 combined receiving yards, just shy of Moore and Perriman’s record.

Hill and Waddle have combined for 11 touchdowns so far this season, which puts them on pace for 15.6 (let’s just say 16). Moore and Perriman, as you may have already added up, had 23 touchdowns between them in 1995.

Via 97.1 The Ticket, Moore talked about he and Perriman’s record being broken.

"A lot of times when you look at records, people don’t factor in all that goes into the recipe to make it happen. When you have more options, you have less opportunities,” said Moore. “I’m a numbers guy even though I don’t get deep into my own, except when people give them to me and make me look at them. And when I started to look at it on that level, I go, ‘Kudos if it can be broken, but it won’t be replicated.’"

NFL regular seasons now being 17 games opens the door for all kinds of raw number records to be broken. But what Moore and Perriman did in 1995, with the league’s rules then and catching passes from Mitchell (albeit in his best season as a Lion), will remain prominent for Lions’ fans and and an underrappreciated accomplishment.