Calvin Johnson now holds the NFL record for the most receiving yards in a single season. Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz believes this is just the beginning.
"There's great players that have come before us, there's great players in this franchise," Schwartz said Saturday, via the Detroit Free Press. "But to break a record by a guy who is arguably the greatest player in the history of the National Football League in Jerry Rice says a lot about what Calvin accomplished today.
"His best is yet to come. And the best, where he's going to lead this team, the best is yet to come."
Megatron finished Saturday's 31-18 loss to the Atlanta Falcons with 11 receptions for a season-high 225 yards. The new record is set at 1,892 yards, and the first 2,000-yard season for an NFL wide receiver is in sight.
"I've been an NFL fan my entire life," Schwartz said. "I grew up in Baltimore with Hall of Famers like Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry and a lot of other guys; great players in the history of the National Football League.
"I've coached for 19 years in the NFL. I've never seen a better player than Calvin Johnson."
Johnson now has surpassed 1,100 receiving yards in three of his last four seasons. He has reached 1,600 yards in consecutive seasons. Megatron caught 16 touchdown passes in 2011. And he's playing with a quarterback who's seven throws away from breaking the single-season record for the most pass attempts -- an offensive strategy that won't change anytime soon for the Lions.
Megatron could make a run at a lot of receiving records in the next several years. He's only 27, and he already has the most consecutive 100-yard games (eight) and most consecutive games with double-digit receptions (four) and is tied with Michael Irvin with a record 11 100-yard games in a single season.
"The guy's the best in my mind," Stafford said of his teammate. "Like I said, just the height, weight, speed goes out the window. Just the way he prepares, the way he works, nobody goes about their business as professionally as he does and we're lucky to have a guy like that play a position that not all the time is like that. He sets the standard in the league and it's a high bar."
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
