By any measure, Mike Wallace of the Pittsburgh Steelers is among the NFL's elite wide receivers. This season, he ranks No. 4 in catches (43), No. 2 in touchdowns (five), No. 3 in receiving yards (800), and No. 3 in yards per catch (18.3). But if you ask Baltimore Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb about Wallace, as reporters did on Wednesday, and he'll tell you Wallace isn't even the best receiver on his own team.
"Every time somebody asks me [a question], they're always talking about Mike Wallace," said Webb, according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. "But they have a guy No. 84 in Antonio Brown who is better than 17 [Wallace] in all aspects of the game. He's a great returner, a great wide receiver."
Brown's had a solid season in his own right, with 34 catches for 421 yards and a score. But he, like nearly every other receiver in football, pales in comparison to Wallace. It's just that Webb doesn't quite see it that way.
Webb's task Sunday will be to blanket Wallace. That'd be a matchup to watch anyway, but now it's practically appointment television. What will Webb say if the Steelers' second-best receiver burns him for a big catch or two?
Now in his third season, Webb has 38 tackles (31 solo) and two interceptions, including one pick returned for a score.