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when I talk about number one receivers I am talking about the likes of Randy Moss, To and Fitzgerald. These are receivers that keep defensive coordinators up at night. They require a defense to double team them, which causes the rest of the defense to be weakened. It means you can't put 8 men in the box, to slow down the other team's running game. It means that you use less blitzers, because you need those players in coverage. Plus the really tall receivers become a great weapon in the red zone. How often have you seen QBs toss the ball high in the air knowing their taller WR will be the one that out jumps/reaches and will come down with the ball (usually for a TD)? I would also suggest that catching is not a skill that is all that easily learned. I have been following the NFL for a few decades now. I can tell you there are few RBs, WRs or TEs that came into the league with a reputation of bad hands and suddenly learned to catch. Beyond that the WR position is as much about route running and the ability to read defenses (as many routes are altered based on what the defense is doing- for example hot routes when the defense blitzes).
I wouldn't say that running is "not that hard". I would say that there seems to be a good number of players that can do it. In terms of hard, look how quickly RBs burn out. While I don't have the numbers readily available, that position has perhaps the quickest retirement age. RBs are considered ancient by the time they are 30. The thing with running backs is success and failure is seperated by a tenth of a second or less. So slow downs result in rapid reductions in production.
As for the lessens from the Steelers, I think it can be misleading to draw lessens only from the current champs. I think it's better to look at least the 4 that made it to the conference championship games and then look back a number of years. Look at the success teams like the Cowboys (in 07) and the Giants have enjoyed by having a quality pair of guards. Those were high powered offenses that use quality guards.
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