Ex-Jacket Thomas sets NFL playoff record
Greetings-
A few notes about Demaryius Thomas‘ breakout game for the Denver Broncos in their 29-23 playoff win over Pittsburgh Sunday.
- He set an NFL record for highest yards-per-reception average in a playoff game (minimum three catches) at 51.0 yards. He had 204 yards on four catches. The previous record was 46.3, held by Harold Jackson (Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings, 1974).
- Thomas, in fact, never had a better yards-per-catch game at Tech in any of his five 100-yard games. That would be his 25.4 yards-per-catch game (127 yards on five catches) against Georgia in 2009.
- His 80-yard touchdown catch on the first play of overtime produced the fastest end to an overtime game in NFL history, playoff or regular season, 11 seconds, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was also the longest touchdown pass play in an overtime playoff game.
- He accounted for 64.6 percent of quarterback Tim Tebow’s 316 passing yards.
- Thomas’ performance came against the defense ranked No. 1 in the league in total defense and pass defense.
Some quotes from the Denver Broncos’ website:
“It is amazing because I haven’t played explosive like I did in college in a long time. To come out and make plays tonight, and win a playoff game, is just amazing.”
On the game-winning play:
“We were on the sideline and talking about it before we even went out there on the field and we were like, ‘We are going to run this play and all you have to do is beat the corner.’ They said, ‘All you have to do is cross the safety’s face,’ and I was walking to the line and saw the safety come down and I knew, at that time, the play that we had called, the only person I had to beat was the corner. I crossed his face and I knew the middle of the field was wide open.”
On his emotions:
“It feels good. Like I was saying earlier, I have been through a lot of ups and down – injuries and stuff. I was on the field, off the field and hadn’t felt great until the past four weeks. To be able to go out and do some of the things I did tonight, it feels great because I could be the big-play receiver that they drafted me to be.”
Broncos coach John Fox:
“He’s a young player that missed a lot of time early this season, and he missed a lot of time a year ago for that fact. He’s just going to get better. I think the more you get in these spots and the more you get these opportunities, the better he gets. He’s a very talented, young player that I think showed some of that tonight.”
Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil:
“He was huge. The big plays he made – he’s been working all year. He’s been banged up and he persevered through all that. I’m so happy for him. That was big, big, big, big for us.”
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
147 comments Add your comment
Al Bundy
January 9th, 2012
3:52 pm
I agree just because you heard it doesn’t make it so. As I said I can’t name a source or even when I heard it. My point is this… As long as CPJ is the coach we will likely never see another Thomas or Johnson caliber receiver. Any receiver that good would be stupid to sign with Tech unless they had no other decent offer. I wish we would but I can’t see it happening.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
3:54 pm
Seriously, BayBay wasn’t “elite” coming out of HS. He was only a 2-star recruit, and only recruited by 2 other schools. one of which was UGA. He BECAME elite while at Tech, and working out of, whether he chose it or not, Johnson’s triple option offense. I think that sort of says it all.
Kent
January 9th, 2012
3:54 pm
An Inconvenient Truth
US News Ranking
GT: 36
UGA: 62
Endowment Size
GT: $1.5 BILLION
UGA: $600 million
Avg. Starting Salary
GT: $59,000
UGA: $44,000
Football
GT: 4 National Titles (1990) Calvin Johnson, Demaryious Thomas
UGA: 2 National Titles (1980) John Kasey, Kevin Butler
Basketball
GT: 2 Final Fours, Chris Bosh, Derrick Favors, Thaddeus Young, Jarrett Jack
UGA: 1 Final Four.
Baseball
GT: Mark Teixeira, Nomar Garciaparra, Kevin Brown, Matt Weiters
UGA: Gordon Beachem.
Golf
GT: Matt Kuchar, Stewart Cink, David Duval, Bryce Molder
UGA: Bubba Watzon.
GT is a GLOBAL brand. UGA is a regional brand.
Wal Mart CEO = GT grad
Wal Mart Checkout person = UGA fan
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
3:54 pm
1st of bob Perkins wasn’t the #1 back out of Georgia his senior year he was 1st team all state in his division. Secondly he was 3rd team behind Preston Lyons as a redshirt freshman this year and will most likely stay behind Sims next year.not an elite talent. by any means or stretch of the imagination. Dwyer was a 5 star contributed as a freshman and was led ACC as a sophomore.Thomas developed into a physical freak but at least made an impact as a redshirt freshman. seriously Charles Perkins thats the best you can come up with.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
3:55 pm
Al Bundy, read my last post. It’s not necessarily how you are regarded coming out of HS; it’s what you do in college with what you have. And BayBay did pretty damn well
GT Lee
January 9th, 2012
3:57 pm
Seriously,
does it really matter how highly the players are rated? I thought the bottom line was wins and losses. Chan’s 1st 4 yrs-28-22. CPJ’s 1st 4 yrs-33-19………
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:01 pm
Supersize , Thomas was 3 star and rising and was heavily recruited by Steve Spurrier.had offer from Louisville (Petrino was coach at the time) , Indiana and Duke.And he was recruited by Gailey and coached by Gaileys staff for 2 years.Richt wanted him badly.
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:04 pm
GT Lee, Gailey left Pj more to work with than Oleary did Johnson. remember probation and Flunkgate? , Go count the All Acc players Gailey recruited and compare with PJ.
Al Bundy
January 9th, 2012
4:05 pm
Supersize, you are right about BayBay. I guess I should follow the rule of “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything”. My problem is I’ve had enough of CPJ. He never accepts responsibility for the team and always has an excuse. I feel like we are stuck back in the Pepper Rogers days!
BIG BEE
January 9th, 2012
4:07 pm
DAWG 48. is that the best you can do?
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
4:08 pm
3-star recruit is correct.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/georgiatech/football/recruiting/player-Demaryius-Thomas-38559;_ylt=AunCCg2jXH9z9yj6KWqu8pnvr5B4
I can post links where WnE cannot.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
4:08 pm
Seriously, sorry, but I refer you to the otherwise meaningless link that WnE posted earlier, in which it was clearly said that Thomas was 2-star and recruited by only 3 schools. And how could Gailey have coached him for 2 years when he left Tech after his junior year, which was 2009? CPJ’s SECOND year. Get your facts straight, bud.
GT Lee
January 9th, 2012
4:08 pm
Again, don’t care who made All-whatever. Wins and Losses are all anyone cares about.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
4:12 pm
HT, I guess you cleared that up. That makes WnE’s link even more meaningless, doesn’t it? However Seriously said Gailey’s staff coached him for 2 years, and that is definitely incorrect.
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:15 pm
Super you should get your facts straight he red shirted in 2006. was a 3 star on both rivals and scout. And was recruited and offered by more than 2 schools.He left Tech after a redshirt Junior year.http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Demaryius-Thomas-38559;_ylt=Aj1V6jiTlImr2qeIk0yuhgNDPZB4#college_choices.
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:17 pm
Supersize another link for you.http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?ReturnTo=&sid=&script=content.asp&cid=504080&fid=&tid=&mid=&rid=
S Spurrier
January 9th, 2012
4:20 pm
And what exactly have all those “5 Star” achieved at GA? I don’t have much trouble beatin’ em with “less”.
rlinaug
January 9th, 2012
4:20 pm
i’m glad Demaryus made the big play against the Steelers. I’m gad drop he had big drip against the Dawgs in 09. Great play though. And the announcer said he was out of Central Florida. Those guys are just accustomed to foaming at the mouth. Or as my dad used to say of John Madden, “he has oral dysentery.”
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
4:20 pm
All of the verbal commitments, so far, this year are Rivals 3-star with one being a 4-star.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/georgiatech/football/recruiting/commitments/2012
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:21 pm
2006 , Coached by gailey redshirted, 2007 coached by Gailey had 35 Catches 558 yards as a redshirt freshman..
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
4:25 pm
Someone posted before how Coach Johnson’s recruiting classes compared to Coach Gailey’s in terms of rankings. Can someone please repost that? That would be a good comparison of each coach’s recruiting.
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:28 pm
High tech , I disagree Tech had scholarship and roster limitations while Gailey was head coach.In 2006 Calvin Johnson and D. Thomas were on the same roster. Thomas redshirted.
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
Seriously…how much did the scholarship and roster limitations skew the rankings?
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
4:32 pm
One thing is obvious. Relatively speaking Johnson got more out of Thomas than Gailey ever did out of Calvin. I remember all too well that horrible ACC championship game against Wake when Reggie never threw to a wide open Calvin. It wasn’t Calvin’s fault, and to some extent it wasn’t even Reggie’s fault. Gailey vastly underused Calvin.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
4:33 pm
Seriously, you are correct. I looked at the years wrong, mis-reading somehow that Thomas signed in 2007 instead of 2006. My bad
Seriously folks
January 9th, 2012
4:37 pm
The rankings are based on number of players signed and their rankings(Quantity and Quality)Gailey had a roster limitation of 79 scholarship players.
Jacket Man
January 9th, 2012
4:38 pm
If I’m not mistaken, Kevin Cone, another Wide Receiver from GA Tech was on the Atlanta Falcons 53 man squad at the end of the season as well, so the premise that wide receivers can’t make it to the NFL coming from Paul Johnson’s offense is a crock.
Demaryious Thomas had an opportunity to transfer from Tech when the coaching change happened, but he chose to stay with the program and work within the new system. How did it work out for him? He was the first Wide Receiver taken in the First Round of the NFL Draft that season. Enough said.
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
4:48 pm
So, Johnson should be almost 10% better than Gailey if everything else was the same? What if we looked at how many 4 and 5 star recruits Gailey signed compared to Johnson?
duronimo
January 9th, 2012
4:54 pm
Great game for Tebow and Thomas. Stafford to Johnson is pretty potent as well. Watch our for Detroit if they can upgrade their defense.
GT Lee
January 9th, 2012
4:58 pm
keep in mind. too, that coaches recruit players to fit their style of offens/defense. It makes no sense for CPJ to offer scholarships to 5-star drop-back passers….
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
5:07 pm
GT Lee…Right. CPJ would need more of a dual-threat quarterback for his offense.
Like this guy:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/baylor/football/recruiting/player-Robert-Griffin-64312;_ylt=AjmEG2WNsEi6FMPs9de3BD1erJB4
Columbus
January 9th, 2012
5:10 pm
Stafford throws too many INTS in big games. Especially in the 2n half. he done that at UGA and has done it in Detroit. That is why UGA did not win the NC when he was a junior. He left early and so did Moreno. Green was not part of it except as a true freshman and was not much of a factor. Had Stafford and Green stayed with Green as a sophomore, it would have been interesting, especially if the defensive guys stayed too. People forget, UGA lost a LOT of players to the NFL early and had some key injuries. People say how did UGA not win the NC with them. 2 reasons. LSU got to play for it instead of UGA one year and the next year UGA did not have the talent to win it but was “awarded” the preseason #1 ranking for being snubbed and having to go thrash undefeated Hawaii the year before but anyone who knew the team knew that the team was weaker! it was just a bone since UGA did not get a chance to play for the NC. Then Moreno and Stafford and others left early. That is why. Had their been a playoff system of any type UGA would have beaten LSU or Ohio State and won it all. UGA was unstoppable the wnd half of that season and had the same record as LSU but LSU got the the nod and we get an undeserving preseason ranking that set a weaker UGA team up for failure and unfair criticism by the ignorants….The year UGA played Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, UGA was the best team in the country and would have beaten any team in the country easily…..
GT79
January 9th, 2012
5:11 pm
I think the fastest overtime game in history was in fact a game back in the early 80’s when a Chicago Bears return man returned the OT kickoff for a touchdown. I remember watching that game around Thanksgiving in 1982 or 1983.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 9th, 2012
5:32 pm
Well, I’m not sure why what I typed was blocked, but GT79, somebody addressed that earlier. That earlier game, the clock started as soon as the return man touched the ball, and it took 13 seconds. In Sunday’s game, there was no return on the kickoff, so the clock didn’t start till Tebow snapped the ball. From that point until the touchdown took 11 seconds.
sports
January 9th, 2012
6:50 pm
isn’t that the knothead that dropped the wide open pass against Georgia?
GTFan478
January 9th, 2012
6:57 pm
@WnE You are an idiot. I love your claim that the only reason Dwyer, Thomas, and Nesbit stayed was because they would have to sit a year. I guess you never heard of the ncaa rule that states players can transfer after a coaching change and NOT have to sit for a year. Look at Taylor Bennet and James Johnson. Both of whom transferred and played the next year at different colleges. The morw you post the dumber you make yourself look.
GTFan478
January 9th, 2012
7:06 pm
@Seriously folks What you are forgetting to mention about Thomas as a recruit is, almost every single school that went after him wanted him as a tightend. He has even been quoted in the past as saying Tech was one of the only scools to offer him as a widereceiver.
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
7:31 pm
Where did you go WnE? You have not answered my questions. I guess if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Jacket Man
January 9th, 2012
7:41 pm
ABC just said Demaryious caught the ball running at full speed; which was 16.3 mph, threw his stiff arm, then ran the rest of the way at 20.5 mph. Don’t forget, this was in full pads…
HighTech
January 9th, 2012
7:42 pm
Jacket Man…Thomas must have kicked in the afterburners.
jacketnation
January 9th, 2012
7:57 pm
Hill is no Demaryius Thomas. He just finished his best year, which was not so great. He dropped the ball a lot, although not nearly as much as last year. He needs to have ann outstanding Senior year to get drafted. If he leaves this year, he will be lucky to sign as a free agent and make the practice squad.
Dodd Ghost
January 9th, 2012
8:07 pm
Gtfan478, You are flat wrong about transferring after a coaching change.Bennett graduated from Tech.
Coaching changes have no effect on an athletes ability to transfer unless there is probation involved.
Thomas had already redshirted.Nesbitt chose to stay and it cost him major $$ . He would have been playing safety at UGA from day 1.Dwyer would’ve been drafted higher if he had played in pro style offense.Steelers said they would have to teach him how to play RB after playing in the service academy offense.
jb
January 9th, 2012
8:08 pm
Thanks Thomas and Tebow..John 3:16…
Bubba Davison IV, KA Wannabe, Class of 1994
January 9th, 2012
8:52 pm
Leave it to a YELLOW JACKET and a GATOR!!!!! Falcons….just like the Braves….no life to them…just another season….
Dodd Ghost
January 9th, 2012
9:56 pm
and UGA signs another 5 star defensive lineman, one that has played football for more than 1 year.
GT-UT
January 9th, 2012
11:00 pm
So proud of the Jacket alumni WRs.
And as a proud Jacket, I want to say to our UGA rivals, I wish the best for Stafford. He seems like a good, stand up guy. I hope he and Calvin both make it to the hall of fame.
Hill needs to stay another year. CJ and DT were ready. Hill is a project. Needs to demonstrate he can elevate to the ball. All the best. Next up?
Not Disappointed
January 11th, 2012
5:15 pm
I was so proud to see both WR represent! Go Jackets and Thomas!