You’d think in an era where quarterbacks throw the ball 50 times a game and every rule is designed to help the offense, the nfl receiving yards game record would be falling every other weekend. Honestly, it feels like it should. We have guys like Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase out here putting up video game numbers, yet the record at the very top of the mountain has been sitting there, untouched, since the George H.W. Bush administration.
The number is 336.
On November 26, 1989, Willie "Flipper" Anderson—a guy who was never really considered the "best" receiver in the league at any point—shredded the New Orleans Saints for 336 yards. It's a weird piece of history because it hasn't been topped by Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, or even Calvin Johnson during his prime "Megatron" years.
The Flipper Anderson Miracle (and the Overtime Asterisk)
Let’s talk about that 1989 game for a second. It wasn't some high-flying aerial circus from the jump. The Los Angeles Rams were actually struggling. Flipper Anderson had only 19 catches on the entire season going into that game.
He was a deep threat, basically a "field stretcher" in the jargon of the time. But that night, Jim Everett just kept looking his way. Anderson caught 15 passes.
Why some people argue the record is "fake"
There is a massive debate among NFL purists about this specific nfl receiving yards game record. You see, Flipper didn't hit 336 in sixty minutes.
At the end of regulation, he was sitting at 296 yards. That's still a monster day, obviously, but it’s not the record. The game went into overtime, and he tacked on another 40 yards to reach the 336 mark.
If you're a "regulation only" person, you probably think the record belongs to someone else. And that someone else is usually Calvin Johnson.
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Calvin Johnson vs. The Dallas Cowboys
In 2013, Calvin Johnson put on arguably the most dominant display of physical receiving ever caught on film. He was playing against the Cowboys, and it didn't matter if they tripled him. Matthew Stafford was just lobbing the ball into the atmosphere, and Megatron was coming down with it.
Johnson finished with 329 yards.
He did it in four quarters. No overtime. No extra sessions.
He fell exactly seven yards short of Flipper’s total. If Stafford had thrown one more screen to him, or if a defender had tripped on that final drive, the nfl receiving yards game record would look a lot different today.
The 300-Yard Club is a Lonely Place
It’s crazy how rare this is. Think about all the thousands of NFL games played since the 1920s. Only six players have ever crossed the 300-yard threshold in a single game.
- Flipper Anderson (Rams): 336 yards (1989)
- Calvin Johnson (Lions): 329 yards (2013)
- Stephone Paige (Chiefs): 309 yards (1985)
- Jim Benton (Rams): 303 yards (1945)
- Cloyce Box (Lions): 302 yards (1950)
- Julio Jones (Falcons): 300 yards (2016)
Look at those dates. Jim Benton did this in 1945. That’s the year World War II ended. He had 303 yards in an era where most teams were still running the "Single Wing" and throwing the ball was considered a risky gimmick. It’s arguably the most impressive feat on the entire list because of the context.
What Most People Get Wrong About These Games
People usually assume these records happen in blowouts. You know, "garbage time" yards where the defense stops caring.
Actually, it’s the opposite.
Almost all of these games were absolute dogfights. Stephone Paige's 309-yard day in 1985? The Chiefs won that game 38-34. Calvin Johnson's 329? The Lions won 31-30 on a fake spike by Stafford. Flipper’s 336? A three-point overtime win.
You only get the nfl receiving yards game record when the game is close enough that your quarterback has to keep throwing to you until the final whistle. If you're up by 30 points, the coach is going to pull you or just run the ball to kill the clock. You need a perfect storm of a bad secondary, a hot quarterback, and a game score that stays tight for sixty minutes.
The Modern Close Calls
We’ve seen some scares recently. Ja'Marr Chase has been flirting with the 300-mark since he entered the league. On November 7, 2024, he went off for 264 yards against the Ravens. A few years before that, he had 266 against the Chiefs.
Amari Cooper went for 265 in 2023. Tyreek Hill had 269 in a single game back in 2020.
But there’s a wall at 270. It’s like the "Death Zone" on Everest. The air gets thin, the defense starts putting three guys on you, and the clock usually runs out before you can hit that magic 300.
The Anatomy of a Record-Breaking Performance
If you want to track who might break the nfl receiving yards game record next, look for these three specific things during a Sunday afternoon:
- The "Target Vacuum": The team's #2 receiver has to be injured or totally ineffective. If the yards are being spread around, nobody is hitting 300. In Stephone Paige’s 309-yard game, the rest of the Chiefs' wideouts combined for... basically nothing.
- The High-Volume Quarterback: You need a guy who isn't afraid of interceptions. Matthew Stafford and Jim Everett were "gunslingers." They’d throw into double coverage because they trusted their guy.
- A "Shootout" Script: If the opposing team is also scoring, your team can't stop throwing. If the defense is a sieve, the receiver is a king.
Honestly, it’s kind of cool that Flipper Anderson still holds it. He wasn't a Hall of Famer. He wasn't a perennial Pro Bowler. He was just a guy who had one afternoon where he was completely, utterly untouchable.
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If you're looking to dive deeper into how these stats are changing the way we value players in fantasy or betting, start paying attention to "Air Yards." It's a metric that tracks how far the ball travels past the line of scrimmage before it's caught. Guys with high Air Yards—like Tyreek Hill or Justin Jefferson—are the only ones with a realistic mathematical shot at catching Flipper Anderson.
Keep an eye on the weather, too. Almost every game on that 300-yard list happened in a dome or on a clear, dry day. You aren't breaking records in the mud at Soldier Field.
For now, the nfl receiving yards game record stays at 336. It’s survived the "Greatest Show on Turf," the Peyton Manning era, and the Tom Brady dynasty. Whether it survives the next generation of track-stars-turned-wide-receivers remains to be seen.
To see how these numbers stack up against the best seasons ever, you should look into the single-season receiving record, which is a whole different beast involving consistency over 17 games rather than one afternoon of magic.
Check the upcoming schedule for teams with bottom-five pass defenses playing against high-volume passing offenses; that's where the next 300-yard threat is hiding. Even if Flipper's record stands for another 30 years, watching someone chase it is half the fun of being a fan.