How high will the single-season reception record go?

[Gumbo]

Getty Images

When Colts receiver Marvin Harrison set the single-season reception record in 2002, he pushed the bar 20 spots higher than it previously had been, shattering Herman Moore’s seven-year-old mark of 123 catches. With Saints receiver Michael Thomas pushing the bar two receptions about Harrison’s 143 in Week 16, how high will Thomas set it given that he still has one game to go?

“Whatever coach [Sean Payton] calls and if the ball comes my way, I’m going to go get it,” Thomas told PFT by phone after Sunday’s win in Nashville.

For the year, the ball has come his way 176 times, an average of 11.7 times per game. And he’s catching 82.3 percent of those targets, an average of 9.6 per game. If that holds next weekend in a game the Saints need to try to win in order to enhance their playoff positioning (the No. 1 seed is still very attainable), Thomas will finish with 154 or 155 catches.

He keeps catching passes because he keeps getting open. And he keeps getting open even when everyone knows he’s the primary target. How does that happen?

“Attention to detail and preparation,” Thomas said.

Attention to detail and preparation also helped craft his excellent “@cantguardmike” Twitter handle, a name that LeBron James recognized as being perfect for the player in a tweet congratulating Thomas on the new record.

Thomas said that he thought of the name after leaving Ohio State nearly four years ago.

“That’s the mindset I came up with,” said Thomas, who entered the league with a chip on his shoulder after falling out of round one.

He’s clearly the best of all receivers drafted in 2016 — and perhaps the best receiver currently in the league. And his final record, wherever it ends up, may last for a long, long time.