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Pro Bowl Player
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- Dec 18, 2006
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Surprisingly, not the absolute, automatic slam-dunk answer I assumed it was. There was a recent thread with the premise that Pats fans should root against the Steelers in the Super Bowl for this reason, and at first I thought that was unnecessary (although I’m rooting for Arizona anyway). Think about it—3 Super Bowls! A Perfect Season! Dominating the headlines! Pats coaches all over the place! The decade of the ought’s belongs to the Pats! How could anyone think otherwise?
Well, I still think that’s true, but I can see how arguments could be made if things break a certain way over the next season.
It does appear that there’s only 3 teams that could hope to claim the throne……the Pats, the Steelers, and the Colts.
How is a “team of the decade” defined? It’s obviously not a formal designation, but most of the time a team clearly emerges. The overriding element is championships. In the nineties, there was a brief question about which team was the team of the decade in baseball—the Atlanta Braves won their division year after year. But by the end of the decade, the Yankees 4 World Series victories to the Braves one pretty much settled things. As we all know, the Pats have 3 this year, and could make it 4 (let’s say for the sake of argument the decade ends next season—I know there’s disagreement about where to start and end centuries and decades.) The Colts have one, so can’t catch up. The Steelers have one, but could win this one and next. So, we could see a tie there.
What other criteria should be applied. Let’s look at wins and playoff appearances. This decade the Pats have 7 playoff appearances, the Colts 8, and the Steelers 6. So the Colts will likely take that one, although the Pats could tie. And on wins, the Pats lead with 102, followed by the Colts at 101, and then the Steelers at 94. On a related note, I heard recently that the Pats have the best winning percentage of any team in any sport this decade. So that counts for a little more. With such a slim lead, of course, the Colts could finish with more wins than the Pats, although it’s unlikely.
So, “worst case” scenario, the decade would end with the Pats tied for championships with one team, and behind another team in wins and playoff appearances. Considering the haters out there, we’d hear a lot about the Colts and Steelers, I think. Best case—and most likely—the Pats end the decade with the most Super Bowls (whatever that number might be) and the most wins, the only 16-0 season in history (unless the Pats do it again next year!), and all the other intangibles above—dominating the headlines and league throughout the last 10 years. So the Pats have the clear inside track for this mythical title…..but I might root just a little harder against Pittsburgh next week.
Well, I still think that’s true, but I can see how arguments could be made if things break a certain way over the next season.
It does appear that there’s only 3 teams that could hope to claim the throne……the Pats, the Steelers, and the Colts.
How is a “team of the decade” defined? It’s obviously not a formal designation, but most of the time a team clearly emerges. The overriding element is championships. In the nineties, there was a brief question about which team was the team of the decade in baseball—the Atlanta Braves won their division year after year. But by the end of the decade, the Yankees 4 World Series victories to the Braves one pretty much settled things. As we all know, the Pats have 3 this year, and could make it 4 (let’s say for the sake of argument the decade ends next season—I know there’s disagreement about where to start and end centuries and decades.) The Colts have one, so can’t catch up. The Steelers have one, but could win this one and next. So, we could see a tie there.
What other criteria should be applied. Let’s look at wins and playoff appearances. This decade the Pats have 7 playoff appearances, the Colts 8, and the Steelers 6. So the Colts will likely take that one, although the Pats could tie. And on wins, the Pats lead with 102, followed by the Colts at 101, and then the Steelers at 94. On a related note, I heard recently that the Pats have the best winning percentage of any team in any sport this decade. So that counts for a little more. With such a slim lead, of course, the Colts could finish with more wins than the Pats, although it’s unlikely.
So, “worst case” scenario, the decade would end with the Pats tied for championships with one team, and behind another team in wins and playoff appearances. Considering the haters out there, we’d hear a lot about the Colts and Steelers, I think. Best case—and most likely—the Pats end the decade with the most Super Bowls (whatever that number might be) and the most wins, the only 16-0 season in history (unless the Pats do it again next year!), and all the other intangibles above—dominating the headlines and league throughout the last 10 years. So the Pats have the clear inside track for this mythical title…..but I might root just a little harder against Pittsburgh next week.
