Is the NFL Trying to start a rivalry in the NFC ?

[pherein]

Some articles are starting to pop up Saying Brees is being slighted.
Is Drew Brees getting slighted? - NFC South Blog - ESPN

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...s-is-packers-or-saints-qb-best-nfc-gunslinger

etc etc etc.. there a lot of links out there.

Kurt Warner doesn't have Brees at #1 this week for top 5 QB's, and a lot of news cast and sports articles are saying the Saints are the only team that can keep up with the Pack.
Rogers is being hailed as the new Peyton Manning, while Manning's future is portrayed as bleak. Or maybe he's being portrayed as the NFC Tom Brady, especially if he gets another ring.
Knowing Sean Payton and Brees are going to be with the Saints for 5 or more years now, and that Rogers will be in Green Bay that long. We are starting to talk in N.O., that some sports networks might be intentionally trying to start one.
Especially sense we know we can keep our production up on offense for that time, because we have a pretty good track record, by coping BB's blueprint.
And Green Bay is pretty young, and Rogers is good if they fix that OL, he will probably get better.

A lot has to happen for a rivalry to work, so this is pretty far off. GB and NO would have to fight a lot of future games, and constantly be up there.

But, Im just curious because we don't have any experience being in back to back playoffs or Epic rivalries like the Patriots fans do. I mean how did your Patriots vs Colts and Brady vs Manning start?

did the media start it? When did you 1st notice it ?

 

[jmt57]

Without a doubt Brees is unfortunately being slighted this year. Everything is all about Rodgers and the Packers due their having not lost a game as of yet.



As for the Pats-Colts, there was a bit of familiarity between the to teams because they were both in the old AFC East when the NFL had six divisions, prior to expanding to eight divisions. As far as rivalries go the entire NFC South (and AFC South) kind of got shafted because those two divisions were formed with a team here and team there. But the Pats-Colts were never as big a rivalry as any of the other AFCE teams because those teams were all together back to the 60's in the AFL.

The rivalry really hit the big time when the two teams met in the AFCCG in 2003. There were also other things prior which set that up, most notably the Pats upsetting the Colts in Brady's first, and then fourth start as a pro in 2001. Also in the 2003 regular season the two teams had just had an epic late season game, with the Pats winning 38-34. From there on all of their games were huge and sparked a ton of interest; debate about the teams naturally spilled over to Manning versus Brady. The Pats dominated the AFCE and the Colts dominated the AFCS, resulting in two very good teams facing each other every year; you can't have a good rivalry unless you play each other on a regular basis.


As for your Saints, your natural rival would be the Falcons since that is the best other team in your division and you play them twice a year. For a Saints-Packers rivalry to take off I think you too need to play each other more often, and also meet in the playoffs.

Take the Pats-Colts out of the equation and compare to other inter-division rivalries over the years. Not only were they teams meeting in the playoffs, but they were often a story of one team trying to get past the other in order to win a championship. Tampa Bay had to finally beat Green Bay and Philadelphia to win a title. Before that Green Bay had to get better and finally pass Dallas. Before that it was Dallas getting past San Francisco, etc.


Is the NFL trying to create a rivalry? Probably; that generates more interest, and more interest draws casual viewers - which creates additional revenue. It's a smart business move by the league and the networks to do so.

 

[pherein]

Without a doubt Brees is unfortunately being slighted this year. Everything is all about Rodgers and the Packers due their having not lost a game as of yet.



As for the Pats-Colts, there was a bit of familiarity between the to teams because they were both in the old AFC East when the NFL had six divisions, prior to expanding to eight divisions. As far as rivalries go the entire NFC South (and AFC South) kind of got shafted because those two divisions were formed with a team here and team there. But the Pats-Colts were never as big a rivalry as any of the other AFCE teams because those teams were all together back to the 60's in the AFL.

The rivalry really hit the big time when the two teams met in the AFCCG in 2003. There were also other things prior which set that up, most notably the Pats upsetting the Colts in Brady's first, and then fourth start as a pro in 2001. Also in the 2003 regular season the two teams had just had an epic late season game, with the Pats winning 38-34. From there on all of their games were huge and sparked a ton of interest; debate about the teams naturally spilled over to Manning versus Brady. The Pats dominated the AFCE and the Colts dominated the AFCS, resulting in two very good teams facing each other every year; you can't have a good rivalry unless you play each other on a regular basis.


As for your Saints, your natural rival would be the Falcons since that is the best other team in your division and you play them twice a year. For a Saints-Packers rivalry to take off I think you too need to play each other more often, and also meet in the playoffs.

Take the Pats-Colts out of the equation and compare to other inter-division rivalries over the years. Not only were they teams meeting in the playoffs, but they were often a story of one team trying to get past the other in order to win a championship. Tampa Bay had to finally beat Green Bay and Philadelphia to win a title. Before that Green Bay had to get better and finally pass Dallas. Before that it was Dallas getting past San Francisco, etc.


Is the NFL trying to create a rivalry? Probably; that generates more interest, and more interest draws casual viewers - which creates additional revenue. It's a smart business move by the league and the networks to do so.

Thanks, great explanation.

So, it really happened by accident right ? .. and then the media picked up on it.
Not that there wasn't bad blood from the Colts fans from your 1st games, when Brady showed up.

We have a rivalry with the Falcons, but its more one sided. We seem to beat them a lot, even when we sucked,lol, and in the Brees/Payton era since 2006 the Falcons have only won 2 out of our 12 games. Falcon fans and New Orleans fans don't like each other , but its on a cultural level.
Atlanta is a mega city and has none of the Old south, hospitality, ways, or manners we still believe in. We think they have sold their culture and soul, to build strip malls and they think we are old fashioned and behind the times. They have rap gangstas, and we have street musicians ,lol.
But for us, theres never been a huge football rivalry, we just dislike them They can't stand losing to us though.

The only rivaly we had was with the 49ers , during Montana era. Mora was putting out 12-4 Saints teams , but we could never beat montana and ever make a playoff. It sucked being in the same division with Montana .

Yeah, your right, good revenue, but I don't see us ever meeting like you explained. Brees ant Brady, and Sean isn't BB, so I doubt we will see each other almost every year.

I was wondering, did the Colts and Patriots have really weak division opponents during that time ?

 

[jmt57]

Thanks, great explanation.

So, it really happened by accident right ? .. and then the media picked up on it.
Not that there wasn't bad blood from the Colts fans from your 1st games, when Brady showed up.

We have a rivalry with the Falcons, but its more one sided. We seem to beat them a lot, even when we sucked,lol, and in the Brees/Payton era since 2006 the Falcons have only won 2 out of our 12 games. Falcon fans and New Orleans fans don't like each other , but its on a cultural level.
Atlanta is a mega city and has none of the Old south, hospitality, ways, or manners we still believe in. We think they have sold their culture and soul, to build strip malls and they think we are old fashioned and behind the times. They have rap gangstas, and we have street musicians ,lol.
But for us, theres never been a huge football rivalry, we just dislike them They can't stand losing to us though.

The only rivaly we had was with the 49ers , during Montana era. Mora was putting out 12-4 Saints teams , but we could never beat montana and ever make a playoff. It sucked being in the same division with Montana .

Yeah, your right, good revenue, but I don't see us ever meeting like you explained. Brees ant Brady, and Sean isn't BB, so I doubt we will see each other almost every year.

I was wondering, did the Colts and Patriots have really weak division opponents during that time ?

I hadn't really thought about terming the rivalry as happening 'by accident', but I suppose you could look at it that way. The Colts were never really looked at as rivals prior to the arrival of Manning and Brady. Any bad blood was directed towards the Jets, Dolphins, Raiders, Bills and Giants for various reasons. And I'm pretty sure Colts fans had no ill will toward the Pats until NE won their first Super Bowl.

To have a good rivalry both sides need to have something to lay claim to. As you can see with Falcon fans, they have to reach pretty far in their case. For the Colts-Pats it naturally gravitated for Pats fans to the SB win(s) and head-to-head wins. Colt fans didn't have much to hang their hat on to other than stating Manning was better than Brady - a fiery debate that continues to this day from both camps. A few Colt fans would bring up all-time championships, but that was pretty weak since most Colt championships happened before most current fans were born or followed the team, since they occurred in Baltimore.

It's interesting that you bring up NO-SF, because that's sort of the flip side to the other examples I gave previously. For the team trying to achieve something you look at that other team as a big rival; for the team on top it's not as big a deal. Case in point would be how Saints fans look at Atlanta as opposed to how Falcon fans look at New Orleans. If the perennial loser can finally win a truly big game, the rivalry will flourish even in lean years; it gives fans something to talk about. But if the results are one-sided - Browns-Broncos in the Elway years; Bills-Cowboys from the 90's - then it's tough for the rivalry to take traction. That's not always the case (e.g., Steelers-Browns), but that's the exception, not the rule.


If I recall correctly at the time the AFCS was pretty good; Tennessee and/or Jacksonville usually had very good teams. The AFCE didn't really have anybody on par with the Colts, at least not on a regular basis. Miami would have a good season then fall back; then the Jets would have one good year and fall back, etc. The Pats-Colts became really big because it was the best team each would face, year after year.

If Green Bay goes on to dominate the NFCN the next few years, and the Saints keep winning the NFCS, then the two will meet every year. If that happens the rivalry will grow quite a bit.

Oddly the few years that the Colts and Pats did not win their divisions they either both finished 2nd, so they kept meeting every year due to the NFL schedule formatting (1 vs 1, 2 vs 2); on the rare occasion when that did not happen it was time for the AFCS to play the AFCE. Oddly enough the AFCS plays the AFCE in 2012, so the streak of years with the Pats playing the Colts will continue.