Don Banks of SI discusses the 'Team Of The Decade' debate

[ausbacker]

Stop making logical points and postings Dino. You are the enemy. You're not supposed to make sense

P.S
I agree.

 

[PatsSox363804]

American Football in the NFL is the ultimate team sport and winning the Super Bowl is the ultimate measure. We can argue all we want about "accidental" SB winners, but the truth is that 32 teams (now) start the season (as Bill Belichick is fond of pointing out at about this time every year) at the bottom of the mountain and play a long, hard 19 or 20 games to be the last team standing. The Pats have done that three times this decade; the Steelers twice, the Colts once. The Pats have gone to five AFCCG's and four SB's, the Steelers to three CG's and two SB's, the Colts to two CG's and one SB. To me, that's pretty much all she wrote.

If the Steelers win a third SB and fourth CG this year, then let the debate begin. Until then, end of story.

The Steelers have gone to 4 AFC title games: 01, 04, 05, 08.

Still, this isn't even a debate to me unless they go 19-0 next year. Even if they match our Superbowl wins we still have one more appearance and the head to head wins in the playoffs, plus the perfect regular season; they would literally have to do what we failed to do to top us.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

The Steelers have gone to 4 AFC title games: 01, 04, 05, 08.

Still, this isn't even a debate to me unless they go 19-0 next year. Even if they match our Superbowl wins we still have one more appearance and the head to head wins in the playoffs, plus the perfect regular season; they would literally have to do what we failed to do to top us.

thanks for the correction; i edited my post.

i think that winning a third SB, since that is ultimately how things are measured, would give the Steelers a strong argument for parity with the Pats for the decade. the Pat's 16--0 season would be a very strong argument on the Pats side of the discussion as a "tie breaker." but there would no longer be undisputed dominance of the decade by the pats; there would be two teams who had won three SB's each and gone to five AFCG's.

one thing that is clear to me, however, is that there are now only two teams in the discussion for "team of the decade," as the Colts are far behind by the most important measures. and, there can be no serious debate unless the Steelers go back to back and win number three this year.

But, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here, as a single snap hasn't yet been taken in the 09 season.

 

[shmessy]

".....Before the hyper-sensitive Patriots nation inundates my inbox in protest at the suggestion of such,"

I have no idea what he means by this.

 

[jmt57]

".....Before the hyper-sensitive Patriots nation inundates my inbox in protest at the suggestion of such,"

I have no idea what he means by this.

As opposed to (with the exception of Dino and one or two others) the hyper-sensitive Steeler Nation, that has surely already inundated Don Banks' inbox in protest.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

".....Before the hyper-sensitive Patriots nation inundates my inbox in protest at the suggestion of such,"

I have no idea what he means by this.

He only says that because he's out to get us

I have to say, it's hard to think of a level of sensitivity that's NOT an appropriate response to the 2007-2008 national coverage (by the media) and attitude (by all other players and fans) in response to Pats news. It's abated some, but it's still there.

No need to go back to the putative causes of the national project of hating the Pats. Fact is, people do. So duh, of course Pats fans are "hypersensitive," when measured against the reactions of say, Lions fans, who most people are just plain sorry for, or say, I dunno, Redskins fans, who everybody except Dallas fans are neutral towards.

In 07-08 the Pats were the boogeyman. To an extent they still are. Buttwipes are out there ready to display how cleverly they've drunken the most recent batch of anti-Pats koolaid... so yah, we're "hypersensitive."

But it's not really paranoia when they really are all out to get ya

PS -- it's a great break for Steelers fans, who get to win the super bowl, and have half the "target" be on the back of the Pats, by dint of Brady returning. A bit of a snub, sure, but still it's a break. No offense Dino et al.

PFnV

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Fasten your seatbelts. This is clearly going to be a major theme this year among the mediots. "Can the Steelers take the mantle of 'Team of the Decade' away from the Patriots?" Stay tuned for a lot of overblown rhetoric and ill-informed commentary on ESPN and elsewhere.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

1.) The team won 11 games. Never before under the current system had an 11 win team been frozen out of the playoffs.

2.) The QB was "clutch" enough to put them in position to beat the Jets, which would have been a 12 win season. It wasn't the QB who gave up the first down on 3rd and long in the overtime.

3.) The QB had the team in position to take a 14-3 lead over the Steelers but the most talented WR in NFL history dropped an easy touchdown pass and triggered a collapse.

4.) The QB didn't get run over by the Wildcat against Miami. Whether Brady could have overcome that or not, that game is clearly on the shoulders of the defense and not the QB.

5.) The QB didn't drop a sure touchdown pass against the Colts. He also did not make a bonehead penalty which took the team out of scoring range.

Pointing to the backup QB is just silly. He was a top 10 NFL QB (at least within the bounds of his system) by the end of the season. Had the rest of the team done its job, it's possible that this team could have won 4 of the 5 games it lost. Only the Chargers game was clearly lost by the QB (1st and goal), and even that one had at least an outside chance of stabilizing if the most talented wide receiver in NFL history had done his job instead of letting Jammer beat him on 2 very important passes.

Even with Matt Cassel as the QB, this team could easily have gone 14-2 or 15-1 if the rest of the team had simply done its job.

Great perspective and analysis! Thanks. I agree 100%, if you include "and the Coaches" after "defense..." in number 4.). The Pats didn't seem to be ready for what the Dolphins did that day; Bill Belichick, of all people, should have had his team ready to defense what is essentially the old Single Wing with a Parcellian twist.