Sports Then and Now

In his first season leading the Seahawks, Pete Carroll guided the team to the playoffs, but not to a winning record.

The NFL is a competition that can be proud of the fact that it is competitive and consistently exciting, but there is one thing that it cannot boast at present and that is a strong NFC West.

With the Seattle Seahawks earning a spot in the playoffs despite the fact that they have endured a hugely disappointing season, it is surely to their utter embarrassment that they have made the play-offs with a 7-9 record and have since been reduced to the status of total outsiders in the battle to win the Super Bowl.

However, whilst this may well be the case, the fact is that once you reach the play-offs anything can, and possibly will, happen. Add into this equation the change in the NFL playoff overtime rules, which guarantee both sides the chance to score with their possession, and you start to think that it may be possible to win if a team can just make it to overtime. Read the rest of this entry →

John Elway led the Broncos 98 yards to tie the game then led them to victory over the Browns in the AFC Championship Game.

After previously counting down from number 40-21, here are the 20 greatest individual performances in NFL playoff history.

This list spans back to the beginning of the Super Bowl era in 1966 and does not feature any performances from the Super Bowl.

20. Ken Stabler-1974 AFC Divisional Playoff, Dolphins vs. Raiders

“The Snake” lead the Raiders to a victory in one of the greatest games in NFL history as Stabler completed 20 of 30 passes for 293 yards and four touchdowns, his last touchdown pass a remarkable as Stabler launched a pass toward the end zone, as he was being pulled down by a Dolphins defender, that was caught by Clarence Davis, who took fought three Miami defenders for the ball.

The “Sea of Hands” as it become known as, gave the Raiders a 28-26 win and ended the reign of the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins.

19. Lamar Smith-2000 AFC Wild Card, Colts vs. Dolphins

In the first playoff game since 1982 without Dan Marino as the starting quarterback, the Dolphins go back to their roots, a smash-mouth rushing attack.

Lamar Smith carries the ball a playoff record 40 times for 209 yards and scores two touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown, a 17-yard run in overtime to give the Dolphins a 23-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Read the rest of this entry →

From 1986 until 1991, the National Football League used an instant replay system in which an official in the booth would buzz the referees on the field, indicating that they were reviewing the previous play and then the replay official would determine whether or not the play needed to be reversed.

The most memorable moment under this replay system came in 1989 during a week nine matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, in which the replay official determined if the potential game-winning touchdown was legal.

The Bears entered the game with a 5-3 record after starting the season with a 4-0 start.

The Bears were led by head coach Mike Ditka, who had taken control of the NFC Central Division as they won the division each year since 1984, including a Super Bowl title in 1985.

But the 1989 season was a year of transition as the team traded quarterback Jim McMahon during training camp and replaced him with quarterback Mike Tomczak, until he was replaced by third-year quarterback Jim Harbaugh.

The Packers entered the game with a 4-4 record under second-year head coach Lindy Infante.

The Packers had been stuck in mediocrity for the past two decades as the team made only two playoff appearances ever since head coach Vince Lombardi retired back in 1967.

The Packers’ starting quarterback was Don Majkowski, a 10th round selection out of the University of Virginia in 1987. Read the rest of this entry →

Where does Brett Favre rank among the top quarterbacks in NFL history?

Now that it appears Brett Favre’s 20-year NFL career is finally in its last stages, it provides an opportunity to analyze where the gunslinger ranks among the best quarterbacks in NFL history.

There have been many superstar quarterbacks who fall short when selecting the all-time greats because while they may have posted excellent career numbers, they never measurably made their team better.

The best quarterbacks make an average team good, a good team great and a great team into a champion.

Trying to analyze the value Favre brought to the Packers and recently to the Jets and Vikings can be challenging. Given his tendency for risk taking and the subsequent risk-reward results, did Favre make average teams perform at a higher level than they would have otherwise or did he make key mistakes at inopportune times that kept great Packer and Vikings teams from going as far as they maybe would have had he not been such a gunslinger?

During his 19 years as a starting quarterback, Favre has led his team to at least eight victories 17 times and to double digit win totals 10 times. However, Favre has a 2-3 record in NFC Championship Games and late interceptions cost his team in each of his last two trips to the conference title game.

Favre will retire as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, pass attempts, pass completions, touchdown passes, passes intercepted and times sacked. However, he ranks only 17th in completion percentage and 21st in passer rating. So, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between how great he has been and how many of his records are purely a result of his longevity.

Since the game of football and the quarterback position have evolved so dramatically from the early days of the NFL, for the purpose of creating this list, I have included quarterbacks whose primary careers occurred after 1955. There is no question that Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham and Sid Luckman deserve to be recognized as among the best quarterbacks of all-time, but to try and thoughtfully compare their careers to those of today’s stars in virtually impossible.

Because quarterback stats have increased so dramatically even during the last 55 years, using just single season or career stats to analyze all-time greatness isn’t really an accurate assessment of where a player ranks among the best of all-time. Other qualities such as team success, comparison to others from that particular era and quality of the skill position players around the quarterback also can be used to chronicle success.

Below is my take on the top 10 quarterbacks in NFL history. In general, the selections are not significantly different than those listed in many other all-time quarterback lists.  Rather, there are some differences in my order than on other lists. If you have an opinion, please feel free to provide your own top 10. Read the rest of this entry →

Tom Brady and Michael Vick are the leading MVP candidates for 2010

The battle for the 2010 NFL MVP award between Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles is the latest example of just how quickly things can change in the National Football League.

It was just two short seasons ago that the football future of both players was in significant limbo.

As you will recall, Brady missed the entire 2008 campaign after suffering a knee injury during the first half of the first game of the season. Though he was expected to return, many doubted if he could ever regain his MVP form from 2007.

Michael Vick also was out of football in 2008, but instead of spending the season rehabilitating an injury, he was spending it behind bars as a result of his conviction for participating in a dog fighting ring. At this time two years ago no one knew if Vick would ever wear an NFL uniform again and few expected him to ever again be an NFL starter, much less an MVP candidate.

But here we are in December 2010 debating which of these star quarterbacks deserves to be labeled as the MVP of the 2010 NFL season.

They have contrasting styles that makes comparisons difficult, but there is no question that both players have taken their games (and teams) to a higher level this season. Read the rest of this entry →

One of the NFL’s most bitter rivalries was taken up a notch in the 1991 NFL Playoffs when the Atlanta Falcons visit the Louisiana Superdome to take on their NFC West division rival, the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints won their first division title in 1991 with an 11-5 record for the team’s third playoff appearance and fourth winning season in five years, all under the helm of head coach Jim Mora.

The Saints were lead by their defense, the famed “Dome Patrol”, a linebacking corps that consisted of Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughn Johnson, and Pat Swilling, which allowed the fewest points and forced the most turnovers in 1991.

The Saints had failed to win a game in their first two playoff appearances, but were favored to beat their division rivals from Atlanta.

The Falcons went 10-6 in 1991 for their first winning season and playoff appearance in a full 16-game season since 1980 (Atlanta made the playoffs in 1982 with a 5-4 in a strike-shortened season).

The Falcons were lead by head coach Jerry Glanville who was in his second season as head coach from the Falcons after coaching the Houston Oilers for four seasons and leading them to three straight playoff appearances.

Glanville’s Falcons reflected his personality; a brash, outspoken team that featured classic trash talkers such as wide receiver Andre Rison and cornerback Deion Sanders. Read the rest of this entry →