1999 for sure. We were definitely sole favorites in the AFC that year. Now there's the Colts, Ravens, Chargers and Patriots who all look like much tougher competition than any team in the league in 99.
Well put. Going into 99 backup Qb was the only real hole in the team. Realistically there are question marks at several points with the current team: RB - will the Jets miss TJ? Sanchez - is the playoffs Mark the one we see all season this year? Jenkins returns - to what form? Pass rush - Will Taylor really make a difference? OL - as good as last year? Others might have other items to add to the list.
We had no pass rush in 1998, we had to scheme(much like '09) to get tot he QB. At least we now have a pass rusher which is something neither team had. In '99 we went into the season w/ a 2nd round pick at RG much like we will go into '10 w/ a 2nd rd pick at LG. Our other 4 OL are better than what we had coming back in 1999. The running game has questions but Curtis came off one of his worst seasons in 1998 and was still considered an injury prone back at that time so we had questions w/ the ground game heading into '99 as well. On paper this 2010 team is better than 1999. Better OL, better TE, better WRs, RBs about even, better DL, better LBs, better secondary. We had a better K/P combo in 1999 but overall this group has more talent.
At this moment I'd say it's still '99. Vinny going down was just soul-crushing, especially when you got that feeling that Parcells was gonna pull a...well...a Parcells at the end of the season. I feel like this team's got more resilience than 99 team did. Even if we lost Sanchez opening night I feel like this team would find a way to rally around whoever we got in there. Plus I don't see Rex abandoning ship, mentally or otherwise.
weird - I remember going into 99 and a lot of the experts were saying they thought we were one-year wonders. Vinny had had his first and ONLY really good season and Curtis was our best weapon, yet they were always mentioning how he averaged like 3.4 and how that really wasn't dominant. They all admitted we had a great LB corps, and Bill PArcells, but as I remember it, only Jaws picked us, or maybe it was Mort, among the ESPN illuminati, to make it back. That's just my recollection, and the nineties were a bit of a blur anyway, but I think this team has MUCH MORE hype surrounding it.
When Vinny went down in the 2nd qtr I literally got sick to my stomach. I hadn't even finished my opening day grinder and the season was down the drain.
I don't remember that at all. But I do remember losing Chrebet in the Vikings preseason game thinking that the season had an eerie feel to it.
I started getting a bad feeling in the offseason, I think it was the Jumbo Elliott incident in the women's room at that bar. People forget that we just didn't lsoe Vinny- we lost Chrebet, leon Johnson, Richie Anderson, Fred Baxter, Eric Green, Fabini, I think we lost ferguson and others. It was a brutal injury year.
