even the worst teams sometimes have talent but the gap btw the AFC and NFC was HUGE. The AFC had some great QBs but not great teams. You can argue Ken had more talent overall but comparing that talent to what was inn the AFC in their eras Ken(and Todd) had by far more to work w/ than Sanchez.
Jesus Christ junc, you really are stinking up this forum at the moment. I don't know how you get time to multi-task all your Sanchez threads.
So just so I am absolutely clear - You are saying that Sanchez had to face tougher AFC teams than O'Brien did?
100% w/o a doubt, that's not even debatable. If I was ranking the playoff teams we faced in the Todd/O'Brien/Sanchez years it would go like this(toughest to least toughest) 1. 2010 Pats 2. 2009 Colts 3. 2010 Pitt 4. 1982 Raiders 5. 1982 dolphins 6. 2009 SD 7. 1982 Bengals 8. 1986 Browns 9. 2010 Colts 10. 2009 Bengals 11. 1985 Pats 12. 1986 Chiefs 13. 1981 Bills
Wait...wait...wait... I'm not talking about the playoff teams. I am talking about the conference as a whole from top to bottom. Ken O'Brien had to play Marino's Dolphins twice a year, and I don't care if it wasn't the playoffs, those games still counted.
Brady's Pats trumps any teams O'Brien had to play and Marino's dolphins missed the playoffs from '86-'89. O'Brien could also host a playoff game w/o winning division.
did you watch football in the 80s? then you'd have your answer. the AFC was a complete joke back then. 1984-1994 avg margin of victory for NFC teams in the SB: 22.6 PPG on AVERAGE the NFC teams won by almost 23 PPG.
That's one game with the (presumably) Best Team in the NFC against the (presumably) best team in the AFC. How does that mean that the NFC was vastly superior? Take 1984 for example: Top to bottom, I say the AFC was far superior even though The 49ers won the superbowl. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1984/ Every Major award, except the Superbowl MVP went to an AFC player: AP MVP Dan Marino PFWA MVP Dan Marino Newspaper Ent. Assoc. MVP Dan Marino Bert Bell Award (Player of the Year) Dan Marino AP Offensive Player of the Year Dan Marino AP Defensive Player of the Year Kenny Easley Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Louis Lipps AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Bill Maas Walter Payton Man of the Year Marty Lyons AP Comeback Player of the Year John Stallworth
ok, what does this mean? SF beat Chicago in the NFC Championship, a year later Chi would have maybe best team in history. In div rd SF beat NYG, 2 years later NYG would win SB, Chi beat Wash in div rd, 2 time defending NFC champs and they would win SB 3 years later. The AFC wasn't close to the NFC in those days. the AFC was dreadful, so bad a Tony Eason led team could go to the SB.
Your basing your entire argument on the playoffs. What about the hundreds of games played during the regular season? Again, my statement was "In 1984, Top to bottom, I say the AFC was far superior even though The 49ers won the superbowl." Looking solely at the playoffs do little to disprove that point, nor does looking at 1985 or 1986.
The AFC had no great teams, I guess Miami was as close as there was but we saw what happened when they faced the best from the NFC. top to bottom the AFC stunk.
Really? And the fact that John Elway was injured during the divisional round against the Steelers was meaningless? He Stunk? Did you actually watch football that season? This is what pisses me off about you, junc. You make the single statements like: "top to bottom the AFC stunk." And you feel that is enough justification to judge almost 200 football games in an individual season. That statement is an opinion, with absolutely no facts whatsoever to back it up. You haven't supplied a single statistic that demonstrates this. You are basing the superiority of an entire conference based on the result of the superbowl, which is absurd.
Elway played the entire game. You clearly didn't watch football back then if you think the AFC was better outside of the SB team. did Tony Eason lead any mediocre teams to SBs in the NFC? No facts? 23 PPG in SB losses, that's a fact. In 1984 the team that lost in title game was legendary team, teams that lost in div rd and title game would win next 3 SBs but yeah the AFC was better w/ Mark Malone leading an incredible Pitt team to the AFC Championship Game. btw 1980 and 1988 Pitt won one playoff game but yeah they were better than the Bears, skins and Giants proving how deep the AFC was. The NFC was head and shoulders above the AFC, it's not debatable.
Here you go making completely self serving statements again. During the O'Brien eta, the Jets had Marino, Kelly and Elway in the conference. Kelly didn't get the Bills together until a Kyle later, but to say there was little talent in the league is just being a scarecrow, which you do often. The Broncos made it to three Super Bowls in 4 years, the Browns were a very good team, the Dolphins were there every year, the Bengals had Boomer and were there every year......How do you figure that the AFC was less talented? Just because we have Brady in the division? Granted it's hard to compete with an organization like that, but not impossible. The same argument you make for the patriots being dominant because of the weak division goes both ways - Sanchez had the benefit of a terrible Buffalo and mediocre Miami team. Other than New England and Indy, there were no other dominant AFC teams.
Just because the NFC was better than the AFC does not mean that the AFC stunk. The Giants with LT, Parcells, AND Bellicheck. The 49ers had Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, etc. The Bears had the best defense in the history of the NFL. Redskins had Riggins, Joe Gibbs, the Hogs, one of the best WR trios in history not to mention their defense. The talent level in the NFL during the 1980s was off the charts. There were a lot of good teams in the AFC as well.
what is your point? we had great QBs in the conference? how did those great QBs fare against the NFC? The AFC was AWFUL, TONY EASON led his team to a Super Bowl. The funny thing is ole' Ken never faced Elway, Marino or Kelly in a postseason game and STILL couldn't win one. NE has been a DYNASTY in this era, please don't compare the AFC teams of the 80s w/ the dynasty Pats. well there were 2 conferences, one dominated the other. I guess the NFC was great and the AFC was really good? how does this work? In the 80s there was not FA, overall teams were better than today b/c of it. we had more talent in the 80s too and we couldn't win a single playoff game w/ Ken O'Brien against weaker competition in the AFC.
