My comment to Dr. Z
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:31 am
I finally got around to leaving a comment to Dr. Z at SI. Hopefully he will respond to it, or at least consider it. I suspect most of you would agree with me or at least find this interesting...
Not a question, just a comment.
I'd like to add my names to the list of others who feel you, as well as Peter King, consistently short-change the teams (and players such as Art Monk) from the first reign of Joe Gibbs. Absolutely they were a dynasty - no less than any of the other teams you mentioned. You failed to mention their loss in the 83 Superbowl - This is only fair to mention because you offered Miami's Superbowl loss in your other argument. Consider their divisional competition - In the early 80's they had to overcome and establish themselves versus some great Cowboys teams. Starting somewhere around the middle 80's they had to contend with a series of great Giants teams and shortly thereafter a series of great Eagles teams. Consider that after Joe Gibb's first year (a span of 10 seasons) these Redskins teams had only one losing season, barely, at 7-9. Compare this to the record of the vaunted 49ers of the same duration and you'll find that the 49ers averaged less than half a victory more during this span. What great teams within their division did the 49ers have to overcome? NONE. Perhaps the Jim Everett led Rams were their greatest competition, and that's really pitiful if you really stop to think about it. The Rams, Saints and Falcons - Cupcakes. The Cardinals were NFC East's only cupcake team. So what you had then is the 49ers, about on average, playing a total of four cupcake games more per year than the Redskins for a total of 40 for the ten years in question. If these 49er teams had instead played 40 games spread amongst these these Cowboys, Giants and Eagles do you think they would have won over 33 of them and would thereby still had a better overall record than the Reskins? I don't. In fact if you break down all of the matchups between these three teams and the 49ers during this span you'll find that the 49ers maintained a winning percentage of 65%. This proportion times 40 lends an exact total of 26 games - 19 less than what it would then have had to win to equate to the Redskin's record during this span or about one less victory per season. My argument is thus - During this ten year span in question, the Redskins were actually (however marginally) a BETTER team than the 49ers. This might help explain why we Redskin fans may become so frustrated whenever we read articles such as ones that leave these Redskin teams from among the list of NFL dynasties. They were better and they deserve better.
Not a question, just a comment.
I'd like to add my names to the list of others who feel you, as well as Peter King, consistently short-change the teams (and players such as Art Monk) from the first reign of Joe Gibbs. Absolutely they were a dynasty - no less than any of the other teams you mentioned. You failed to mention their loss in the 83 Superbowl - This is only fair to mention because you offered Miami's Superbowl loss in your other argument. Consider their divisional competition - In the early 80's they had to overcome and establish themselves versus some great Cowboys teams. Starting somewhere around the middle 80's they had to contend with a series of great Giants teams and shortly thereafter a series of great Eagles teams. Consider that after Joe Gibb's first year (a span of 10 seasons) these Redskins teams had only one losing season, barely, at 7-9. Compare this to the record of the vaunted 49ers of the same duration and you'll find that the 49ers averaged less than half a victory more during this span. What great teams within their division did the 49ers have to overcome? NONE. Perhaps the Jim Everett led Rams were their greatest competition, and that's really pitiful if you really stop to think about it. The Rams, Saints and Falcons - Cupcakes. The Cardinals were NFC East's only cupcake team. So what you had then is the 49ers, about on average, playing a total of four cupcake games more per year than the Redskins for a total of 40 for the ten years in question. If these 49er teams had instead played 40 games spread amongst these these Cowboys, Giants and Eagles do you think they would have won over 33 of them and would thereby still had a better overall record than the Reskins? I don't. In fact if you break down all of the matchups between these three teams and the 49ers during this span you'll find that the 49ers maintained a winning percentage of 65%. This proportion times 40 lends an exact total of 26 games - 19 less than what it would then have had to win to equate to the Redskin's record during this span or about one less victory per season. My argument is thus - During this ten year span in question, the Redskins were actually (however marginally) a BETTER team than the 49ers. This might help explain why we Redskin fans may become so frustrated whenever we read articles such as ones that leave these Redskin teams from among the list of NFL dynasties. They were better and they deserve better.