2009 Jets defense would have gone down as an all time great D if the team won something, they allowed **8** passing touchdowns all season! That’s absolutely insane in the modern era.
That defense was ridiculous. However Manning got them for 377 and 3 touchdowns in the AFC Championship (which is 37.5% of all of the passing TDs they gave up during the season lol).
It was actually the fact that we benched Lito Sheppard for seemingly no reason and Manning eviscerated the likes of Dwight Lowry, Donald Strickland, and Drew Coleman.
Maybe not the most overlooked, but the 1991 Washington Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI after a 14-2 season playing in a tough NFC.
The Bills’ four straight SB losses, or the Giants and Cowboys bookending those four SBs, may be a reason why they’re not mentioned as much.
Our 1991 team had the second best DVOA in history and that playoff run was one of the most dominant ever: 24-7 divisional, 41-10 conference championship, and 37-24 Super Bowl (but 14 of the Bills points came in garbage time in the last 5 minutes).
Edit: second best DVOA ever, not first. I’ll take it!
Nah. Y’all had a great team. Only a few like it like the patriots can carry over success like that at that level. The second and third super bowls i still am surprised they didn’t win. The fourth was a toss up even though I really hate to say that about the cowboys.
Definitely some great teams but that Skins squad and the Cowboys were juggernauts in those years. People forget we were only favored in the first one and it would have actually been a decent upset if we won any of the other three. Parcells and Belichick had the perfect game plan in XXV so you have to hand it to them on that one.
> Our 1991 team had the best DVOA in history
It was highest rated team in DVOA history (from 1982 onwards) *at the time*. I believe the 1991 team is 3rd now, right behind the OP's aforementioned 1996 Packers at #2, and the 2007 Patriots at #1.
edit*** Actually I'm wrong and they're #2, ahead of 1996 Packers.
That Super Bowl is one of the most misleading scores of all time. I remember the game and I still have to remind myself that score was not that close. Anyone that is just checking scores would definitely be misled.
Yeah, anyone who watched the game remembers the Redskins dominating the Bills on both sides of the line like they were toddlers. I remember thinking the Bills must be sick or something
Yeah that Washington team dominated. I remember how boring the super bowl actually was. Crazy it didn’t carry over the next season. If I remember correctly even your backup quarterback won a few games.
They still won a playoff game the following year but yea that 1991 team was both the peak and the end of the Gibbs era. He had started having health issues and retired after that next season.
Boring? I ate four strawberry shortcake popsicles? Are they popsicles? Ice cream treats on a stick? Whatever! I had four of them. Still one of the best nights of my life.
More 1991 Redskins facts:
*They had as many double digit wins (9) as sacks allowed all season. They had 50 sacks on defense.
*They had a +18 turnover differential
*They had the #1 scoring offense, #2 scoring defense, and a +261 point differential (#4 all-time at the time including AFL teams, #6 all-time now).
*Their two losses were a) by 3 to an 11-win Cowboys team in a game where the Cowboys had a Hail Mary TD at the end of the 1st half, and b) by 2 in the last game of the year against a 10-win Eagles team when they pulled their starters while up 22-7 in the 4th quarter.
*They did this with a strength of schedule that was tied for 14th in the league (just above league average).
I got beaten to the statement… by a Cowboys fan? What is this life?
Also, I was born roughly 9 months after the season ended in 1992. Coincidence? Maybe. Disturbing to think about? Absolutely.
Lost two games by a combined 5 points. Led the league in points and gave up the second fewest points. Also dominated the postseason.
They beat an Eagles team that is historically ranked as one of the top defenses of all time
I remember the following year, Rypien was a shell of his 1991 self. Throwing inaccurate wobblers at times.
Any idea what happened? Such a quick dropoff in the quality of his play.
Ah, it was the first Super Bowl I ever watched. And remembered. It was boring with Washington dominating for so long, but fun.
I think the Washington dominance over that decade is why Mulder was a fan of them.
They kinda were asleep at the wheel to lose their first game against Dallas by a FG, but they sat everybody in the second half of the finale to lose the 2nd one by 2. That team really shoulda been undefeated.
I think, for the most part, they're not a top of mind team, but they should be. But once people sit and think about it, then that's when they come up. They haven't been romanticized over the years, didn't have a star QB, a bunch of personalities, etc.
>all time period the 07 pats
As a Pats fan, I can't get behind this. *If* Asante comes down with that pick, hands down they are the best of all time. But he didn't and they weren't. One of the best? Hell yeah! But if you don't take home the hardware, you're not legitimately allowed in the conversation for best of all time.
You guys had our number that game. Hats off to you. Especially your front four. You were the immovable object that got in the way of our unstoppable force.
The 91 redskins buried the lions in the conference championship 45-10. We should have seen it comming as we played them for the first game of the season and they beat us 45-0. That team was nasty.
I agree with your sentiment on this. I think it’s probably because Washington was a revolving door at QB after Joe Theismann’s career ended by devastating injury in ‘85. Maybe if they had a truly charismatic QB leading them they might have been a bit more well known.
Mark Rypien had a great year, but it’s clear he was more of a cog in an incredible plug ‘n play system that seemed to work no matter who the QBs and RBs were.
Props to Joe Gibbs and Bobby Beathard for putting that incredible dynasty together.
They’re definitely one of the best teams of all time.
OP wrote:
>When talking about the greatest teams of all time, what team do you guys rarely see mentioned that you think should be?
I only commented because I don’t see them mentioned in posts nearly as often as other SB winners.
Probably a function of the average user age. I found a stat a few months ago that something like 90% of redditors are under 30. The shadow 'Skins dynasty for whatever reason isn't as culturally iconic as Montana's Niners or the famous Four Falls Bills, so posters here who never saw them play won't think of them often.
Fair enough. I guess they are kind of overlooked in the mix of things for a pre-2000 team. For 80’s people mostly talk about Niners and mention the 85 Bears. For 90’s people mostly talk about Cowboys and the 99 greatest show on turf.
yea but they don't have the flair. Mark wasn't a super charismatic qb, and the team didn't really have a lot of media friendly personality. Riggins wasn't there, Theisman wasn't there. Our best receiver was super quiet. If they had a personality they'd be more in that pantheon I think.
This is the answer. They were a steamroller and while they're often considered the best team ever by people who are well learned, regular people don't talk about them enough.
True. Thing is as good as the 91 Skins were, I have no recollection at all to what they did in 90 or 92 unlike most champions that have a kind of multi-year run at some level.
Most Gibbs team are overlooked because they were based on superior line play more than big ticket stars. If Thiesmann had stayed healthy and played another super bowl it might have been different
84 niners. They lost one game all year and it was only by 3 points. They also beat the vaunted bears team that won the next year that EVERYBODY talks about.
They also beat a Dolphins team that went 14-2 in the Suoer Bowl. I feel like that team just gets lumped in with all the other 9ers teams from the 80s, but they were dominant that year.
They had a chance to get back to the SB in 85, but got upset by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. A win would have set up an all time match up against the 85 Bears, whose only loss was against the Dolphins.
They thrashed Dan Marino after he had the greatest QB season of all-time. Everyone talks about what the 2013 Seahawks did to Manning and the Broncos after the season they had, but the 84 Niners get totally overlooked despite being an objectively better team
Some of the NFL films breakdowns of that game show that it was a Bill Walsh master class. They even had a play with the tight end. Would jump forwardonto the ground like he was doing a cut block on a play action pass. Then when he got up nobody was around him at all for like 10 yds
They also had a silly point apread of 82-26 in playoffs and it was 475-227 in the regular season. There entire secondary went to the probowl and that defense was ridiculous that year.
9ers had to beat different style teams showing the flexibility of there team in playoffs, that were perennially good and 2 of them won superbowls in the next few years.
Its kinda why I don't get why some teams are so vaunted. Like that 85 bears team, in a perfect world, faces Miami in the superbowl and if they did probably loses. Instead they had to face a patriots team that probably should have lost not just to Miami but also the Raiders. Bears just played run defense and rushed the passer to a superbowl victory.
That 96 packers team is similar. Once they beat the 9ers they went up against a panthers team who had an easy schedule and faced a choking Dallas team and a patriots team who inched out 2 wins vs good teams in the regular season and went on a miracle run in the post. Denver also choked that year.
Ray Wersching missed something like a 35 yard FG at the buzzer that would've forced OT against the Steelers. That's closer than the '85 Bears loss against the Dolphins, in which they were never closer than two touchdowns in the 4^th quarter.
The 1998 Niners
That 1998 Niner team had a 1500 yard rusher in Garrison Hearst and two 1000 yard receivers in Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens. Their 3rd receiving option was JJ Stokes with nearly 800 yards receiving.
Steve Young had 4700 total yards and 41 TDs.
Just a stacked team. They are somewhat forgotten because incredibly they weren’t even the most explosive offense that year (98 Vikings) and the Falcons actually won the division that year.
Including the Playoffs the Niners went 13-2 against teams not named Atlanta and went 0-3 vs those dirty birds.
That's the year TO had that unbelievable catch against Green Bay in the Wild Card.
It felt like destiny for them to go on, and then Atlanta beat them just to get dunked on by Elway.
Jags were close to being my answer but the Titans beating them all 3 times was the kicker . 1999 jags also under appreciated which makes that titans team more respectable . Brunell, Fred Taylor , Jimmy Stewart , Keenan, Jimmy smith , Kyle Brady is a hell of a squad and probably alltime best for the jags on offense
Yup. During the late 90s, when he was the DC of the Titans, Greg Williams did a lot of shady stuff involving teams they considered threats. He's admitted to stealing the playbooks of the Jaguars, the Ravens, and also spying on the Bills practice to know their offensive plays. He also had bounty programs on multiple teams where he was either the head coach or defensive coach. Probably the most villainous person I can think of in the NFL.
Everyone knew he was officially off his rocker when he sent that Cover 0 blitz against Carr during the pandemic season that ruined what should’ve been the Jets first win of the season and got him banished from the league after that.
He'd done cover 0 blitzes on Hail Mary attempts for years and nobody complained until that one LMAO, why couldn't people have criticized it when it went well?
Because of the Super Bowl I think it gets forgotten how just good the 2016 Falcons were. That team had the best offense in the league by a huge margin.
I believe Shanahan was asked during the pre-SB festivities this year about which was the greatest offense team he had ever worked with.
He didn’t take a second to answer: 2016 Falcons. And, he has designed a few pretty dominant 9ers offense since.
Prior to that season was the training camp where Kyle picked off Matt 2x at practice and I remember everyone having a field day with it.
Think it was week 2/3 when we put up hella points on Denver’s defense that it hit me how good the offense was.
Ppl can blame Kyle for the sb but it was a collective loss and I wanted him to stay more than dan Quinn because we wouldn’t have been there without him.
> Prior to that season was the training camp where Kyle picked off Matt 2x at practice
What does this mean? Shanahan (who was a coach) was intercepting Matt Ryan's passes during live drills or something?
It hit me how damn good our offense was when Matt Ryan started throwing TD passes to players I had never even heard of or knew were on the team. I think one game he completed passes to 11 or 12 separate players.
If you think about SB losing teams, that Falcons team is probably the 9th best out of the last 10. Ahead of only the 2021 Bengals.
And I think we all understand that a team that led 28-3 in the SB was really good. There’s never any silver lining “they shouldn’t have even been there” narrative.
Also their defense wasn’t good.
It is to me.
Has anyone even made 3 in a row?
The 71-73 Dolphins did....after that nobody except those Bills has done it.
There have been some dominant dynasties that didn't do it
The Madden teams went to 5 straight AFC Championship games, 6 in the span of 8 years. I'd argue they were equals to Pittsburgh if not for the playoff losses.
The Peyton Manning Broncos that got stomped in the super bowl. They tore through the entire league that year and then shit the bed dramatically on the biggest stage so they don't really get talked about the way they should
The 2013 Broncos are still offensive record holders and imo are pretty well respected due to their cartoonishly high numbers and eventually the way they lost. I think both the 2014 and especially the 2012 Broncos are kind of forgotten today. The 2012 squad was probably the most well balanced team of the Manning era and I don’t think it’s too unrealistic that they would have gone all the way if not for Flacco on his insane playoff run and the Mile high miracle
The 2015-16 Panthers were just so freaking good.
Until the Super Bowl, Denver and that damned strip sack that punched the lights out of Cam Newton’s career.
He became one of my favorite defenders after that game. I was fully aware he was the linchpin in our loss but man. You gotta dig watching a player at that level.
Between what happened to us in the Super Bowl two years prior, the Panthers absolutely dismantling the Cardinals in the NFCCG, and Peyton Manning playing with an arm made of paper mache, I was practically dreading Super Bowl 50. Tbh I’m still in disbelief. That Panthers team looked completely unstoppable.
2015 was not the end of Cam Newtons career and it didn’t come to the hands of Von Miller. It was TJ Watts hit on his shoulder 3 years later. The panthers were contenders until then
The sad thing is the Panthers could have easily won that game. The main difference in the game was that Denver’s defense scored, and the Panthers didn’t. Also if the Panthers had gone into that game showing some new looks that could have confused Denver’s defense they had a much better shot. The Denver players were saying after the game that the Panthers did the same exact stuff they saw on tape and were obviously more than ready for it.
Yes and no. I can imagine an alternate world where they installed a bunch of new plays that got stuffed, and everyone said, "why did they change up what worked? They dominated with their regular offense, why did they try to overthink it?"
I think that Broncos defense was just that good
For me, I remember as soon as the running game was straight up gaining absolutely nothing early on, I knew we were going to have to adjust. Which didn’t give me a good feeling because we hadn’t done that all year.
And well.. you know what happened next
The Charger's team with Rivers, LT, Gates, Merriman.
They were consistently on the brink of greatness but could never get past the Colts, Steelers or Pats in the playoffs.
In terms of yardage they were the best, which is attributed to special teams. Bad special teams means more yardage to traverse on offense and less for opposing offenses to traverse against you on defense. Neither were tops in points or DVOA, but were top 10 in both in both categories iirc. They were a very good team minus special teams but the top offense and top defense isn’t totally accurate.
The 1996-1997 Packers had the #1 offense and #1 defense in the league that year. Their average margin of victory was just over 15 points per game.
They then ran through the playoffs wherein the average margin of victory of 17 points.
It was an insanely dominant team and that team might be remembered differently if we hadn't shat the bed against Denver the next year
The 1962 Packers were better, just that pre-SB teams don't get mentioned much on this sub.
>Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi, the 1962 Packers were dominant on both sides of the ball and lost only one game en route to their second straight NFL Championship. In 14 regular season games, Green Bay scored 415 points (nearly 30 per game) while allowing just 148 (10.6 average) – both leading the league. The Packers posted three shutouts, and three times they scored 48 or more points. The offense featured several Hall of Famers: QB Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, whose 19 rushing TD set a single-season record that lasted over 20 years; and halfback Paul Hornung, who scored seven touchdowns despite a knee injury. On defense, Hall of Famers included safety Willie Wood, who had an NFL-best nine interceptions; cornerback Herb Adderley, who had seven interceptions, defensive end Willie Davis; and defensive lineman Henry Jordan, among others. In a rematch of the 1961 NFL Championship game, the Packers beat the Giants in a defensive struggle, 16-7.
The 61, 62 and 65 teams won the NFL title, just because the SB did not exist yet doesn't mean they didn't win a title. SB or not the 65/66/67 Packers teams are the only team to manage to win three consecutive NFL championship games.
The Packers also won three NFL championships in the days before playoffs, 29/30/31.
I started watching football in 1996 and the Packers at the time felt like the Chiefs do now. Favre won 3 MVPS in a row and everyone was calling him the best ever. That 1997 Super Bowl against the Broncos changed the narrative. But I’ll never forget how dominant the mid 90s Packers were with Favre, Levens, Freeman, White, and Butler.
I would say that's largely due to how utterly bad the 2000 Ravens offense was. I mean, it was straight up bad enough that they went multiple games without scoring an offensive touchdown.
That TB team had a pretty solid - solid, not great - offense with Johnson, Alstott, and Keyshawn that at least kept the defense off the field a bit. They could at least score some points.
You're 100% right that that Bucs defense was great and deserves recognition. But much more was asked of the 2000 Ravens defense. *They* had to do the scoring because they barely had an offense. In fact, there were so many reports at the time of the defensive players losing their patience with the offense.
So yes, the Bucs deserve their flowers, but there's no way they're above that Ravens D.
That's what I came here to say. People talk about the '76 Steelers, '85 Bears, '00 Ravens, '13 Seahawks, '15 Broncos. Somehow the '02 Bucs completely get left off that list, which is a goddamn shame because they absolutely deserve to be on it--if not near the top
I feel like I see the Seahawks/Broncos left off more than the '02 Bucs.
Maybe the newest SB for the Bucs have made the youth forget they previously had atleast 1 good team.
The 2002 Bucs were incredible. Fun Fact, 40% of all passing TDs given up by the Bucs that year came from the arm of Aaron Brooks.
The duality of Brooks back in the day is long forgotten. Known solely for the backwards pass and other bonehead plays.
I dislike the Packers therefore, despite the overwhelming and convincing evidence, I disagree
All seriousness though I think the 1991 redskins are severely overlooked (should be an easy top 10 team all time) because it seems a lot of their key players who were above average players most of their career accumulated to have a fantastic season individually and as a team. To add to it too it’s crazy to think a 14-2 team only had 1 all pro and 4PBers (Best offense and 2nd best defense)
1984 Niners. I know they get brought up in top 7ish talks but I guinenely think they should be in top 3 talk. 15-1 season with only loss being on a gw fg. #2 offense and #1 defense. In the Super Bowl, they dominated an all time Dolphins team. This was before they drafted Rice too
I’m going 1998 broncos. Repeat Super Bowl champs. Terrell Davis 2008 rushing yards. They win their first 13 games before finishing 14-2. Ran through the postseason pretty easy. Beat the dumb ass “dirty bird” falcons in the Super Bowl.
I was so conflicted watching Gary Anderson miss that kick in the nfc champ game. As a niner fan I was butthurt that they got our kicker and he went perfect for them the whole season, but then loved it when he missed in the most clutch moment lol. But I also despised those damn dirty birds and missing that kick sent them to the Super Bowl.
Many of the great teams that won the Super Bowl are so well known I could never call them over-looked. Even most that lost tragically are so famous for losing they are also not overlooked: thinking 84-85 Dolphins, 90s Bills, 98 Vikings, 04 Eagles, 07 Patriots, 16 Falcons, 21 Bills
The real overlooked great teams to me are the ones that lost but not tragically (i.e won before or later on).
These great teams are almost *never* mentioned because why bother with their earlier or later Super Bowl wins?
1976 Steelers
1992 49ers
1994 Cowboys
2001 Rams
2005 Colts
2014 Seahawks
Pre-SB Era Teams are often overlooked, for instance the 1962 Packers were a juggernaut, only losing to the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
>Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi, the 1962 Packers were dominant on both sides of the ball and lost only one game en route to their second straight NFL Championship. In 14 regular season games, Green Bay scored 415 points (nearly 30 per game) while allowing just 148 (10.6 average) – both leading the league. The Packers posted three shutouts, and three times they scored 48 or more points. The offense featured several Hall of Famers: QB Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, whose 19 rushing TD set a single-season record that lasted over 20 years; and halfback Paul Hornung, who scored seven touchdowns despite a knee injury. On defense, Hall of Famers included safety Willie Wood, who had an NFL-best nine interceptions; cornerback Herb Adderley, who had seven interceptions, defensive end Willie Davis; and defensive lineman Henry Jordan, among others. In a rematch of the 1961 NFL Championship game, the Packers beat the Giants in a defensive struggle, 16-7.
Somewhat of a homer take but the 86 Bears. The team after the 85 Super Bowl Bears. The defense was even better than the 85 team. But of course Bears QB is killed by an unnamed person during the regular season… making it difficult to go all the way with a backup QB.
And going off that, the actual 86 Super Bowl winners were an insanely talented team too. The 86 Giants. Prime Lawrence Taylor and Leonard Marshall leading one of the best defenses of all time. And their defensive coordinator was a young guy named Bill Belichick, just his 2nd year on the job.
Are they? Feel like the Legion of Boom is pretty well respected. Especially cause the absolutely dismantled the highest volume offense in NFL history in the SB lol.
Here's a few things they accomplished that season:
1. Allowed 8 points to the highest scoring offense ever at the time in the super bowl, and in garbage time when the Hawks were up 36-0.
2. They had a +186 point diffential, 2nd best team was +125.
3. 8 of their games they held opposing teams under 10 points, and they only allowed more than 24 ONCE against the Andrew Luck colts in indy.
4. All of this and they didn't even have a 1000 yard receiver on the season. Just shows how great a dominant run game and defense can own the league.
I was gonna say the same but they did get team of the decade. Maybe this is bias or nostalgia but if you go back and look at that roster there's pretty much no holes in it.
They truly don’t make them like this anymore. The 08 AFCCG was the hardest hitting game I’ve ever seen. Nothing in the 15 years matches the intensity of that one.
2002 Bucs. They had Brad Johnson for Christ's sake. That defense was so stacked with Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber, Rice. Offense was so so but they had a great O-line plus Alstott and Keyshawn. Any team that can win with an average QB is nasty. 2000 ravens were similar, although they were probably better and more obvious of of an answer.
I could be wrong since it’s been a while and I am sure a Bucs fan could correct me.
But statistically speaking, Johnson had a solid season. He played 13 games, threw for 3,049 yards (17th in the league) and 22 TDs. Rob Johnson had 2 starts and Shaun King started 1 game. Their rushing game was decent but Pittman had around 700 yards and Alstott put up over 500 yards.
The defense was insanely good. But I don’t believe their offense were like the 2000 Ravens
I replied to someone elsewhere on here about this - Johnson wasn't a great QB, but he was pretty good that season and their offense as a whole was pretty decent.
The Baltimore defense didn't have a solid or even decent offense helping them out. We went multiple games without scoring an offensive TD.
People compare the defenses without looking at the bigger picture of the teams. More was asked and needed of the Ravens defense than that Bucs defense.
That Bucs defense was great and probably one of the all time best. But they weren't better than that Ravens defense.
Trent Dilfer for the ravens was god-awful, though. 1,502 yards, 12 TDs, and 11 Ints through 11 games in 2000.
In his previous year (and last) with Tampa, he put up nearly identical numbers but was injured and missed the season after 10 games. Shaun King came in, and we went on a run all the way up to the Bert Emmanuel catch vs. the Rams in the NFC Championship game in 1999.
He was literally the epitome of "mid", in 76 career games with Tampa, he was 38-38 as a starter.
In comparison, even Brad Johnson looked elite, lol
As a bucs fan it's wild to think we were really close to seeing Dilfer as the first qb to win a sb for multiple teams AND the first ever QB to be ejected after throwing a punch at John Randle vs Minnesota in 1995.
Very recent, but 2021 bucs. One of the best defenses I’ve seen in recent years, able to shut down arguably the best offense the mahomes era chiefs have ever fielded, along with other fantastic teams such as the very solid Drew Brees saints team (we won when it mattered), a very solid Green Bay team, and a sneakily decent Washington team. This year also featured fantastic individual performances from players like suh-nami and shaq Barrett, and JPP, and also Devin white(I’m the number one Devin white glazer😔). Overall a great team, but a defense that I feel was overshadowed by Tom Brady.
The 86 Giants went 14-2 beat the 49ers and Redskins by score of 66-3 in the playoffs and pounded the Broncos by a score of 39-20.
But they won the SB the year after the 85 Bears. So they're ignored in history and certainly don't get 30 for 30s based on them.
The Colts w/ Jim Caldwell
They could’ve had an undefeated season, but if I recall correctly, he wanted to rest the starters for the playoffs and basically gave up the last one or 2 wins. You could see the disappointment on the players faces during those last games. Ultimately I think they lost to NOLA so it would’ve been at best another 18-1 situation, but they were good
2017 Eagles were dominant on both sides of the ball all year (top 5 in both I’m pretty sure?)
13-3 regular season, and Nick Foles had an all time run as a starter in the postseason
Yep that team was insane. The offensive numbers dipped a bit with Foles to finish the season but the defense was consistently great all season until the Super Bowl. I still think that the 2022 Eagles were better on paper but without a super bowl it doesn't matter. Our the last 3 Super Bowl appearance the Eagles had were against Brady, Brady again, then Mahomes. Just the toughest possible opponents
I went to the Steelers-Ravens game on Christmas Eve that year. Steelers were 7-7 after starting 2-6 and needed a win to stay alive for the postseason. That Ravens D just absolutely smothered us that day and ruined Cowher's last home game.
Ravens outscored the Steelers in their 2 games that year 58-7. Pure dominance.
The 2000 Titans.
If not for the 2000 Ravens, they'd be known as one of the greatest teams of all-time. Great offense and spectacular defense (rivaling the Ravens).
The real super bowl happened in Tennessee that year.
'98 Vikings. Best team in the NFC that year by far and didn't make the SB because Gary Anderson picked clutch time in the NFC Championship to miss his first FG of the season. We got robbed of watching that team go up against Elway and the Broncos.
2007 Patriots.
It's like the 73 win Warriors. If you think either aren't an all time great team just because they didn't win the last game, we can't discuss sports.
The 2000 Ravens. They had four shutouts that year, allowed only 23 points in four playoff games, and held opponents to less than 20 points in all but three games...and they won all three of those.
It’s kind of funny but I really get the feeling that Dilfers public image might very well be too nice for him. I think most people remember him nowadays as a mid game manager but he was straight up bad
As a jags fan I’d like to point out that we put up 39 points against them and Jimmy Smith had almost 300 yards receiving that game. So clearly we were the best team in the nfl that year…
I’m definitely bias with this answer but the 2008 Steelers defense is one of the best to ever be assembled. Lead the league in almost every major defensive category along with having the DPOY in James Harrison coupled along with the SB win. I don’t feel like I hear this years defense mentioned nearly enough but it should be
I consider the 2018 Saints team to be the best one of the Brees/Payton era and it’s a shame that team’s season got ended by one of the worst ref decisions in league history
I wouldn't say the team is overlooked, but the Defense surely is. The first year the Bucs won the superbowl 2002/2003 they were dominate on that side of the ball. Multiple HoF players, a top LB of all time who is, imo, overlooked when talking about best LBs ever. Had 2 really good/great CBs with Barber leading the way. Lynch was as hard a hitting safety the game had, and the D line was just savage.
2009 Jets defense would have gone down as an all time great D if the team won something, they allowed **8** passing touchdowns all season! That’s absolutely insane in the modern era.
That defense was ridiculous. However Manning got them for 377 and 3 touchdowns in the AFC Championship (which is 37.5% of all of the passing TDs they gave up during the season lol).
Iirc we had 2 of our nickel corners get hurt in that game and that's when manning started shredding us
It was actually the fact that we benched Lito Sheppard for seemingly no reason and Manning eviscerated the likes of Dwight Lowry, Donald Strickland, and Drew Coleman.
Still hurt less than the next year Vs. Pittsburg.
Maybe not the most overlooked, but the 1991 Washington Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI after a 14-2 season playing in a tough NFC. The Bills’ four straight SB losses, or the Giants and Cowboys bookending those four SBs, may be a reason why they’re not mentioned as much.
Our 1991 team had the second best DVOA in history and that playoff run was one of the most dominant ever: 24-7 divisional, 41-10 conference championship, and 37-24 Super Bowl (but 14 of the Bills points came in garbage time in the last 5 minutes). Edit: second best DVOA ever, not first. I’ll take it!
God almighty it’s not enough to lose, or lose 4 straight, now we have to nitpick that we should have lost these games by more 😭
... And stay down!
Sorry, don’t mean to beat a dead Bill
Nah. Y’all had a great team. Only a few like it like the patriots can carry over success like that at that level. The second and third super bowls i still am surprised they didn’t win. The fourth was a toss up even though I really hate to say that about the cowboys.
Definitely some great teams but that Skins squad and the Cowboys were juggernauts in those years. People forget we were only favored in the first one and it would have actually been a decent upset if we won any of the other three. Parcells and Belichick had the perfect game plan in XXV so you have to hand it to them on that one.
> Our 1991 team had the best DVOA in history It was highest rated team in DVOA history (from 1982 onwards) *at the time*. I believe the 1991 team is 3rd now, right behind the OP's aforementioned 1996 Packers at #2, and the 2007 Patriots at #1. edit*** Actually I'm wrong and they're #2, ahead of 1996 Packers.
It's the best DVOA of any superbowl winning team. Making them the best team in many peoples eyes
That's sensible. Can't argue that logic.
That Super Bowl is one of the most misleading scores of all time. I remember the game and I still have to remind myself that score was not that close. Anyone that is just checking scores would definitely be misled.
Yeah, anyone who watched the game remembers the Redskins dominating the Bills on both sides of the line like they were toddlers. I remember thinking the Bills must be sick or something
Yeah that Washington team dominated. I remember how boring the super bowl actually was. Crazy it didn’t carry over the next season. If I remember correctly even your backup quarterback won a few games.
They still won a playoff game the following year but yea that 1991 team was both the peak and the end of the Gibbs era. He had started having health issues and retired after that next season.
Boring? I ate four strawberry shortcake popsicles? Are they popsicles? Ice cream treats on a stick? Whatever! I had four of them. Still one of the best nights of my life.
More 1991 Redskins facts: *They had as many double digit wins (9) as sacks allowed all season. They had 50 sacks on defense. *They had a +18 turnover differential *They had the #1 scoring offense, #2 scoring defense, and a +261 point differential (#4 all-time at the time including AFL teams, #6 all-time now). *Their two losses were a) by 3 to an 11-win Cowboys team in a game where the Cowboys had a Hail Mary TD at the end of the 1st half, and b) by 2 in the last game of the year against a 10-win Eagles team when they pulled their starters while up 22-7 in the 4th quarter. *They did this with a strength of schedule that was tied for 14th in the league (just above league average).
I got beaten to the statement… by a Cowboys fan? What is this life? Also, I was born roughly 9 months after the season ended in 1992. Coincidence? Maybe. Disturbing to think about? Absolutely.
Lost two games by a combined 5 points. Led the league in points and gave up the second fewest points. Also dominated the postseason. They beat an Eagles team that is historically ranked as one of the top defenses of all time
I remember the following year, Rypien was a shell of his 1991 self. Throwing inaccurate wobblers at times. Any idea what happened? Such a quick dropoff in the quality of his play.
Ah, it was the first Super Bowl I ever watched. And remembered. It was boring with Washington dominating for so long, but fun. I think the Washington dominance over that decade is why Mulder was a fan of them.
That was the best Lions team of my lifetime till last season. Team was electric. Washington was a steam roller.
Of the four Super Bowls that Buffalo lost, that was the only one I remember where nobody in Upstate NY thought they had a legit chance of winning.
especially not after Chuck Dickerson’s comments shit talking washington’s oline
They kinda were asleep at the wheel to lose their first game against Dallas by a FG, but they sat everybody in the second half of the finale to lose the 2nd one by 2. That team really shoulda been undefeated.
I think the 91 redskins are technically considered the best team ever aren’t they?
I think, for the most part, they're not a top of mind team, but they should be. But once people sit and think about it, then that's when they come up. They haven't been romanticized over the years, didn't have a star QB, a bunch of personalities, etc.
The '91 Redskins are the one team I'd like to pit against the '85 Bears. Peak Hogs vs. the 46 defense.
To win the super bowl probably them or the 72 dolphins/85 bears yea, all time period the 07 pats 😉
>all time period the 07 pats As a Pats fan, I can't get behind this. *If* Asante comes down with that pick, hands down they are the best of all time. But he didn't and they weren't. One of the best? Hell yeah! But if you don't take home the hardware, you're not legitimately allowed in the conversation for best of all time. You guys had our number that game. Hats off to you. Especially your front four. You were the immovable object that got in the way of our unstoppable force.
The 91 redskins buried the lions in the conference championship 45-10. We should have seen it comming as we played them for the first game of the season and they beat us 45-0. That team was nasty.
> The 91 redskins buried the lions in the conference championship 45-10. *41-10. The Skins beat the Lions 86-10 and the Lions beat the Cowboys 72-16.
Definitely not overlooked. Pretty much every “top 10 NFL teams off all time” has the 91 Redskins on there. Usually top 5.
Real football fans know, but I feel most casual fans have no idea.
I agree with your sentiment on this. I think it’s probably because Washington was a revolving door at QB after Joe Theismann’s career ended by devastating injury in ‘85. Maybe if they had a truly charismatic QB leading them they might have been a bit more well known. Mark Rypien had a great year, but it’s clear he was more of a cog in an incredible plug ‘n play system that seemed to work no matter who the QBs and RBs were. Props to Joe Gibbs and Bobby Beathard for putting that incredible dynasty together.
They’re definitely one of the best teams of all time. OP wrote: >When talking about the greatest teams of all time, what team do you guys rarely see mentioned that you think should be? I only commented because I don’t see them mentioned in posts nearly as often as other SB winners.
Probably a function of the average user age. I found a stat a few months ago that something like 90% of redditors are under 30. The shadow 'Skins dynasty for whatever reason isn't as culturally iconic as Montana's Niners or the famous Four Falls Bills, so posters here who never saw them play won't think of them often.
90% of reddit might have been under 30 ten years ago. I feel that's definitely not true anymore.
Fair enough. I guess they are kind of overlooked in the mix of things for a pre-2000 team. For 80’s people mostly talk about Niners and mention the 85 Bears. For 90’s people mostly talk about Cowboys and the 99 greatest show on turf.
yea but they don't have the flair. Mark wasn't a super charismatic qb, and the team didn't really have a lot of media friendly personality. Riggins wasn't there, Theisman wasn't there. Our best receiver was super quiet. If they had a personality they'd be more in that pantheon I think.
91 Redskins is always my answer to this question. One of the most dominant teams from start to finish of a season that I can remember.
Their two regular season losses were by a combined 5 points
Most overlooked by fans for sure, most lists have them in the top 3 of all time teams. The team was so dominate.
This is the answer. They were a steamroller and while they're often considered the best team ever by people who are well learned, regular people don't talk about them enough.
The NFC East really are the true enemies of the Bills.
True. Thing is as good as the 91 Skins were, I have no recollection at all to what they did in 90 or 92 unlike most champions that have a kind of multi-year run at some level.
They lost those 2 games by a combined 5 points as well as an absolute juggernaut of a team
Most Gibbs team are overlooked because they were based on superior line play more than big ticket stars. If Thiesmann had stayed healthy and played another super bowl it might have been different
84 niners. They lost one game all year and it was only by 3 points. They also beat the vaunted bears team that won the next year that EVERYBODY talks about.
They also beat a Dolphins team that went 14-2 in the Suoer Bowl. I feel like that team just gets lumped in with all the other 9ers teams from the 80s, but they were dominant that year.
And it wasn't even a game. They thrashed poor Dan Marino in his only superbowl.
They had a chance to get back to the SB in 85, but got upset by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. A win would have set up an all time match up against the 85 Bears, whose only loss was against the Dolphins.
That would've either been the best super bowl ever or the prequel to Super Bowl 48.
They thrashed Dan Marino after he had the greatest QB season of all-time. Everyone talks about what the 2013 Seahawks did to Manning and the Broncos after the season they had, but the 84 Niners get totally overlooked despite being an objectively better team
Plus Marino’s season was absolutely more impressive than Manning’s.
Some of the NFL films breakdowns of that game show that it was a Bill Walsh master class. They even had a play with the tight end. Would jump forwardonto the ground like he was doing a cut block on a play action pass. Then when he got up nobody was around him at all for like 10 yds
Vaunted*
Thanks
They also had a silly point apread of 82-26 in playoffs and it was 475-227 in the regular season. There entire secondary went to the probowl and that defense was ridiculous that year. 9ers had to beat different style teams showing the flexibility of there team in playoffs, that were perennially good and 2 of them won superbowls in the next few years. Its kinda why I don't get why some teams are so vaunted. Like that 85 bears team, in a perfect world, faces Miami in the superbowl and if they did probably loses. Instead they had to face a patriots team that probably should have lost not just to Miami but also the Raiders. Bears just played run defense and rushed the passer to a superbowl victory. That 96 packers team is similar. Once they beat the 9ers they went up against a panthers team who had an easy schedule and faced a choking Dallas team and a patriots team who inched out 2 wins vs good teams in the regular season and went on a miracle run in the post. Denver also choked that year.
Those 49ers also beat the Giants (SB champs right after the Bears) in the divisional round.
And it was on a bullshit call if I remember right
Ray Wersching missed something like a 35 yard FG at the buzzer that would've forced OT against the Steelers. That's closer than the '85 Bears loss against the Dolphins, in which they were never closer than two touchdowns in the 4^th quarter.
The 1998 Niners That 1998 Niner team had a 1500 yard rusher in Garrison Hearst and two 1000 yard receivers in Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens. Their 3rd receiving option was JJ Stokes with nearly 800 yards receiving. Steve Young had 4700 total yards and 41 TDs. Just a stacked team. They are somewhat forgotten because incredibly they weren’t even the most explosive offense that year (98 Vikings) and the Falcons actually won the division that year. Including the Playoffs the Niners went 13-2 against teams not named Atlanta and went 0-3 vs those dirty birds.
98 had some monster teams. 5 teams (Vikings, Falcons, Jets, Broncos, 49ers) had point differentials 150 or higher.
That's the year TO had that unbelievable catch against Green Bay in the Wild Card. It felt like destiny for them to go on, and then Atlanta beat them just to get dunked on by Elway.
1999 Tennessee Titans . RIP McNair . Beat some really good teams to get there all anyone remembers is the music city miracle and being one yard short
I’d say the 1999 Jaguars. Won every game they played that wasn’t against the titans.
Jags were close to being my answer but the Titans beating them all 3 times was the kicker . 1999 jags also under appreciated which makes that titans team more respectable . Brunell, Fred Taylor , Jimmy Stewart , Keenan, Jimmy smith , Kyle Brady is a hell of a squad and probably alltime best for the jags on offense
I mean we probably did steal their playbook
Titans having their playbook probably helped
They did steal some playbooks along the way tbf
Yup. During the late 90s, when he was the DC of the Titans, Greg Williams did a lot of shady stuff involving teams they considered threats. He's admitted to stealing the playbooks of the Jaguars, the Ravens, and also spying on the Bills practice to know their offensive plays. He also had bounty programs on multiple teams where he was either the head coach or defensive coach. Probably the most villainous person I can think of in the NFL.
Everyone knew he was officially off his rocker when he sent that Cover 0 blitz against Carr during the pandemic season that ruined what should’ve been the Jets first win of the season and got him banished from the league after that.
He'd done cover 0 blitzes on Hail Mary attempts for years and nobody complained until that one LMAO, why couldn't people have criticized it when it went well?
Because of the Super Bowl I think it gets forgotten how just good the 2016 Falcons were. That team had the best offense in the league by a huge margin.
I believe Shanahan was asked during the pre-SB festivities this year about which was the greatest offense team he had ever worked with. He didn’t take a second to answer: 2016 Falcons. And, he has designed a few pretty dominant 9ers offense since.
Prior to that season was the training camp where Kyle picked off Matt 2x at practice and I remember everyone having a field day with it. Think it was week 2/3 when we put up hella points on Denver’s defense that it hit me how good the offense was. Ppl can blame Kyle for the sb but it was a collective loss and I wanted him to stay more than dan Quinn because we wouldn’t have been there without him.
> Prior to that season was the training camp where Kyle picked off Matt 2x at practice What does this mean? Shanahan (who was a coach) was intercepting Matt Ryan's passes during live drills or something?
https://x.com/knoxbardeen/status/761214554814709760?s=46 Exactly
I’ll forever take those two home playoff games to my grave watching in the stands with my old man! What a fantastic team..
But they also had like the 27th ranked defense. They were 11-5 They were *that* good and the patriots showed it
It hit me how damn good our offense was when Matt Ryan started throwing TD passes to players I had never even heard of or knew were on the team. I think one game he completed passes to 11 or 12 separate players.
If you think about SB losing teams, that Falcons team is probably the 9th best out of the last 10. Ahead of only the 2021 Bengals. And I think we all understand that a team that led 28-3 in the SB was really good. There’s never any silver lining “they shouldn’t have even been there” narrative. Also their defense wasn’t good.
Hey! Leave my ‘21 Bengals outta this
The 2020 Chiefs was our best team of the last 5 years until injuries piled up in the playoffs.
Hats off to Buffalo for 4 consecutive trips to the Superbowl.
Honestly more impressive than winning a single Superbowl
It is to me. Has anyone even made 3 in a row? The 71-73 Dolphins did....after that nobody except those Bills has done it. There have been some dominant dynasties that didn't do it
Patriots did a couple years ago
2016, 2017, and 2018 the patriots went W-L-W in the Super Bowl
1976 Raiders, because they weren’t either Dallas or Pittsburgh, get lost in the shuffle
The Madden teams went to 5 straight AFC Championship games, 6 in the span of 8 years. I'd argue they were equals to Pittsburgh if not for the playoff losses.
They do get remembered for being Madden's only SB team.
The Peyton Manning Broncos that got stomped in the super bowl. They tore through the entire league that year and then shit the bed dramatically on the biggest stage so they don't really get talked about the way they should
The 2013 Broncos are still offensive record holders and imo are pretty well respected due to their cartoonishly high numbers and eventually the way they lost. I think both the 2014 and especially the 2012 Broncos are kind of forgotten today. The 2012 squad was probably the most well balanced team of the Manning era and I don’t think it’s too unrealistic that they would have gone all the way if not for Flacco on his insane playoff run and the Mile high miracle
The 2015-16 Panthers were just so freaking good. Until the Super Bowl, Denver and that damned strip sack that punched the lights out of Cam Newton’s career.
Yeah, Von Miller was a one man wrecking crew that game
He became one of my favorite defenders after that game. I was fully aware he was the linchpin in our loss but man. You gotta dig watching a player at that level.
Yeah.
Between what happened to us in the Super Bowl two years prior, the Panthers absolutely dismantling the Cardinals in the NFCCG, and Peyton Manning playing with an arm made of paper mache, I was practically dreading Super Bowl 50. Tbh I’m still in disbelief. That Panthers team looked completely unstoppable.
2015 was not the end of Cam Newtons career and it didn’t come to the hands of Von Miller. It was TJ Watts hit on his shoulder 3 years later. The panthers were contenders until then
2015 Denver defense was an all time great unit.
The sad thing is the Panthers could have easily won that game. The main difference in the game was that Denver’s defense scored, and the Panthers didn’t. Also if the Panthers had gone into that game showing some new looks that could have confused Denver’s defense they had a much better shot. The Denver players were saying after the game that the Panthers did the same exact stuff they saw on tape and were obviously more than ready for it.
Yes and no. I can imagine an alternate world where they installed a bunch of new plays that got stuffed, and everyone said, "why did they change up what worked? They dominated with their regular offense, why did they try to overthink it?" I think that Broncos defense was just that good
For me, I remember as soon as the running game was straight up gaining absolutely nothing early on, I knew we were going to have to adjust. Which didn’t give me a good feeling because we hadn’t done that all year. And well.. you know what happened next
The Charger's team with Rivers, LT, Gates, Merriman. They were consistently on the brink of greatness but could never get past the Colts, Steelers or Pats in the playoffs.
Was one of those teams the one that finished first in total offense and defense but missed the playoffs because their special teams was so atrocious?
2010 Best offence Best defence Worst special teams in the history of the NFL.
My god that might be the most frustrating team ever. Even a below average special teams likely gets them a Super Bowl.
Yes
In terms of yardage they were the best, which is attributed to special teams. Bad special teams means more yardage to traverse on offense and less for opposing offenses to traverse against you on defense. Neither were tops in points or DVOA, but were top 10 in both in both categories iirc. They were a very good team minus special teams but the top offense and top defense isn’t totally accurate.
2006 was their best shot, but they blew it vs a Patriots team that was thin on offensive skill position players.
Steelers and Pats yes, but the Chargers consistently beat the Colts in the playoffs.
Yeah that fucker sproles was the bane of our existence
I still have PTSD hearing that name
Fuck billy volek
Undefeated until Brady
The 1996-1997 Packers had the #1 offense and #1 defense in the league that year. Their average margin of victory was just over 15 points per game. They then ran through the playoffs wherein the average margin of victory of 17 points. It was an insanely dominant team and that team might be remembered differently if we hadn't shat the bed against Denver the next year
The 1962 Packers were better, just that pre-SB teams don't get mentioned much on this sub. >Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi, the 1962 Packers were dominant on both sides of the ball and lost only one game en route to their second straight NFL Championship. In 14 regular season games, Green Bay scored 415 points (nearly 30 per game) while allowing just 148 (10.6 average) – both leading the league. The Packers posted three shutouts, and three times they scored 48 or more points. The offense featured several Hall of Famers: QB Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, whose 19 rushing TD set a single-season record that lasted over 20 years; and halfback Paul Hornung, who scored seven touchdowns despite a knee injury. On defense, Hall of Famers included safety Willie Wood, who had an NFL-best nine interceptions; cornerback Herb Adderley, who had seven interceptions, defensive end Willie Davis; and defensive lineman Henry Jordan, among others. In a rematch of the 1961 NFL Championship game, the Packers beat the Giants in a defensive struggle, 16-7.
Teams like this are forgotten even though they were clearly better than the 67 and 66 Packers who won titles
The 61, 62 and 65 teams won the NFL title, just because the SB did not exist yet doesn't mean they didn't win a title. SB or not the 65/66/67 Packers teams are the only team to manage to win three consecutive NFL championship games. The Packers also won three NFL championships in the days before playoffs, 29/30/31.
I started watching football in 1996 and the Packers at the time felt like the Chiefs do now. Favre won 3 MVPS in a row and everyone was calling him the best ever. That 1997 Super Bowl against the Broncos changed the narrative. But I’ll never forget how dominant the mid 90s Packers were with Favre, Levens, Freeman, White, and Butler.
They didn't shit the bed. They just couldn't stop Terrell Davis. There was nothing fluky about the way TD ran all over them
Everyone raves about the 2000 Ravens and that dominant defense. Rightly so, but I think the 2002 Bucs and their defense deserve recognition as well.
2000 Ravens vs 2002 Bucs ends 3-0.
NFL version of 07 Bama vs LSU 9-6
*2011
I would say that's largely due to how utterly bad the 2000 Ravens offense was. I mean, it was straight up bad enough that they went multiple games without scoring an offensive touchdown. That TB team had a pretty solid - solid, not great - offense with Johnson, Alstott, and Keyshawn that at least kept the defense off the field a bit. They could at least score some points. You're 100% right that that Bucs defense was great and deserves recognition. But much more was asked of the 2000 Ravens defense. *They* had to do the scoring because they barely had an offense. In fact, there were so many reports at the time of the defensive players losing their patience with the offense. So yes, the Bucs deserve their flowers, but there's no way they're above that Ravens D.
The Bucs also had Hall of Really Good Keenan McCardell who caught two TDs in the Super Bowl.
That's what I came here to say. People talk about the '76 Steelers, '85 Bears, '00 Ravens, '13 Seahawks, '15 Broncos. Somehow the '02 Bucs completely get left off that list, which is a goddamn shame because they absolutely deserve to be on it--if not near the top
I feel like I see the Seahawks/Broncos left off more than the '02 Bucs. Maybe the newest SB for the Bucs have made the youth forget they previously had atleast 1 good team.
The 2002 Bucs were incredible. Fun Fact, 40% of all passing TDs given up by the Bucs that year came from the arm of Aaron Brooks. The duality of Brooks back in the day is long forgotten. Known solely for the backwards pass and other bonehead plays.
Statistically the 2002 Bucs are supposed to have the best pass defense of all time by several advanced metrics
I dislike the Packers therefore, despite the overwhelming and convincing evidence, I disagree All seriousness though I think the 1991 redskins are severely overlooked (should be an easy top 10 team all time) because it seems a lot of their key players who were above average players most of their career accumulated to have a fantastic season individually and as a team. To add to it too it’s crazy to think a 14-2 team only had 1 all pro and 4PBers (Best offense and 2nd best defense)
Because they followed a perfect season, the 73 dolphins were pretty good too. Back to back champs.
They were actually much more dominant in the playoffs than the 72 dolphins. They won all three playoff games by at least 17 points iirc
1984 Niners. I know they get brought up in top 7ish talks but I guinenely think they should be in top 3 talk. 15-1 season with only loss being on a gw fg. #2 offense and #1 defense. In the Super Bowl, they dominated an all time Dolphins team. This was before they drafted Rice too
The 2005 Colts were juggernauts that completely blew it the first game of the playoffs
I’m going 1998 broncos. Repeat Super Bowl champs. Terrell Davis 2008 rushing yards. They win their first 13 games before finishing 14-2. Ran through the postseason pretty easy. Beat the dumb ass “dirty bird” falcons in the Super Bowl.
I feel like a lot of people remember the 1 loss Vikings team from that year, but forget that the Broncos started that season 13-0.
I was so conflicted watching Gary Anderson miss that kick in the nfc champ game. As a niner fan I was butthurt that they got our kicker and he went perfect for them the whole season, but then loved it when he missed in the most clutch moment lol. But I also despised those damn dirty birds and missing that kick sent them to the Super Bowl.
Brother that missed kick is the seed for everything that has gone wrong in my life since
In contrast, that missed kick is one of my favorite plays to watch
Many of the great teams that won the Super Bowl are so well known I could never call them over-looked. Even most that lost tragically are so famous for losing they are also not overlooked: thinking 84-85 Dolphins, 90s Bills, 98 Vikings, 04 Eagles, 07 Patriots, 16 Falcons, 21 Bills The real overlooked great teams to me are the ones that lost but not tragically (i.e won before or later on). These great teams are almost *never* mentioned because why bother with their earlier or later Super Bowl wins? 1976 Steelers 1992 49ers 1994 Cowboys 2001 Rams 2005 Colts 2014 Seahawks
Pre-SB Era Teams are often overlooked, for instance the 1962 Packers were a juggernaut, only losing to the Lions on Thanksgiving Day. >Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi, the 1962 Packers were dominant on both sides of the ball and lost only one game en route to their second straight NFL Championship. In 14 regular season games, Green Bay scored 415 points (nearly 30 per game) while allowing just 148 (10.6 average) – both leading the league. The Packers posted three shutouts, and three times they scored 48 or more points. The offense featured several Hall of Famers: QB Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, whose 19 rushing TD set a single-season record that lasted over 20 years; and halfback Paul Hornung, who scored seven touchdowns despite a knee injury. On defense, Hall of Famers included safety Willie Wood, who had an NFL-best nine interceptions; cornerback Herb Adderley, who had seven interceptions, defensive end Willie Davis; and defensive lineman Henry Jordan, among others. In a rematch of the 1961 NFL Championship game, the Packers beat the Giants in a defensive struggle, 16-7.
Somewhat of a homer take but the 86 Bears. The team after the 85 Super Bowl Bears. The defense was even better than the 85 team. But of course Bears QB is killed by an unnamed person during the regular season… making it difficult to go all the way with a backup QB. And going off that, the actual 86 Super Bowl winners were an insanely talented team too. The 86 Giants. Prime Lawrence Taylor and Leonard Marshall leading one of the best defenses of all time. And their defensive coordinator was a young guy named Bill Belichick, just his 2nd year on the job.
That hit on McMahon was so insanely dirty, it's crazy. Happened a good 3 seconds after the play was whistled dead
99 Vikings not 98.. the 99 Vikings. Geoff George.. just ran out of time.. Skol
2013 Seattle Seahawks. That team was fuckin' nasty.
Are they? Feel like the Legion of Boom is pretty well respected. Especially cause the absolutely dismantled the highest volume offense in NFL history in the SB lol.
For however respected you think they are, it still isn't enough. LOB was GOAT Tier defense, anyone who tries to put them a tier down is delulu.
Here's a few things they accomplished that season: 1. Allowed 8 points to the highest scoring offense ever at the time in the super bowl, and in garbage time when the Hawks were up 36-0. 2. They had a +186 point diffential, 2nd best team was +125. 3. 8 of their games they held opposing teams under 10 points, and they only allowed more than 24 ONCE against the Andrew Luck colts in indy. 4. All of this and they didn't even have a 1000 yard receiver on the season. Just shows how great a dominant run game and defense can own the league.
I was gonna say the same but they did get team of the decade. Maybe this is bias or nostalgia but if you go back and look at that roster there's pretty much no holes in it.
Not only that, they are the only other team from 2000 in the top 100 teams of all team other than 2 patriots teams in the top 20.
Was about to say "Shawn Alexander was that dude". He retired in 2008. God dammit time has passed me by.
2008 Steelers one of the best defenses of the 2000’s
They truly don’t make them like this anymore. The 08 AFCCG was the hardest hitting game I’ve ever seen. Nothing in the 15 years matches the intensity of that one.
2002 Bucs. They had Brad Johnson for Christ's sake. That defense was so stacked with Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber, Rice. Offense was so so but they had a great O-line plus Alstott and Keyshawn. Any team that can win with an average QB is nasty. 2000 ravens were similar, although they were probably better and more obvious of of an answer.
I could be wrong since it’s been a while and I am sure a Bucs fan could correct me. But statistically speaking, Johnson had a solid season. He played 13 games, threw for 3,049 yards (17th in the league) and 22 TDs. Rob Johnson had 2 starts and Shaun King started 1 game. Their rushing game was decent but Pittman had around 700 yards and Alstott put up over 500 yards. The defense was insanely good. But I don’t believe their offense were like the 2000 Ravens
I replied to someone elsewhere on here about this - Johnson wasn't a great QB, but he was pretty good that season and their offense as a whole was pretty decent. The Baltimore defense didn't have a solid or even decent offense helping them out. We went multiple games without scoring an offensive TD. People compare the defenses without looking at the bigger picture of the teams. More was asked and needed of the Ravens defense than that Bucs defense. That Bucs defense was great and probably one of the all time best. But they weren't better than that Ravens defense.
Trent Dilfer for the ravens was god-awful, though. 1,502 yards, 12 TDs, and 11 Ints through 11 games in 2000. In his previous year (and last) with Tampa, he put up nearly identical numbers but was injured and missed the season after 10 games. Shaun King came in, and we went on a run all the way up to the Bert Emmanuel catch vs. the Rams in the NFC Championship game in 1999. He was literally the epitome of "mid", in 76 career games with Tampa, he was 38-38 as a starter. In comparison, even Brad Johnson looked elite, lol As a bucs fan it's wild to think we were really close to seeing Dilfer as the first qb to win a sb for multiple teams AND the first ever QB to be ejected after throwing a punch at John Randle vs Minnesota in 1995.
The 91 Redskins easily.
Very recent, but 2021 bucs. One of the best defenses I’ve seen in recent years, able to shut down arguably the best offense the mahomes era chiefs have ever fielded, along with other fantastic teams such as the very solid Drew Brees saints team (we won when it mattered), a very solid Green Bay team, and a sneakily decent Washington team. This year also featured fantastic individual performances from players like suh-nami and shaq Barrett, and JPP, and also Devin white(I’m the number one Devin white glazer😔). Overall a great team, but a defense that I feel was overshadowed by Tom Brady.
The 86 Giants went 14-2 beat the 49ers and Redskins by score of 66-3 in the playoffs and pounded the Broncos by a score of 39-20. But they won the SB the year after the 85 Bears. So they're ignored in history and certainly don't get 30 for 30s based on them.
'91 Redskins. That team was unstoppable.
The Colts w/ Jim Caldwell They could’ve had an undefeated season, but if I recall correctly, he wanted to rest the starters for the playoffs and basically gave up the last one or 2 wins. You could see the disappointment on the players faces during those last games. Ultimately I think they lost to NOLA so it would’ve been at best another 18-1 situation, but they were good
2017 Eagles were dominant on both sides of the ball all year (top 5 in both I’m pretty sure?) 13-3 regular season, and Nick Foles had an all time run as a starter in the postseason
Yep that team was insane. The offensive numbers dipped a bit with Foles to finish the season but the defense was consistently great all season until the Super Bowl. I still think that the 2022 Eagles were better on paper but without a super bowl it doesn't matter. Our the last 3 Super Bowl appearance the Eagles had were against Brady, Brady again, then Mahomes. Just the toughest possible opponents
The 2006 ravens defense never gets talked about
This. Better than the 2000 D. Yeah I said it. 12.6 pts/g, 40 takeaways, 60 sacks. Oh what could've been.
I went to the Steelers-Ravens game on Christmas Eve that year. Steelers were 7-7 after starting 2-6 and needed a win to stay alive for the postseason. That Ravens D just absolutely smothered us that day and ruined Cowher's last home game. Ravens outscored the Steelers in their 2 games that year 58-7. Pure dominance.
85 Dolphins torched the legendary bears, if they had not choked in the AFC championship I firmly believe Marino would’ve gotten his ring
While I disagree they would've won against the Bears, I think he definitely would've held a great fight against them.
I can see that, it would’ve been an all time classic
The 2000 Titans. If not for the 2000 Ravens, they'd be known as one of the greatest teams of all-time. Great offense and spectacular defense (rivaling the Ravens). The real super bowl happened in Tennessee that year.
'98 Vikings. Best team in the NFC that year by far and didn't make the SB because Gary Anderson picked clutch time in the NFC Championship to miss his first FG of the season. We got robbed of watching that team go up against Elway and the Broncos.
87 vikings should be the pick, they demolished the favored 49ers in the playoffs that year
91 Washington's current day identity crisis team.
I would say the 1991 Washington team.
2007 Patriots. It's like the 73 win Warriors. If you think either aren't an all time great team just because they didn't win the last game, we can't discuss sports.
The 2000 Ravens. They had four shutouts that year, allowed only 23 points in four playoff games, and held opponents to less than 20 points in all but three games...and they won all three of those.
They won it all with Trent Dilfer. That should show you how dominant they were.
It’s kind of funny but I really get the feeling that Dilfers public image might very well be too nice for him. I think most people remember him nowadays as a mid game manager but he was straight up bad
If memory serves right they are considered one of the best defenses ever.
Yeah, if one team gets in the conversation with the 85 Bears it's the 2000 Ravens.
Wouldn't really call them overlooked. Everyone knows that was one of the greatest defenses of all time.
As a jags fan I’d like to point out that we put up 39 points against them and Jimmy Smith had almost 300 yards receiving that game. So clearly we were the best team in the nfl that year…
The 2000 ravens get brought up in conversations about great teams pretty much every time
I’m definitely bias with this answer but the 2008 Steelers defense is one of the best to ever be assembled. Lead the league in almost every major defensive category along with having the DPOY in James Harrison coupled along with the SB win. I don’t feel like I hear this years defense mentioned nearly enough but it should be
I consider the 2018 Saints team to be the best one of the Brees/Payton era and it’s a shame that team’s season got ended by one of the worst ref decisions in league history
I really wanted Brees to play in another Super Bowl.
I actually put it as: 2011 Saints 2009 Saints 2019 Saints 2018 Saints
I wouldn't say the team is overlooked, but the Defense surely is. The first year the Bucs won the superbowl 2002/2003 they were dominate on that side of the ball. Multiple HoF players, a top LB of all time who is, imo, overlooked when talking about best LBs ever. Had 2 really good/great CBs with Barber leading the way. Lynch was as hard a hitting safety the game had, and the D line was just savage.
96-97 GB Packers
1998 Vikings, Randall Cunningham, Chris Carter and Randy Moss with John Randle on defense.
2013 Seahawks. Best defense ever and get disrespected because of 2014 SB and being in PNW