- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
Evaluating every NFL franchise's best team
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/26315/evaluating-every-nfl-franchises-best-team
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- As we head toward Super Bowl 50, we here at NFL Nation will be rolling out a lot of looks at various aspects of the game from the perspective of all 32 teams.
One such project, which was posted on Tuesday, was for each of our writers to name the best team in the history of each respective franchise.
As you can see, I picked the 1999 Rams in a narrow choice over the 2001 team. There are other Rams teams deserving of mention, including the 1967 and 1973 editions, among others. It's awfully difficult to compare teams across eras, so it's worth mentioning those teams as well, even if they didn't have the postseason success that the 1999 and 2001 teams did.
And just because it's an interesting topic to discuss, here's a look at how the '99 and '01 teams compared in some key areas:
The 1999 Rams were 13-3 with an overall points margin of plus-284. They ranked first in total offense, first in points scored, fourth in points allowed, sixth in yards allowed and ninth in turnover margin.
The 2001 Rams were 14-2 with an overall points margin of plus-230. They ranked first in total offense, first in points scored, seventh in points allowed, third in yards allowed and 26th in turnover margin.
It should be noted that according to the numbers, the 2001 team played a more difficult schedule than the 1999 team and there are metrics that show that the Rams offense was better in 2001 than 1999, relative to how they performed against the league average. That same metric shows that the Rams defense was better in 1999 than 2001.
So as you can see, a lot of similarities for two really great and memorable teams. Ultimately, though, I needed a tiebreaker and I went with the '99 team because it was the first of a series of great teams and it actually won the Super Bowl. Yes, it's simplistic, but it's also the stat that matters most in the grand scheme of things.
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/26315/evaluating-every-nfl-franchises-best-team
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- As we head toward Super Bowl 50, we here at NFL Nation will be rolling out a lot of looks at various aspects of the game from the perspective of all 32 teams.
One such project, which was posted on Tuesday, was for each of our writers to name the best team in the history of each respective franchise.
As you can see, I picked the 1999 Rams in a narrow choice over the 2001 team. There are other Rams teams deserving of mention, including the 1967 and 1973 editions, among others. It's awfully difficult to compare teams across eras, so it's worth mentioning those teams as well, even if they didn't have the postseason success that the 1999 and 2001 teams did.
And just because it's an interesting topic to discuss, here's a look at how the '99 and '01 teams compared in some key areas:
The 1999 Rams were 13-3 with an overall points margin of plus-284. They ranked first in total offense, first in points scored, fourth in points allowed, sixth in yards allowed and ninth in turnover margin.
The 2001 Rams were 14-2 with an overall points margin of plus-230. They ranked first in total offense, first in points scored, seventh in points allowed, third in yards allowed and 26th in turnover margin.
It should be noted that according to the numbers, the 2001 team played a more difficult schedule than the 1999 team and there are metrics that show that the Rams offense was better in 2001 than 1999, relative to how they performed against the league average. That same metric shows that the Rams defense was better in 1999 than 2001.
So as you can see, a lot of similarities for two really great and memorable teams. Ultimately, though, I needed a tiebreaker and I went with the '99 team because it was the first of a series of great teams and it actually won the Super Bowl. Yes, it's simplistic, but it's also the stat that matters most in the grand scheme of things.