In a way, the Cardinals are a mirror image of the Raiders. Both have the exact same record over the decade, both were generally bad except for a few breakout years, except that it came at the end of the decade for Arizona. Both have suffered from less than ideal ownership. In the case of the Cards, instead of a micromanaging owner, they have one in Bill Bidwill who has a history for penny pinching
For a long time, the Cardinals and Lions matched each other by netting only one playoff win since the Truman administration. The regimes of Dave McGinnis and Dennis Green didn’t change that one bit, but things have turned around with Ken Whisenhunt at the helm. The architect of Steelers offensive football in the decade reignited the career of Kurt Warner to produce an exciting offense in the desert that culminated in an unlikely Super Bowl berth in 2008.
For this reason, citizens of the greater Phoenix area finally have some football to look forward to. There are solid, young players all over the roster, and bona fide stars like Larry Fitzgerald that the franchise hadn’t seen in years. The Cardinals have been helped by a weak NFC West division, but there’s no reason why they can’t keep their recent success going, so long as investment to success is made.
Kurt Warner retiring is a pretty big reason.
Edit. I see Mecca already made essentially the same point.
The last decade marked the official beginning of the post-Marino and post-Jimmy Johnson era. Early results with Jay Fiedler and Dave Wannstedt at the helm were promising, netting two straight 11-5 seasons and a 1-2 playoff record. However, their luck wasn’t quite as good in the next two seasons, when they were edged out of the playoffs twice on tiebreakers. The bottom fell out on this experiment, however, when Miami suffered an uncharacteristic 4-12 season in 2004, leading to a new regime change.
Little did Dolphins fans realize how painful the next few changes would be. Nick Saban appeared to be getting the Dolphins back on track in 2005, only to make the fateful decision to sign Daunte Culpepper instead of Drew Brees to begin 2006, and to end it with the infamous quote of “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.” Could it get any worse that Saban’s treachery? Unfortunately, yes, as Cam Cameron led to the team to a result that is completely unacceptable in Miami: a 1-15 campaign that dangerously flirted with 0-16 for most of 2007.
Today, the Dolphins are led by the modern day miracle worker in the NFL, Bill Parcells (this time, as the head of the front office). Early results are promising, which included breaking the Patriots’ playoff streak in 2008 despite an 11-5 record by both teams (only the second time it’s happened in NFL history). Strong building blocks are in place, such as Jake Long, Ronnie Brown, and perhaps even Chad Henne at quarterback. If Henne can relive even a fraction of when #13 played, it’ll be fitting, since Henne is the thirteenth quarterback to start for the Dolphins in the last decade.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
punkdavid wrote:
I think you've got some errors in the Dolphins stats.
79-81 =/= .388
Dolphins did not make a Super Bowl appearance in the last decade.
Whoops. I obviously copied and pasted that template from the Cards. I've come close to making that mistake a few times now--I'm surprised it took this long for someone to catch me.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
It's pretty amazing that the Dolphins were nearly .500 for the decade, including a 1-15 season, and I still feel that they sucked all the way throughout.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
Electromatic wrote:
The Falcons have had a better Decade than the Marlins. More playoff wins. More relevance... no 1-15 seasons.
I don't buy that we are 3 spots below them in the Rankings, even with the mess in the middle and B2B winning seasons once in 44 years.
Honestly, I agonized between these two teams and the one that's going to show up at #19. They're all pretty even, and perhaps I should have put Atlanta ahead of the two really awful Super Bowl-appearing teams. Once this is all taken care of, I might reveal the "tiers" that I've discovered that really separate the teams out.
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:47 pm Posts: 9282 Location: Atlanta Gender: Male
Green Habit wrote:
Electromatic wrote:
The Falcons have had a better Decade than the Marlins. More playoff wins. More relevance... no 1-15 seasons.
I don't buy that we are 3 spots below them in the Rankings, even with the mess in the middle and B2B winning seasons once in 44 years.
Honestly, I agonized between these two teams and the one that's going to show up at #19. They're all pretty even, and perhaps I should have put Atlanta ahead of the two really awful Super Bowl-appearing teams. Once this is all taken care of, I might reveal the "tiers" that I've discovered that really separate the teams out.
no worries, I'm a fan of a team that has only now produced back to back consistant winning seasons for the first time in 44 years. This is probably the most exciting decade in the history of the franchise, other than that it's like 1980 a blip in the early 90's and that awesome 98 season. Your rankings are excellently done I was just commenting as the homer I am.
Demanding continuous success coming off a glorious 1990s, Jerry Jones was aggressive in doing so. He entered the decade by replacing Chan Gailey, a coach who got his team to two one and done playoff appearances, with Dave Campo. The move wasn’t a good one, as the Cowboys uncharacteristically suffered three straight 5-11 seasons. He then turned to a familiar face in Bill Parcells, but while there was excitement, the results weren’t much better than Gailey—a 34-30 record and two one and done playoff appearances.
Despite a reputation for mediocrity, Wade Phillips has actually had the most success in such a high profile job, rounding off the decade with 13 and 11 win seasons, as well as finally leading Dallas to a playoff win. He’s been helped out by the emergence of Tony Romo at quarterback, preventing the carouseling of quarterbacks that have plagued other teams. Other key contributors such as Marion Barber on offense and Demarcus Ware on defense have brought the Cowboys to a point where fans demand to be—as a contender.
There’s no denying, however, that the past decade as a whole was rather mediocre in Dallas, and you can guarantee that Jones and others will put plenty of pressure on Phillips and company to expect big things for this franchise, as soon as next year.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
#18: St. Louis Rams Record: 71-89 (.444) (22nd) Playoff Appearances: 4 (T13th) Playoff Wins: 3 (T13th) Super Bowl Appearances: 1 Consistency Rank: 14th
How does a team who entered the decade about as strong as it gets—defending Super Bowl champions, a 14 win season ruined only by an Adam Vinatieri field goal—end up ranking so relatively poor? The answer is that the end of the decade was as miserable as it would get for any team. Indeed, the past decade in St. Louis went consistently downhill: the first four seasons averaged a remarkable 10.75 wins, the middle three a mediocre 7.33, and the final three a horrific 2 win average. Not even the Lions could match that, even with a winless season in the mix.
Slowly but surely, the Rams lost talent from their dynastic period, and almost completely failed in replacing that talent. London Fletcher departed in 2002, Kurt Warner was benched in 2002 and then exiled in 2004, Aeneas Williams and Marshall Faulk retired, and the bottom fell out as Issac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Orlando Pace were all gone before the 2009 season started.
There are still plenty of challenges that lie ahead for a team that just might be the most bereft of talent in the NFL. Better personnel acquisitions need to be made, and that comes with the ownership hiring a better front office. Of course, the ownership itself is in flux with the death of Georgia Frontiere, and her son Chip Rosenbloom putting the team up for sale. Rams fans can only hope that the new owner can rebuild a powerhouse like Chip’s father Carroll did in the 1970s.
Bears fans have had an interesting decade, to say the least. With Dick Jauron’s tenure not looking so impressive, he somehow put together a 13-3 season that had people talking, only to falter in the playoffs against another new insurgent, the Eagles. The season was a flash in the pan, however, and Jauron would be dumped after 2003 in favor of Lovie Smith.
One of Jauron’s personnel choices would continue to affect a good chunk of the Smith era. This was the drafting of Rex Grossman. Injuries in 2004 and 2005 kept him off the field, but Smith’s faith in Grossman was unwavering at the time. “Rex is our quarterback” is a statement few will forget as the Bears went all the way to the Super Bowl the next year, though the debate raged on as to how much Grossman was really responsible for as opposed to a stout defense with the likes of Tommie Harris and Brian Urlacher that stoned offenses in its wake until Peyton Manning came knocking.
However, the Bears couldn’t keep the consistency from 2006 going, and it led to one of the biggest trades of the decade: swapping Grossman’s replacement (Kyle Orton) and a bevy of picks to the Broncos for Jay Cutler. Would the carousel at quarterback finally be over? 2009 certainly didn’t answer that question, as Cutler struggled along with the rest of the team. This is the question that will be itching at those who follow the Bears for at least the beginning of this decade.
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 7:53 pm Posts: 3320 Location: Wyoming Gender: Male
Green Habit wrote:
Are we kind of petering out here? I think we're entering the really interesting and debated part now.
I'm enjoying this quite a lot. I'm not commenting, though, because #1, so far I've disagreed with none of your assessments, and #2, I want to look at the list as a whole after it's all said and done before I get too into the analysis.
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
well the Bears should be lower because they are directly responsible for the past 4 seasons of the Buffalo Bills under Dickhead Jauron. If it wasn't for that 13-3 season, I wouldn't have stomach and heart problems on sundays.
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 28 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum
