Seattle was the beneficiary of the Mike Holmgren split in Green Bay, where the Packers were unwilling to give him general manager powers. Perhaps the Packers made the right decision, as the early portion of the decade was quite pedestrian for the Seahawks, failing to make the playoffs for the first three years.
This cost Holmgren his job as GM, a decision that also looks to be correct. A greatly weakened NFC West allowed the Seahawks to finally sneak into the playoffs in 2003 and 2004. 2005 was obviously the best year for the franchise, resulting in a Super Bowl berth that Seahawks fans will likely always be angry about, due to several perceived bad calls by the officials. The team stayed in contention in 2006 and 2007, as well.
Seattle would be much higher on the rankings if they were able to keep the consistent success going to close out the decade. Alas, the team was thrown into chaos in 2008 when Holmgren’s planned retirement year was a complete disaster of a season. Jim Mora Jr., a well-known liker of the city of Seattle, didn’t due much better in 2009, leading to Paul Allen making the radical decision to send him packing after one season in favor of legendary USC coach Pete Carroll. Will Carroll be able to shake off the notion that he is a failure in the NFL? With the retirements of greats like Walter Jones and Matt Hasselbeck imminent, it’s certainly tough to say.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
DISCLAIMER: if they win the Super Bowl, they'll move up to 8th.
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#11: New Orleans Saints Record: 83-77 (.519) (12th) Playoff Appearances: 3 (T17th) Playoff Wins: 4 or 5 (T8th or T7th) Super Bowl Appearances: 1 Super Bowl Wins: 0 or 1 Consistency Rank: 7th
Conventional wisdom wouldn’t have the Saints so highly ranked, as their history is commonly paired with futility. However, with one understandable exception, the Saints have been remarkably consistent throughout the past decade, never falling below seven wins in nine seasons.
Things didn’t look so cheery to start off, as the Saints were just recovering from the horrendous Mike Ditka era. Amazingly, Jim Haslett not only turned around a 3-13 squad into a 10-6 one, but he garnered the first playoff win in Saints franchise history, over the defending Super Bowl champion Rams. Haslett couldn’t muster the same success again, missing the playoffs in excruciating circumstances (a late season collapse in 2002, a too-late rally in 2004, and an amazing wacky lateral touchdown ruined by a missed extra point in 2003).
Tough times beyond football struck the Saints when Hurricane Katrina hit right before the 2005 season, forcing the Saints to travel to Baton Rouge and San Antonio for home games. The 3-13 record cost Haslett his job, and successor Sean Payton did what Haslett did earlier—go to a 10-6 season with a playoff win. The next two years also mimicked Hasletts, but the closeout year was far different, one that has the Saints knocking on the door of a Super Bowl. A Lombardi Trophy would go a long way into the continued lifting of spirits in the Big Easy.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:05 am Posts: 8045 Location: Arlington Heights, IL Gender: Male
Green Habit wrote:
an amazing wacky lateral touchdown ruined by a missed extra point in 2003).
I think that this play has never been talked about enough. Its almost impossible to wrap my mind around the idea of them actually executing the laterals, just for the kicker to miss the extra point to keep them out of the playoffs. Crazy.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
Too Big a Man Too Say wrote:
Green Habit wrote:
an amazing wacky lateral touchdown ruined by a missed extra point in 2003).
I think that this play has never been talked about enough. Its almost impossible to wrap my mind around the idea of them actually executing the laterals, just for the kicker to miss the extra point to keep them out of the playoffs. Crazy.
The end of the 2003 season for the NFC was just crazy, period. There were three teams fighting for one playoff spot. The Broncos helped out in this craziness by sitting all their starters and laying down against the Packers because they had locked up the #6 seed on the AFC side. What happened next was, well...
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
#10: San Diego Chargers Record: 85-75 (.531) (10th) Playoff Appearances: 5 (T8th) Playoff Wins: 3 (T13th) Consistency Rank: 18th
If the Rams represented the decade with a steady decline, the team that is the closest to its opposite are the Chargers. The beginning doesn’t get much worse: a 1-15 campaign, though the franchise was able to make lemonade out of lemons when they chose to go with LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees over Michael Vick in the 2001 draft. The true talent of Brees was late in discovery however, and with a 4-12 2003 season that netted them with another first overall pick, GM AJ Smith decided that they were consigned to start over at quarterback.
It was a fateful decision that would change the course of three franchises. The Chargers were primed to select Eli Manning, only to be spurned by the Ole Miss signal caller and demand a trade. Manning was drafted and then swapped for Philip Rivers and two draft picks that would become Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding. Little did they know, however, that Brees would quickly emerge as viable option, leading to a very unexpected 12-4 record in 2004.
Smith elected, however, to stick by Rivers, and the results have been very decent for the Chargers, going 46-18 to close out the last four years. However, there’s still one achievement that’s lacking in San Diego, and that’s the Lombardi Trophy. To add insult to injury, Eli Manning has won one, and Brees has a chance to win another. The “what-if” scenarios will be tantalizing to ask long after the previous span.
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