There are many ways to skin a cat

[EMMITTnROY]

All this proves to me is that my season-ending thread stating the fact that in the modern NFL, any team can win the Super Bowl is pretty accurate.

A team that lost 4 of their 5 last regular season games, fired their OC in the middle of the season, were quarterbacked by a guy widely accepted as a perennial underachiever and below average starting QB, and had no elite offensive nor defensive statistics just won the Super Bowl.

Welcome to today's NFL. Where any team has a chance. That's just the reality.

[5Stars]

Originally Posted by EMMITTnROY

All this proves to me is that my season-ending thread stating the fact that in the modern NFL, any team can win the Super Bowl is pretty accurate.

A team that lost 4 of their 5 last regular season games, fired their OC in the middle of the season, were quarterbacked by a guy widely accepted as a perennial underachiever and below average starting QB, and had no elite offensive nor defensive statistics just won the Super Bowl.

Welcome to today's NFL. Where any team has a chance. That's just the reality.

[Chuck 54]

Originally Posted by perrykemp

There is no specific blueprint for winning a Super Bowl. Look at the Ravens for the moment:

• QB passed for less than 4000 yards
• QB ended up with less than a 90 QB rating for the season (87.7)
• Good not great running game -- Rice ended up with 1143 yards
• No 1000 yard receivers or TEs
• No 10 sack pass rushers
• Only 13 interceptions as a team!
• Slightly above average pass rush -- 37 sacks. Nothing special

I can't help but thinking that great coaching and special teams were the biggest difference for the Ravens.

Either way, its easy to be lulled into think a team needs 4000 yard passers, 40 TD+ passers, 1000+ WRs, TEs..... 10-20 sack guys.. and bushels of interceptions to win a Superbowl. The fact of that matter is those aren't mandatory.

Look at how their QB played in the playoffs...whole different story.

[KoolAde2]

Nothing against Flacco but if Jones didn't get the run back and then the catch and fall down and get up and get in the end zone the Ravens don't win that game. I think Jones should have won MVP with his performance.

[Rack Bauer]

Originally Posted by KoolAde2

Nothing against Flacco but if Jones didn't get the run back and then the catch and fall down and get up and get in the end zone the Ravens don't win that game. I think Jones should have won MVP with his performance.

Flacco was the MVP and he deserved to win the MVP.

If Flacco didn't throw that TD pass to Jones (where he fell, got up, etc...) then the Ravens lose.

If Flacco doesn't throw the other 2 TD's, they lose.

If Jones doesn't score on the kick return, the ravens offense STILL could have gone down the field and scored.

[john van brocklin]

Originally Posted by perrykemp

There is no specific blueprint for winning a Super Bowl. Look at the Ravens for the moment:

• QB passed for less than 4000 yards
• QB ended up with less than a 90 QB rating for the season (87.7)
• Good not great running game -- Rice ended up with 1143 yards
• No 1000 yard receivers or TEs
• No 10 sack pass rushers
• Only 13 interceptions as a team!
• Slightly above average pass rush -- 37 sacks. Nothing special

I can't help but thinking that great coaching and special teams were the biggest difference for the Ravens.

Either way, its easy to be lulled into think a team needs 4000 yard passers, 40 TD+ passers, 1000+ WRs, TEs..... 10-20 sack guys.. and bushels of interceptions to win a Superbowl. The fact of that matter is those aren't mandatory.

Not according to PETA!!!

[Section444]

Originally Posted by perrykemp

There is no specific blueprint for winning a Super Bowl. Look at the Ravens for the moment:

• QB passed for less than 4000 yards
• QB ended up with less than a 90 QB rating for the season (87.7)
• Good not great running game -- Rice ended up with 1143 yards
• No 1000 yard receivers or TEs
• No 10 sack pass rushers
• Only 13 interceptions as a team!
• Slightly above average pass rush -- 37 sacks. Nothing special

I can't help but thinking that great coaching and special teams were the biggest difference for the Ravens.

Either way, its easy to be lulled into think a team needs 4000 yard passers, 40 TD+ passers, 1000+ WRs, TEs..... 10-20 sack guys.. and bushels of interceptions to win a Superbowl. The fact of that matter is those aren't mandatory.

QB didn't choke in games where it counted down the stretch.

[Beast_from_East]

Originally Posted by EMMITTnROY

All this proves to me is that my season-ending thread stating the fact that in the modern NFL, any team can win the Super Bowl is pretty accurate.

A team that lost 4 of their 5 last regular season games, fired their OC in the middle of the season, were quarterbacked by a guy widely accepted as a perennial underachiever and below average starting QB, and had no elite offensive nor defensive statistics just won the Super Bowl.

Welcome to today's NFL. Where any team has a chance. That's just the reality.

The problem is that you have to actually make the playoffs to have that chance.

When you cant make the playoffs for 3 straight seasons, you have no chance at all.

[WPBCowboysFan]

Originally Posted by EMMITTnROY

All this proves to me is that my season-ending thread stating the fact that in the modern NFL, any team can win the Super Bowl is pretty accurate.

A team that lost 4 of their 5 last regular season games, fired their OC in the middle of the season, were quarterbacked by a guy widely accepted as a perennial underachiever and below average starting QB, and had no elite offensive nor defensive statistics just won the Super Bowl.

Welcome to today's NFL. Where any team has a chance. That's just the reality.

When has Flacco been considered below average?

[kirkjrk]

Originally Posted by Beast_from_East

Coaching matters, dont think it doesnt. However, you also have to have the players to go along with the coaching.

So whats the problem in Dallas, coaching or players? If the truth be told, I think it is a combination of both. We have very poor coaching and in alot of areas (like o-line and safety), we flat out suck.

So when you have bad coaching and mediocre players, you end up watching the SB from your couch every Feburary.

Totally agree. We just don't have the players to match, remotely, with the top 6-8 teams. Match our Coaches, DL, OL,Safeties,Special teams, Receivers,RBs,CBs and other positions with the top teams and you can see how far we are from being contenders. The only way we get within striking distance of the playoffs is Romo and Romo alone. I've never been a big Romo fan but do recognize he's the reason year after year that we seem to stay in the race. We all know who is the reason we don't get to the playoffs year after year.

[anj113]

I'm sure everyone here will say Flacco got lucky or he has better coach blah blah blah. The guy is a winner. He played very well in these playoffs. The guy wins and that is the only thing that matters. Everyone here will still say Romo is better, but sorry I don't think you can make that argument anymore. I love Romo, but when is enough enough sayin he is better than all these successful QB?

[IrishAnto]

Originally Posted by lostar2009

Are you serious ??? Your defense will have to account for 22 turnovers just to cover Romo !!!!! Not including the rest of the team.. Maybe the problem with the Cowboys is the fact they expect too much from this Defense to cover Romo. i can remember so many defense stands the defense put up to cover these costly mistakes. Add in the injury bug and you will have what we had last year.

I am serious.

The Cowboys consistently rank in the bottom 20% of teams when it comes to generating turnovers.

In 2009 and 2011 Romo’s touchdown to interception ratio was top class. Where did that get us?

The Bears generated 41 turnovers this year.

How do you recon the season would have looked if Dallas had managed that?

You seem to forget the many times Romo left the field for the last time with the Cowboys in the lead only to have the defense allow our opponents to score whatever points they need to win the game.

As for this years injury bug, again when Lee went down in the 6th game (more than a third of the way through the season) they had a total of 5 turnovers.

For all the top draft picks and expensive free agents that get lavished on the defense, then yes I do expect them to do a lot better.

[NorthTexan95]

What I remember about previous Raven years (basically the Flacco years) is a team that looks like a contender but always seems to fall apart in the playoffs. It seemed every playoff loss came down to stupid mistakes, bad coaching decisions, missed kicks, bad penalties, etc. Meanwhile, Flacco has always been an average quarterback. He didn't lead the team to wins, he was simply the quarterback of a team that won.

I don't see any example to be taken from these Ravens. The did what the Giants have done twice recently ... they got hot for a few weeks and won a championship.

[visionary]

Originally Posted by Wahoo Cowboy

It's not all-or-nothing, and I don't know why you're presenting it that way. Of course it didn't go down the way you framed it.

But it would be equally absurd if they didn't take Ryan's input into consideration at all. He was the defensive coordinator, after all.

Looking at Dallas, it's been clear since Parcells that the coaches have had strong input on the type of players brought in; after all, it was Parcells who famously said that if they expect me to cook, then at least let me shop for the groceries. This continues today in the "RKG".

Did Ryan tell Jerry, I need you to go out and draft Claiborne? No. Did he tell Jerry, my defense is a few quality secondary players away from being really good, and Jerry used that information, along with the evaluation from his scouts that had Claiborne as the 2nd best player in the draft, when deciding to trade up? It seems likely.

[View Full Quote]Frankly, I don't see how else it would or should have happened.

i agree with you that it is not all or nothing

of course GMs take input from their coaches on what they need

BUT

in the end the GMs decide how to spend those resources in FA and draft, how to prioritize, which position gets priority, who gets taken at that position, should we trade our 1 and 2 to get a player when there is just as good a player in round 2

that is the point

it is on the GMs in real teams because there is a proper hierarchy with people who are held accountable for their performance, their job is on the line

only in the cowboys organization can we say that RR was fired becasue he wanted all DBs and somehow absolve the GM of responsibility

distraction at its best

[NickZepp]

If the Playoffs were every game for Joe Flacco he would be an MVP QB.

In his last 8 playoff games he's thrown at least 2 TDs in all but one playoff game. Has thrown for at least 200 yards all but twice. Has thrown for 300 yards twice. His regular season numbers have been fairly average. He was best in 2010.

He has had better teams around him with experienced defenses even though they've had injury issues. His 9-4 career playoff record is pretty solid.