Final Four thoughts

LACowboysFan1

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Super Bowls 1 through 4, also known as the AFL VS NFL games, I don't even count. That was also before my time so I can't tell you the mood at the time. But how seriously did the NFL teams take that game? The Colts and Vikings already won the NFL title the week prior. How up for this game were they? Super Bowls 1 through 4 were glorified exhibition games. Neither the Jets or Chiefs played a single game against an NFL team all year. Then they win their AFL title and play the winner of the NFL. Ok, so they won a bragging rights game. I wouldn't count that equal to winning an actual league championship game.

Still is in the record books, meh...
 

Flamma

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Still is in the record books, meh...

In the books as what though? It's not in the books as a league championship game in either the AFL or NFL. The books say the Colts and Viking won the NFL Championship those years.
 

atlantacowboy

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I don't see Andy Reid getting the better of Bill Belechek in a game of this magnitude. Any Reid is a smart guy whose been around a long time but he does have a penchant for coming up short.............and betting against Brady is never a good idea.

The Saints will walk over the Rams........... without our moron DL giving away the defensive calls, this could be a struggle for LA.
 

LACowboysFan1

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He's a legend of a coach, & has put himself in the company of some all time greats. From Landry, to Knoll, to Lombardi. He has a great football mind, almost always has his players prepared for anything, & nobody handles the media better. He's an old school coach who the game hasn't passed by. It will be interesting to see how he does when Brady retires, providing he doesn't.

I would still place Landry above him because Landry was an innovator, came up with the Flex that nobody could duplicate, brought back the Shotgun, put in the o-line shift, and of course was the main architect of the 4-3 defense.

Belichick is great at running a team but he just applies what others has done...
 

LACowboysFan1

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In the books as what though? It's not in the books as a league championship game in either the AFL or NFL. The books say the Colts and Viking won the NFL Championship those years.
Even though they weren't called the "Super Bowl" until the 4th game between the leagues, it was the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game"

The 1967 title game was the first held between NFL and AFL teams, as the two leagues merged the summer prior, with an agreement to play a championship game at the end of each season.

Since after the third game the name was changed, the first 3 still count as the championship, and the Super Bowl name has been post-applied to those as well, even though they weren't called that at the time...
 

Flamma

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Even though they weren't called the "Super Bowl" until the 4th game between the leagues, it was the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game"

The 1967 title game was the first held between NFL and AFL teams, as the two leagues merged the summer prior, with an agreement to play a championship game at the end of each season.

Since after the third game the name was changed, the first 3 still count as the championship, and the Super Bowl name has been post-applied to those as well, even though they weren't called that at the time...

But the league's weren't technically merged until the season of 1970. Before that they were still separate leagues and only played eachother throughout their season. Any professional team can win one game. For example, had the Chiefs or Jets played all NFL teams they might not even have made the playoffs.

What I was asking before was, what championship did they win exactly? Jets and Chiefs both won the AFL and Colts and Vikings both won the NFL. What does this final game make you championship of? I wouldn't rank them higher than actual league championships because they weren't.

Those four Super Bowls would be equivalent to the Super Bowl winners in the NFL playing the Champions of the USFL. And they try to hide this fact. The correct thing to do would have been to start Super Bowl one in 1970 and name the first four AFL VS NFL games, because that's what they were.
 

LACowboysFan1

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what championship did they win exactly?

The Championship of Professional Football, which is how the games were billed. They gave out rings to the winner. And it was only one game, but so is the Super Bowl now. Whether or not the leagues played each other during the regular season is immaterial. It was the same in major league baseball until 1997, but nobody says the 1927 Yankess weren't the mlb champions...
 

Flamma

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The Championship of Professional Football, which is how the games were billed. They gave out rings to the winner. And it was only one game, but so is the Super Bowl now. Whether or not the leagues played each other during the regular season is immaterial. It was the same in major league baseball until 1997, but nobody says the 1927 Yankess weren't the mlb champions...

Ok. So we have 4 championships of professional football.

You're right on the baseball part. I never looked at it that way with baseball because I didn't think either league was inferior. Plus the AFL and NFL were separated for 10 years without having any endgame. How far back do you have to go for that to be the case in baseball?
 

75boyz

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After watching todays games, & seeing who's playing in the Conference Championship Games...

Patriots @ Chiefs

Rams @ Saints

Couldn't help but immediately notice, all four teams have explosive offenses. All four teams are where they are, primarily (<---key word) because of their offensive prowess. Without looking up stats, I believe these are four highest scoring offenses in the league.

The old adage of defense wins championships, sure isn't going to apply this year.

Looking at them a little closer, you've got 2 aging veteran pocket passers, & 2 young stud mobile QB's. Gonna be interesting to see how this plays out, who wins, & how.

I hope Jerry & Co. pay attention to what's going on here. This is precisely the direction the league has been trying to move.

While, our deficiencies on defense were exposed last night, we need a more potent offense to compete with the likes of these teams, & the similar teams that will be coming. The league is very copy cat. This formula is going to be replicated, or at minimum attempted to be replicated by plenty of others.

So... while trying to fill the weak spots on our defense this off season, please don't leave the status quo with our offense. We need some help there too, or we'll be sitting here watching other teams Championship weekend next year too.....

Thoughts..?

Excellent post bro. You nailed all of it. I hope Coach Reid wins one finally. Mainly because I just always loved his accountability appeal.
All those years in Philly and now in KC too, he stands up at the podium and just takes every ounce of the blame for every single loss. That always appealed to me. Never Ever points one finger towards any one of his players.

Plus I have always liked his offensive mind.

If it comes down to KC and the Saints though I'll be rooting for Brees. Mahommes, is still very young and could have time for another opportunity.

And then there's ALWAYS Belicheck and Brady, lol.
 

LACowboysFan1

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As opposed to NFL championships.

If the leagues had agreed to merge, even if it was finalized, then the AFL essentially wasn't a separate league anymore.

But whatever, if you look up "Super Bowl Champions" on just about any site - Wikileaks, ESPN, Pro Football Reference, Britannica, History.com - it lists "Super Bowl Champions" starting with the Green Bay - Kansas City game as the first one.

The winner of the Super Bowl, even back-naming the first 3, means the NFL champions.

Look at it however you want, that's up to you...
 

Flamma

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If the leagues had agreed to merge, even if it was finalized, then the AFL essentially wasn't a separate league anymore.

But whatever, if you look up "Super Bowl Champions" on just about any site - Wikileaks, ESPN, Pro Football Reference, Britannica, History.com - it lists "Super Bowl Champions" starting with the Green Bay - Kansas City game as the first one.

The winner of the Super Bowl, even back-naming the first 3, means the NFL champions.

Look at it however you want, that's up to you...

Super Bowls, yes. But the Colts and Vikings are listed in the record books as the NFL champions, not the Jets or Chiefs. And we both know they were called AFL VS NFL games until the 3rd one. But the games were the same.
 

LACowboysFan1

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Super Bowls, yes. But the Colts and Vikings are listed in the record books as the NFL champions, not the Jets or Chiefs. And we both know they were called AFL VS NFL games until the 3rd one. But the games were the same.

I did find this on wiki::

Teams winning the NFL Championship during these years move onward to compete in the first four Super Bowls. The Green Bay Packers continued on to win the first two Super Bowls. The latter two teams, the Baltimore Colts and Minnesota Vikings, lost in their respective Super Bowls. These two losing teams are still credited with the NFL Championship in their official record. However, they are not considered as world champions, but as the less prestigious league champions.

So in that limited sense I can see that.

But my original comment was that I'd not mind seeing the Chiefs or Saints winning the SB since they have only 1 SB each, so my comment still stands since the Chiefs are listed as "Super Bowl" champs in most sites....
 

silvrNblue

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How utterly unfounded all the ridicule directed toward Andy Reid on this board has been over the years. He's a heckuva coach.
In more ways then we know. I heard a discussion on how when they decided to give the offense to Mahommes, Reid basically didn't go and force him to run Andy's style of offense, he let Mahommes run his. Andy just compliments him with play calling that FITS the kids demeaner on the field.
 

CowboyRoy

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After watching todays games, & seeing who's playing in the Conference Championship Games...

Patriots @ Chiefs

Rams @ Saints

Couldn't help but immediately notice, all four teams have explosive offenses. All four teams are where they are, primarily (<---key word) because of their offensive prowess. Without looking up stats, I believe these are four highest scoring offenses in the league.

The old adage of defense wins championships, sure isn't going to apply this year.

Looking at them a little closer, you've got 2 aging veteran pocket passers, & 2 young stud mobile QB's. Gonna be interesting to see how this plays out, who wins, & how.

I hope Jerry & Co. pay attention to what's going on here. This is precisely the direction the league has been trying to move.

While, our deficiencies on defense were exposed last night, we need a more potent offense to compete with the likes of these teams, & the similar teams that will be coming. The league is very copy cat. This formula is going to be replicated, or at minimum attempted to be replicated by plenty of others.

So... while trying to fill the weak spots on our defense this off season, please don't leave the status quo with our offense. We need some help there too, or we'll be sitting here watching other teams Championship weekend next year too.....

Thoughts..?

Those are 4 of the best Olines and offensive minds in the business. Without those great Olines, those offenses dont do diddly.
 

75boyz

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In more ways then we know. I heard a discussion on how when they decided to give the offense to Mahommes, Reid basically didn't go and force him to run Andy's style of offense, he let Mahommes run his. Andy just compliments him with play calling that FITS the kids demeaner on the field.
Nice post. Yeah I read this mentioned somwhere as well. Gosh forbid some out of the box non traditionally static thinking taking place at the professional football coaching level...
 

75boyz

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The Cowboys franchise is configured to win games in the regular season and at least have a chance to make the playoffs. 9+ wins seems to be the goal. More is better. Sometimes they make the playoffs. Sometimes they even win the NFCE.

But making a deep playoff run has remained elusive because its not the #1 priority. Keeping the gravy train rolling and the money flowing is.

And you can tell that because of the reaction in upper management when it starts to look like they are going to have a down year in the regular season that might upset the apple cart.

They start blaming anything and everything but themselves. Then start doing anything to turn it around. Like spending draft picks or bringing in free agents if they are available.

That is who they are. Been that way for quite a while.

Really nice post bro. Hard to argue with any of your well stated thoughts here.
 

75boyz

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Great points and observations. The league rewards QB-centric offenses and they are getting the best of these in this year’s final four. The Chiefs have an offense with virtually no flaws, an other-worldly QB in Mahomes, and an outstanding tactician in Andy Reid. I think they are not only going to beat the Patriots but potentially embarrass them as the game is in KC— a “home field advantage” of which we Cowboys fans can only dream.

The Cowboys defense was Very Good (not Great) this season. The offense was Not Very Good, especially in the context of what the NFL rewards today and in direct comparison to these final four teams. They desperately need to address that problem or, as you say, the Cowboys will likely never go any further in the playoffs.

Well said.
 

silvrNblue

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The offense was Not Very Good, especially in the context of what the NFL rewards today and in direct comparison to these final four teams. They desperately need to address that problem or, as you say, the Cowboys will likely never go any further in the playoffs.

I'll grant you your points, BUT I will add to that by saying the players we have are as good as any on most of these teams, including these last 4. No we do not have an all out gun slinger QB, but these players are confined to play within the scheme as the coaches gives them. I'll lay you a pay check put P. Mahommes on ANY other team and he is just as average as what they have with maybe a little better passing grade. KC is allowing him to play HIS style and not locking him down with stupid anemic 1990's play calling.
 
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