I was reading about our #1 defense in terms of points allowed, and I got to thinking about what the chances of an actual Superbowl win this year was with a stingy defense that stops the run, doesn't allow points, and runs a safe offense with a successful game manager at QB. I naturally went to the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. I then started to try and compare the seasons, and found some interesting stuff of the "history repeating itself" level:
2000 Baltimore Ravens in context:
-Led league in points allowed
-#1 run defense (60.6 per game)
-Had been on the cusp of being a good defense for a couple years
-Led on defense by a young former first round middle linebacker wearing #52 (Ray Lewis) in his 5th year and already a perennial pro-bowler and all-pro.
-Lots of turnover on D, including along the defensive line at nose tackle, and still remained the #1 run defense, though weren't #1 in passing or total yardage.
-Led on offense by a former early first round pick who never really became the franchise player (Trent Dilfer) and had a third round rookie quarterback (Chris Redman) sitting on the bench.
-Power run focused game featuring 1300+ yard back (Jamal Lewis), and perfectly complimented by a young 5'9" speedy back (Priest Holmes).
-Former Pro Bowl tight end in Shannon Sharpe
-Former 2nd round pick with only one 1,000 yard receiving season who never caught on with his former teams in his 8th year (Qadry Ismail) and a team selected first rounder at WR (Travis Taylor)
-Offensive line led by 5th year former first round left tackle (Jonathan Ogden), and second year left guard (Edwin Mulitalo).
The Ravens franchise hadn't had a winning season or made the playoffs in 5 years (as the Browns).
The successful city had been starved for a championship, where their last Superbowl winner (Baltimore Colts) had won their first (and only) Superbowl 30 years earlier.
The team was down right terrible at first (4-12), but had managed to climb to relative mediocrity, routinely finishing with 6-10 to 8-8 records.
In 2000, they suddenly started off hot (5-1), and ended up a surprise Playoff team at 12-4, where they won in the wildcard round at home, surprised the 13-3 Tennessee Titans, the previous year's AFC Champions, and the team with the best record in the NFL in the divisional round, on their way to winning the Superbowl, a surprise for a team with a quarterback nobody thought they would be able to win a Superbowl with, considering the previous 7 winners were all franchise quarterbacks, with one noted winner winning 3 in a 4-year span (Aikman), another winning his only Superbowl despite setting nearly every career passing record of note (Favre), one 2x winner (Elway), and a former first round pick with his second team (Young).
2011 San Francisco 49ers in context:
-Leads league in points allowed
-#1 run defense (70.
-Had been on the cusp of being a good defense for a couple years
-Led on defense by a young former first round middle linebacker wearing #52 (Patrick Willis) in his 5th year and already a perennial pro-bowler and all-pro.
-Lots of turnover on D, including along the defensive line at nose tackle, and still on pace to be #1 run defense, though not #1 in passing or total yardage.
-Led on offense by a former early first round pick who hasn't really became the franchise QB (Alex Smith/yet), and had a second round rookie quarterback (Colin Kaepernick) sitting on the bench.
-Power run focused game featuring (on pace for) 1500+ yard back (Frank Gore), and perfectly complimented by a young 5'7" speedy back (Kendall Hunter).
-Former Pro Bowl tight end in Vernon Davis
-Former 1st round pick with only one 1,000 yard receiving season who never caught on with his former teams in his 7th year (Braylon Edwards) and a team selected first rounder at WR (Michael Crabtree)
-Offensive line led by 5th year former first round left tackle (Joe Staley), and second year left guard (Mike Iupati).
The 49ers franchise hasn't had a winning season or made the playoffs in 8 years.
The successful city has been starved for a championship, where our last Superbowl winner was in 1994, and first (1981) was 30 years earlier (from 2011).
This team was down right terrible at first (4-12), but has managed to climb to relative mediocrity, routinely finishing with 6-10 to 8-8 records.
In 2011, we suddenly started off hot (7-1), and could easily end up a surprise Playoff team at 12-4, where we could likely play in the wildcard round at home, end up surprising a potential 13-3 Green Bay Packers, the previous year's NFC Champions in the divisional round, and the team who will most likely have the best record in the NFL, on our way to winning the Superbowl, a surprise for a team with a quarterback nobody thought we would be able to win a Superbowl with, considering the previous 8 winners were all franchise quarterbacks, with one noted winner winning 3 in a 4-year span (Brady), another winning his only Superbowl despite being on pace to have a possibility at breaking every passing record of note (Manning), one 2x winner (Roethlisberger), and a former second round pick with his second team (Brees). |
