by regenerator » Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:46 am
What a a drag! I wanted to rerun NFL 1998 season as it was, imo, maybe the most exciting ever.
You had a 15-1 Vikings team that was the most exciting team I've ever seen(the long bomb is my favorite play) who scored the most points of all-time at the time
12-4 SF team that was just as good as any of the other SF teams of the 90's with Young, once again having a phenomenal year, but this year they had a secret weapon - the best RB that era of the 49ers ever had (Garrison Heart was a beast - remember that 96-yard overtime winning run? Best run I've ever seen outside of Barry Sanders). That team set the then record in yardage for season with 7,000! Probably the most balanced team ever. Sure, the GSOT scored a little more, and the recent Broncos team beat that . But both were primarily passing teams. the 2014 Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks show that a balanced attack can still be lethal, as it was for decades after the passing game caught up to the running game in the 70's (ironic, isn't it, considering current state of NFL?)
Then you had the Broncos, the super bowls winners, featuring one of Elways best seasons combined with Terrell Davis' 2000 yard season.
a 14-2 Falcons team that is still far underrated. Not only did they beat the offensive machine that was, up until the NFC Championship Game, seemingly unstoppable (many Broncos players from that team have gone on record to say they were very relieved when Minnesota lost, as they knew what kind of threat they represented). The Falcons team had a phenomenal RB season in Jamaal Anderson with 1800+ yards. They also AVERAGED 16+yards per completion, and Chris Chandler had a ridiculous 9.5 yards per att, the 7th highest in the history of the NFL, still.
Finally, a 12-4 Jets team who statistically was the second best team in the league after Minnesota using advanced metrics. Testaverde threw 29 touchdowns to only 7 INTS, superstar numbers in those days. They also had the 2nd ranked scorind defense.
This was an incredible season for the NFL. All five of those teams were legitimate SB winners and maybe the most dominant collection of teams in NFL in the SB era.