Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Popovich is arguably the best professional coach of the 21st century, although he is tied in number of rings with Phil Jackson. The Spurs are a lot like the Patriots. They used to be methodical, if dull (the 2003 and 2005 NBA Finals were not very pretty to watch) but they eventually expanded the offense to feature pretty passing.
The Patriots,, until 2006, were a methodical team that weren't particularly appealing to watch. Brady used to be a good QB who was great at the end of the game. Then in 2007, the storm turned loose.

conace21 wrote:Popovich is arguably the best professional coach of the 21st century, although he is tied in number of rings with Phil Jackson. The Spurs are a lot like the Patriots. They used to be methodical, if dull (the 2003 and 2005 NBA Finals were not very pretty to watch) but they eventually expanded the offense to feature pretty passing.
The Patriots,, until 2006, were a methodical team that weren't particularly appealing to watch. Brady used to be a good QB who was great at the end of the game. Then in 2007, the storm turned loose.

Pop’s got 5, Phil’s got 6. In either event, however, just one thing Pop still needs to do and that’s repeat at least once. Perhaps he’s the best coach in any sport of all-time who didn’t (yet) do such a thing. Was razor-close as hell vs LeBron’s Heat though!

74_75_78_79_ wrote:

conace21 wrote:Popovich is arguably the best professional coach of the 21st century, although he is tied in number of rings with Phil Jackson. The Spurs are a lot like the Patriots. They used to be methodical, if dull (the 2003 and 2005 NBA Finals were not very pretty to watch) but they eventually expanded the offense to feature pretty passing.
The Patriots,, until 2006, were a methodical team that weren't particularly appealing to watch. Brady used to be a good QB who was great at the end of the game. Then in 2007, the storm turned loose.

Pop’s got 5, Phil’s got 6. In either event, however, just one thing Pop still needs to do and that’s repeat at least once. Perhaps he’s the best coach in any sport of all-time who didn’t (yet) do such a thing. Was razor-close as hell vs LeBron’s Heat though!

Phil Jackson has 11 rings total. I was referring to the 21st century. Phil won 6 rings in the 1990's with the Bulls and 5 in the 21st century with the Lakers. I do recall now that Popovich only has 4 rings in the 21st century. He won his first in May 1999.

JohnH19 wrote:

7DnBrnc53 wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:So you're picking and choosing whichever situations suit your opinions best? A first round pick is a pretty stiff penalty for just about anything.

It didn't matter. They still had a top-10 pick that they got from SF. And, who knows if Kraft really paid the fine.

Did they cheat to get that pick, too? The real reason losing that pick didn't matter is that they kept right on winning...and winning and winning. I wish I was a Pats fan but, no, I suffer endlessly with my close but no cigar Vikings.

I hesitate to ask but what are your thoughts on the Brady suspension?

It was probably payback for the Spygate situation. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if NE did something wrong there.

conace21 wrote:

74_75_78_79_ wrote:

conace21 wrote:Popovich is arguably the best professional coach of the 21st century, although he is tied in number of rings with Phil Jackson. The Spurs are a lot like the Patriots. They used to be methodical, if dull (the 2003 and 2005 NBA Finals were not very pretty to watch) but they eventually expanded the offense to feature pretty passing.
The Patriots,, until 2006, were a methodical team that weren't particularly appealing to watch. Brady used to be a good QB who was great at the end of the game. Then in 2007, the storm turned loose.

Pop’s got 5, Phil’s got 6. In either event, however, just one thing Pop still needs to do and that’s repeat at least once. Perhaps he’s the best coach in any sport of all-time who didn’t (yet) do such a thing. Was razor-close as hell vs LeBron’s Heat though!

Phil Jackson has 11 rings total. I was referring to the 21st century. Phil won 6 rings in the 1990's with the Bulls and 5 in the 21st century with the Lakers. I do recall now that Popovich only has 4 rings in the 21st century. He won his first in May 1999.

11, right. Was strictly tunnel-visioning his time with Bulls.

I hate to say it but probably #1. I guess the only argument that you can make against them is that they played in a division that never got its act together. No stretches where any of those teams had elite coaches or elite quarterbacks or long term stability. If you look at the 49ers having to deal with the Bears/Giants/Skins/Cowboys/Rams...San Fran dealt with a tougher conference. Still five Super Bowls and another three appearances is pretty crazy. Though they did get a lot of luck. They were great but they got way more good luck than bad luck. 2011 (Lee Evans/Missed Field Goal) 2001 Raiders, Carroll not running Lynch. Plus that bizarre Chargers game in 2006

You also can't quite put the cap on the bottle of the Patriots run yet. I think they have one more big run left in them next year.

The official 49ers run to me was 1981-2002. They still had enough early dynasty holdovers in that org that I don't consider their 2001-2002 resurgence a separate era

Cowboys went 1966-1985. My issue with them is that they never really had that monster regular season, and they only won two Super Bowls. I needed to seem them topple Green Bay once. Or the Steelers once. This was a great run but to me there will always be something missing from it.

Steelers went 1972-1984, so the shortest run of the group. Four Super Bowls in six years is still outright incredible. Noll hung on to some of his core dynasty guys a bit too long though

Raiders from 1967-1985, Had some incredible regular seasons clustered together only to lose yet another Conference Championship. The three SB's are outstanding, but 1967-1979 they just couldn't finish the job most times

conace21 wrote:Popovich is arguably the best professional coach of the 21st century, although he is tied in number of rings with Phil Jackson. The Spurs are a lot like the Patriots. They used to be methodical, if dull (the 2003 and 2005 NBA Finals were not very pretty to watch) but they eventually expanded the offense to feature pretty passing.
The Patriots,, until 2006, were a methodical team that weren't particularly appealing to watch. Brady used to be a good QB who was great at the end of the game. Then in 2007, the storm turned loose.

If we're talking about other sports, the 2006-07 to present Pittsburgh Penguins have had a fantastic run of success. Going for a third consecutive Cup this season, and that would make four Cups since 2006-07. In the NHL, it's incredibly difficult to repeat, three of the Original Six teams have failed to do so.