NFL "what-if" scenarios thread

[ShinobiMusashi]

I stand by my opinion that the 91 Redskins were better than any Super Bowl champ that followed them, but you can definitely nitpick their schedule, that criticism is valid. I would add to it that the Lions they beat early in the season were playing without Barry, and the Falcons they beat early in the season were playing without Deion, and they caught a Cardinals team in crisis after their QB they went all in on was lost for the year in preseason. So they got a huge break with their first 3 games.

The Redskins clobbered the Lions 45-0 and the Cardinals 34-0. I do not think Barry Sanders or Timm Rosenbach would make a difference.
The Atlanta game was week 11 and the Redskins beat them by 56-17. I do not think Deion Sanders would make a difference.
Week 2 was against Dallas who scored a TD with 2 seconds left to loose to Washington by 2

I'm wildly interested in the Timm Rosenbach deal for some odd reason. I do think the Cardinals would have been way tougher in 91 had he not got hurt. He really showed some real potential in 1990. It's an interesting what if for sure, I think it's worth considering that maybe that injury in 91 preseason just ruined his career and he was never able to recover from it. The Timm Rosenbach we know of was the one trying to come back from that but just never being able to pull it off. I think it's worth considering giving him the benefit of the doubt that he could have had like a Don Majkowski '89 type season in 91 had he not got hurt. I have a copy of Madden 92 for Sega with the manual in it and they rated him over Marino, he's like the 5th highest rated QB in the game out of all 28. I think that was absolutely a huge punch in the gut for that 91 Cardinals team for him to go down for the year in preseason and they would have been a different story had that not happened. There was a lot of hope for Rosenbach going into that season that is forgotten about now.

[CSKreager]

I just think they measure up better than any NFL Champion team after 91, 14 wins, the points scored and allowed, the opposition they played, the balance of talent they had on all 3 phases of the game offense, defense, and special teams. I think the underrated element of the team that stands out the most is the performance by the offensive line. The whole unit should have been awarded MVP honors for the season. Go from game by game and look at some of the murderers row of defensive lineman they played against all year and how dominant they were against them. I feel like it was a historic all time great performance by a collective offensive line in NFL history. You can bring up any champs that followed them, the 92-93-95 Cowboys, 94 Niners, 96 Packer, 97-98 Broncos, 99 Rams, 00 Ravens, 01-03-04 Pats, 02 Buccs, 05 Steelers, 06 Colts, 07 Giants, 08 Steelers, 09 Saints, 10 Packers, 11 Giants, 12 Ravens, 13 Seahawks, 14 Pats, on and on and so forth when you line up the overall performance vs 91 Redskins I just don't see anyone that did better overall or were as complete. All of them have one or more elements where they were weaker than the 91 Redskins, either they lost more games, lost to weaker teams than Washington did that year, played weaker schedule/era, allowed more points, scored fewer points. When comparing the whole package of the season long performance I just don't see any of those that did better than Washington in 91. There were better teams before them sure but after 91 I don't see it, I'd be open to see any arguments against that. I'm sorry. I'll stand by that and I'm not even a Redskins fan. I'm a Houston guy(Oilers/Texans).

I just can’t take any team seriously in historical standards when their QB is Mark Rypien, the NFL’s 15 minutes of fame

[ShinobiMusashi]

I just think they measure up better than any NFL Champion team after 91, 14 wins, the points scored and allowed, the opposition they played, the balance of talent they had on all 3 phases of the game offense, defense, and special teams. I think the underrated element of the team that stands out the most is the performance by the offensive line. The whole unit should have been awarded MVP honors for the season. Go from game by game and look at some of the murderers row of defensive lineman they played against all year and how dominant they were against them. I feel like it was a historic all time great performance by a collective offensive line in NFL history. You can bring up any champs that followed them, the 92-93-95 Cowboys, 94 Niners, 96 Packer, 97-98 Broncos, 99 Rams, 00 Ravens, 01-03-04 Pats, 02 Buccs, 05 Steelers, 06 Colts, 07 Giants, 08 Steelers, 09 Saints, 10 Packers, 11 Giants, 12 Ravens, 13 Seahawks, 14 Pats, on and on and so forth when you line up the overall performance vs 91 Redskins I just don't see anyone that did better overall or were as complete. All of them have one or more elements where they were weaker than the 91 Redskins, either they lost more games, lost to weaker teams than Washington did that year, played weaker schedule/era, allowed more points, scored fewer points. When comparing the whole package of the season long performance I just don't see any of those that did better than Washington in 91. There were better teams before them sure but after 91 I don't see it, I'd be open to see any arguments against that. I'm sorry. I'll stand by that and I'm not even a Redskins fan. I'm a Houston guy(Oilers/Texans).

I just can’t take any team seriously in historical standards when their QB is Mark Rypien, the NFL’s 15 minutes of fame

I think that is the brilliance of that team, the o-line was so dominant that Rypien was able to have the season that he did with Ernest Byner and Gerald Riggs at RB, and the defense and special teams deserve way more credit than they get. A lot of guys on that team were worthy of major accolades, Gary Clark, Wilber Marshall, MVP/DPOY worthy.

For me I can't take any team seriously in historical standards when they play in some of these 4 team divisions they were able to dominate in the post-realignment era after 2001, also factoring in unrestricted free agency super-teams that were bought and paid for after that was legalized in 93. To be fair they did not have a salary cap and their criticism for their schedule and state of the NFL in 1991 is valid. But I've yet to see a case made for a team that had a better season post-91. If you wanted to make a case for 78 Steelers, 85 Bears, 84/89 Niners, 72 Dolphins or even 62 Packers having better season I would yield, but any of the Super Bowl winners after 91 I don't think measure up pound for pound for the season that Washington had that year. I think they were more dominant and had better overall season performance than the 90's Cowboys, 94 Niners, 96 Packers, only 90's team that would come close for me would be 98 Broncos but I still believe 91 Redskins put in better overall performance.

[ShinobiMusashi]

After watching all their games on Youtube a few years back I really believe they should have given 1991 NFL MVP award to Jim Lachey, what a beast of a season he had and worthy of only offensive lineman ever to win the award.

[Brian wolf]

RIP

Aldon Smith

The ultimate what-if story. A natural pass rusher who had alot of arrests and off-field problems. Finally turned his life around, but no cause of death has been determined yet.

[SeahawkFever]

RIP

Aldon Smith

The ultimate what-if story. A natural pass rusher who had alot of arrests and off-field problems. Finally turned his life around, but no cause of death has been determined yet.

RIP indeed, Smith was part of a darn good 49ers defense in the early 2010’s.

Side note: I recall people saying Aaron Rodgers’ career after 2010 was wasted by bad defenses. Imagine if they picked him in 2005, he developed into the same player and played with this defense.

Doesn’t work like that of course, but still.

[SeahawkFever]

I just think they measure up better than any NFL Champion team after 91, 14 wins, the points scored and allowed, the opposition they played, the balance of talent they had on all 3 phases of the game offense, defense, and special teams. I think the underrated element of the team that stands out the most is the performance by the offensive line. The whole unit should have been awarded MVP honors for the season. Go from game by game and look at some of the murderers row of defensive lineman they played against all year and how dominant they were against them. I feel like it was a historic all time great performance by a collective offensive line in NFL history. You can bring up any champs that followed them, the 92-93-95 Cowboys, 94 Niners, 96 Packer, 97-98 Broncos, 99 Rams, 00 Ravens, 01-03-04 Pats, 02 Buccs, 05 Steelers, 06 Colts, 07 Giants, 08 Steelers, 09 Saints, 10 Packers, 11 Giants, 12 Ravens, 13 Seahawks, 14 Pats, on and on and so forth when you line up the overall performance vs 91 Redskins I just don't see anyone that did better overall or were as complete. All of them have one or more elements where they were weaker than the 91 Redskins, either they lost more games, lost to weaker teams than Washington did that year, played weaker schedule/era, allowed more points, scored fewer points. When comparing the whole package of the season long performance I just don't see any of those that did better than Washington in 91. There were better teams before them sure but after 91 I don't see it, I'd be open to see any arguments against that. I'm sorry. I'll stand by that and I'm not even a Redskins fan. I'm a Houston guy(Oilers/Texans).

I just can’t take any team seriously in historical standards when their QB is Mark Rypien, the NFL’s 15 minutes of fame

I think that is the brilliance of that team, the o-line was so dominant that Rypien was able to have the season that he did with Ernest Byner and Gerald Riggs at RB, and the defense and special teams deserve way more credit than they get. A lot of guys on that team were worthy of major accolades, Gary Clark, Wilber Marshall, MVP/DPOY worthy.

For me I can't take any team seriously in historical standards when they play in some of these 4 team divisions they were able to dominate in the post-realignment era after 2001, also factoring in unrestricted free agency super-teams that were bought and paid for after that was legalized in 93. To be fair they did not have a salary cap and their criticism for their schedule and state of the NFL in 1991 is valid. But I've yet to see a case made for a team that had a better season post-91. If you wanted to make a case for 78 Steelers, 85 Bears, 84/89 Niners, 72 Dolphins or even 62 Packers having better season I would yield, but any of the Super Bowl winners after 91 I don't think measure up pound for pound for the season that Washington had that year. I think they were more dominant and had better overall season performance than the 90's Cowboys, 94 Niners, 96 Packers, only 90's team that would come close for me would be 98 Broncos but I still believe 91 Redskins put in better overall performance.

I could see the argument here.

Minor nitpick, but I’d take the 75 Steelers over 78 though.

Along with the 93 Cowboys, the 75 Steelers have the most pro bowlers of any Super Bowl champion, and I think it says something that they scored more in 75 than 78 in two less games without the Mel Blount rule and to the extent that you factor it in, against a harder schedule overall.

Also, in the 21st century what’s your opinion of the 2004 and 2016 Patriots, and the 2013 Seahawks?

[CSKreager]

After watching all their games on Youtube a few years back I really believe they should have given 1991 NFL MVP award to Jim Lachey, what a beast of a season he had and worthy of only offensive lineman ever to win the award.

Against who? Lachey basically only played against two defenses with a pulse (HOU, PHI)

[SeahawkFever]

After watching all their games on Youtube a few years back I really believe they should have given 1991 NFL MVP award to Jim Lachey, what a beast of a season he had and worthy of only offensive lineman ever to win the award.

Against who? Lachey basically only played against two defenses with a pulse (HOU, PHI)

They may not rank very high defensively, but they did also face the Giants and Bears who had a player with double digit sacks (Leonard Marshall and Richard Dent).

All told, unless one of them was hurt or not playing, they faced eleven of the 26 players who got at least nine sacks in 1991. (one of them of course was Charles Mann who was on their own team)

Obviously there’s more to defenses than how many sacks you are getting from your top pass rusher, but they faced some solid pass rushers that season too.

[Sonny9]

After watching all their games on Youtube a few years back I really believe they should have given 1991 NFL MVP award to Jim Lachey, what a beast of a season he had and worthy of only offensive lineman ever to win the award.

Against who? Lachey basically only played against two defenses with a pulse (HOU, PHI)

They may not rank very high defensively, but they did also face the Giants and Bears who had a player with double digit sacks (Leonard Marshall and Richard Dent).

All told, unless one of them was hurt or not playing, they faced eleven of the 26 players who got at least nine sacks in 1991. (one of them of course was Charles Mann who was on their own team)

Obviously there’s more to defenses than how many sacks you are getting from your top pass rusher, but they faced some solid pass rushers that season too.

Lachey did not give up a sack all year, including the playoffs
Dal Jeffcoat
Phi Simmons
NYG Marshall
Chi Dent
Hou Jones
Buf Smith

Are the big names he went up against