Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm I think you’re being charitable about the “popularity” of the USFL. It was a novelty, and the ‘82 strike helped it in some markets, but it never reached mass popularity or even came close.

ShinobiMusashi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 7:59 pm

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm I think you’re being charitable about the “popularity” of the USFL. It was a novelty, and the ‘82 strike helped it in some markets, but it never reached mass popularity or even came close.

Not so much that it got super popular but was enough of a force to disrupt a few key NFL drafts and effect that era of history, also altered a few careers a few guys left the NFL at a key time in their career to where it effected how they would have been remembered(had the USFL not existed). Joe Cribbs and Brian Sipe come to mind, Doug Williams would have been one if not for the Super Bowl hero performance.

One thing I've picked up on watching the games from 1998 this Summer; this for sure was the finale of the 90's NFL, but big thing that's great about it was how serious the AFC got that season. Denver had just snapped the NFC's streak in the Super Bowl that January and the conference just looked/felt really strong and competitive in 1998. Dare I say the AFC felt more "Major League" in 1998 than it did through the 90's up to that point, where as it felt like NFC's weaker younger(but more colorful) sibling from 1990 to 1997.

1998 AFC was pretty damn tough. Denver dominated the league in 98 going unbeaten until like the final 2 weeks going on to win the Super Bowl. Jets with Parcells/Belichick at the #2 with the best defense in the league going 12-4, probably better than anybody in the NFC that year. Jaguars at 11-5 were the clear #3 with the Central title, then all 3 wild card teams from the East with Marino's Dolphins, the Bills, and Pete Carroll Patriots who were AFC Champs 2 years prior. Beyond the playoff teams look at the depth the AFC had that 1998 season, you had 3 pretty damn solid 8-8 teams in Oakland, Tennessee, and Seattle that year that missed the playoffs. The teams that seemingly dominated the conference in the 90's the Steelers and Chiefs fell off but were still no slouch with 7-9 finishes. That leaves really only 4 cream puff teams that year, and I don't know that you could call that 1998 Raven's team that had Ray Lewis/Sharper/Siragusa/Rod Woodson coached by DC Marvin Lewis and having a 1,000 yard Priest Holmes season a cream puff. They finished 6-10 in their first season in their new stadium.

So the AFC's only real push over teams in 1998 were the 3-13 Bengals, then the two teams that took the QB's in the draft the 3-13 Colts(Manning's rookie year) and the 5-11 Chargers(Ryan Leaf rookie year). The Bengals had a stretch there where they were playing some tough football beating Pittsburgh and playing Denver tough, Neil Odonnell was at least serviceable starter with Pickens, Dillon, and their left tackle I forget his name being some of the best in the NFL. The rest of that conference was pretty damn tough that year. I'd say the balance shifted pretty well to the AFC in 98. I think this carried over into 1999 is why that year was so interesting, the balance between AFC vs NFC had changed, the feel of the AFC had changed. By 2000 I always believed the AFC had the 2 best teams the Ravens and Titans that their playoff game that year was the real Super Bowl(hard to imagine that at heart this was the Browns and Oilers playing with new names/cities/uniforms).

ShinobiMusashi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:42 am To me I feel like the period from 1980 to 1983 is a forgotten and overlooked little dark ages of NFL history where for some reason a lot of great games, players, teams, moments, etc just aren't remembered or romanticized as much as the 70's before or the rest of the 80's after. Something about it, at least that is how it feels to me as a 90's kid where it was before my time. I grew up on NFL films and knew all about the 70's and from 84 beyond, but for me and it seems a lot of others seems really forgotten how good guys like Brian Sipe, Lynn Dickey, Billy Simms really were, or who William Andrews was at all, or how good the 81 Bills were, or some of the offensive shootouts that took place in the 83 season(Packers vs Redskins etc), or how good of a quarterback Danny White was for Dallas, or how completely loaded with talent the 1981 draft was. You just didn't seem to hear or read much about that stuff before finding sites like this on the web.

1981 actually seen the attendance and ratings reach all time highs. They averaged over 60,000 per game for the first time in 1981, which is 93.8 percent of stadium capacity, a new record. Also ABC and CBS set new all time records for ratings with NFL in 1981, though NBC ratings for NFL games dropped a little.

To me I'm starting to think that 1982 strike just really killed a lot of momentum the league had going and had like a Graham Hancock bottleneck amnesia effect on that era of NFL history, fucked up a lot of momentum that some of the teams and players had(many of them never managing to get it back), kind of reset the league a little(especially with the 83 draft). 1980 is very similar to the 1999 season I recently covered in that it was like a reset for the league, one of those seasons where it seems like everything turned over all in one season. The 1981 season was the continuation of it and it was a fresh and exciting season that culminated in an epic playoff tournament. Then the strike killed it all in 1982, then in 1983 it was legit like people actually stopped giving a fuck about the NFL. You had the rise of the USFL that year and they were poaching top college talent, then you had a lot of media actually criticizing the NFL for being boring, ratings and attendance dropped in 1983. And then now when you look back at NFL history there just seems like there is this little window from 1980 to 1983 where there are a lot of teams and players and games and performances that somehow flew under the radar of NFL lore.

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Mon Jun 30, 2025 3:47 pm

ShinobiMusashi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:42 am To me I feel like the period from 1980 to 1983 is a forgotten and overlooked little dark ages of NFL history where for some reason a lot of great games, players, teams, moments, etc just aren't remembered or romanticized as much as the 70's before or the rest of the 80's after. Something about it, at least that is how it feels to me as a 90's kid where it was before my time. I grew up on NFL films and knew all about the 70's and from 84 beyond, but for me and it seems a lot of others seems really forgotten how good guys like Brian Sipe, Lynn Dickey, Billy Simms really were, or who William Andrews was at all, or how good the 81 Bills were, or some of the offensive shootouts that took place in the 83 season(Packers vs Redskins etc), or how good of a quarterback Danny White was for Dallas, or how completely loaded with talent the 1981 draft was. You just didn't seem to hear or read much about that stuff before finding sites like this on the web.

1981 actually seen the attendance and ratings reach all time highs. They averaged over 60,000 per game for the first time in 1981, which is 93.8 percent of stadium capacity, a new record. Also ABC and CBS set new all time records for ratings with NFL in 1981, though NBC ratings for NFL games dropped a little.

To me I'm starting to think that 1982 strike just really killed a lot of momentum the league had going and had like a Graham Hancock bottleneck amnesia effect on that era of NFL history, fucked up a lot of momentum that some of the teams and players had(many of them never managing to get it back), kind of reset the league a little(especially with the 83 draft). 1980 is very similar to the 1999 season I recently covered in that it was like a reset for the league, one of those seasons where it seems like everything turned over all in one season. The 1981 season was the continuation of it and it was a fresh and exciting season that culminated in an epic playoff tournament. Then the strike killed it all in 1982, then in 1983 it was legit like people actually stopped giving a fuck about the NFL. You had the rise of the USFL that year and they were poaching top college talent, then you had a lot of media actually criticizing the NFL for being boring, ratings and attendance dropped in 1983. And then now when you look back at NFL history there just seems like there is this little window from 1980 to 1983 where there are a lot of teams and players and games and performances that somehow flew under the radar of NFL lore.

I remember years back I saw an NFL Films timeline episode called "1984: The Season That Saved Football". That video had a clip from an NFL Today on CBS segment with "Dr. Z" Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated.

Zimmerman said and I quote "I think football has gotten away from its essence. It's essence is a certain amount of toughness. I don't like corporate type people. I don't like guys with hair dryers." Make of that whatever you will, but that was something he said in October 1984.

Oszuscik wrote: ↑Mon Jun 30, 2025 10:42 am

ShinobiMusashi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 7:59 pm

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm I think you’re being charitable about the “popularity” of the USFL. It was a novelty, and the ‘82 strike helped it in some markets, but it never reached mass popularity or even came close.

Not so much that it got super popular but was enough of a force to disrupt a few key NFL drafts and effect that era of history, also altered a few careers a few guys left the NFL at a key time in their career to where it effected how they would have been remembered(had the USFL not existed). Joe Cribbs and Brian Sipe come to mind, Doug Williams would have been one if not for the Super Bowl hero performance.

One thing I've picked up on watching the games from 1998 this Summer; this for sure was the finale of the 90's NFL, but big thing that's great about it was how serious the AFC got that season. Denver had just snapped the NFC's streak in the Super Bowl that January and the conference just looked/felt really strong and competitive in 1998. Dare I say the AFC felt more "Major League" in 1998 than it did through the 90's up to that point, where as it felt like NFC's weaker younger(but more colorful) sibling from 1990 to 1997.

1998 AFC was pretty damn tough. Denver dominated the league in 98 going unbeaten until like the final 2 weeks going on to win the Super Bowl. Jets with Parcells/Belichick at the #2 with the best defense in the league going 12-4, probably better than anybody in the NFC that year. Jaguars at 11-5 were the clear #3 with the Central title, then all 3 wild card teams from the East with Marino's Dolphins, the Bills, and Pete Carroll Patriots who were AFC Champs 2 years prior. Beyond the playoff teams look at the depth the AFC had that 1998 season, you had 3 pretty damn solid 8-8 teams in Oakland, Tennessee, and Seattle that year that missed the playoffs. The teams that seemingly dominated the conference in the 90's the Steelers and Chiefs fell off but were still no slouch with 7-9 finishes. That leaves really only 4 cream puff teams that year, and I don't know that you could call that 1998 Raven's team that had Ray Lewis/Sharper/Siragusa/Rod Woodson coached by DC Marvin Lewis and having a 1,000 yard Priest Holmes season a cream puff. They finished 6-10 in their first season in their new stadium.

So the AFC's only real push over teams in 1998 were the 3-13 Bengals, then the two teams that took the QB's in the draft the 3-13 Colts(Manning's rookie year) and the 5-11 Chargers(Ryan Leaf rookie year). The Bengals had a stretch there where they were playing some tough football beating Pittsburgh and playing Denver tough, Neil Odonnell was at least serviceable starter with Pickens, Dillon, and their left tackle I forget his name being some of the best in the NFL. The rest of that conference was pretty damn tough that year. I'd say the balance shifted pretty well to the AFC in 98. I think this carried over into 1999 is why that year was so interesting, the balance between AFC vs NFC had changed, the feel of the AFC had changed. By 2000 I always believed the AFC had the 2 best teams the Ravens and Titans that their playoff game that year was the real Super Bowl(hard to imagine that at heart this was the Browns and Oilers playing with new names/cities/uniforms).

It's amazing the drastic changes that took place between 1998 and 1999, which basically separate the 90's NFL from the 2000's NFL. You can almost list these seismic changes team by team.

Cowboys: 1998 was the last full season of The Triplets, with Michael Irvin suffering a career-ending injury 4 games into 1999.

Redskins: 1999 was the first season of Dan Snyder. Need I say more?

Eagles: 1998 was the last season before Andy Reid arrived in 1999, beginning their quality run in the 2000s.

Packers: Mike Holmgren left for Seattle and Reggie White retired after 1998, removing two pillars of Green Bay's revival.

Lions: Barry Sanders retired after 1998, ending an exciting era in Detroit.

49ers: Steve Young final season was essentially 1998, as he only lasted 3 games into 1999 before concussions ended his career. Worth noting is that '98 was Jerry Rice's last season with 1,000 yards receiving in San Fran.

Rams: The Greatest Show on Turf was born in 1999, dominating the NFL at the turn of the century.

Cardinals: Jake "The Snake" Plummer led the team to the playoffs in 1999 for the first time in 16 years.

Falcons: Jamal Anderson lasted 2 games into 1999, and the NFC Champion of 1998 fell flat on their faces.

Jets: Vinny Testaverde tore his Achilles in the first game of 1999, crippling a team that was a game away from the Super Bowl in 1998.

Dolphins: 1998 was Dan Marino's last year as DAN MARINO. In 1999 he was injured, played terribly, and was benched in his final game which ended up as a 62-7 playoff loss.

Colts: 1999 was the first year pairing Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James together, which resulted in a 13-3 season and many dominant years to come.

Oilers: They disappeared forever and became the Titans in 1999.

Browns: 1999 marked the return of the "new" Browns, a yearly dud of a team that has never matched the success of the original Browns.

Chiefs: 1998 was Marty Schottenheimer's last year as their coach.

Broncos: John Elway retired after 1998, which was also essentially Terrell Davis's final year as his injury woes would begin in 1999.