Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

'22/'23 Bulldogs vs Lambeau's '39 Packers...Baugh's '37 Redskins vs any of Brown/Graham's Browns teams...George Halas vs Jimmy Johnson...Grange vs Rice...Warfield vs Megatron...'69 Chiefs vs '83 Raiders...

Correct me if wrong but these are all comparisons that can't really be made due to different eras. I've been guilty of posting such comparison threads. Key example being a '70 Colts/'11 Giants one I actually did a while back which, looking back, I'm surprised got responses. Were Lombardi's Packers already in a different enough era than the '50s Browns? Or can a "who'd win if they actually played each other" debate still be legitimately applied? As for the following decade, I guess you can compare the Pack to, say, the '75 Steelers but not to the '78/'79 installment. As for players, there are some whom many consider to have been able to play in any era like Jim Brown which would warrant a comparison between he and any RB before-and-after.

I'm guessing '33 (or is it '32), some post-war season ('45? '46? '47?), '78 obviously. What exact dividing lines/years after '78 can be drawn up to 2016? How many can be drawn between WWII and that first 16-game season? As far as being able to compare two different teams, coaches, players without the immediate, "two different eras, can't compare", what 'lines' do all of you draw on a 'map' from 1920 to the present?

Interesting question. I don't think comparing across eras is that huge of a sin as long as you're looking as each half of the comparison through the lens of who their competition was and how the game was played during that era.

Moving the hashmarks in 1972 helped create a surge in the number of 1,000-yard rushers.

BD Sullivan wrote:Moving the hashmarks in 1972 helped create a surge in the number of 1,000-yard rushers.

Ironic because the change was supposed to open up the passing game by balancing off the wide and narrow sides of the field.