Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Do SB-participants, Colts & Dallas, get top-two spots anyway? Or do NEITHER? Are the 12-2 Cuozzo-led Vikes #1? I assume Bengals get left off everyone's list.

From #8 to #1, what are your by-regular-season's-end-with-a-clear-mind rankings?

The collapsing Cards? Just remember, had SIX teams been allowed in per-conference as is the case now, they STILL wouldn't have made it!

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Do SB-participants, Colts & Dallas, get top-two spots anyway? Or do NEITHER? Are the 12-2 Cuozzo-led Vikes #1? I assume Bengals get left off everyone's list.

From #8 to #1, what are your by-regular-season's-end-with-a-clear-mind rankings?

The collapsing Cards? Just remember, had SIX teams been allowed in per-conference as is the case now, they STILL wouldn't have made it!

1 through 8:

Minnesota
Baltimore
San Francisco
Dallas
Oakland
Detroit
Rams
Giants

1. Vikings...... and then everybody else.





2. Colts
3. 49ers
4. Cowboys
5. Lions
6. Rams
7. Dolphins
8. Bengals.... who get the nod over Raiders/Giants/Cardinals because of such an end of season tear they were on.

The Vikings cost themselves at least one SB win when they allowed Joe Kapp to walk. 1970 was theirs for the taking and, to a slightly lesser degree, so was 1971.

JohnH19 wrote:The Vikings cost themselves at least one SB win when they allowed Joe Kapp to walk. 1970 was theirs for the taking and, to a slightly lesser degree, so was 1971.

Gary Cuozzo had some strange power over NFL general managers:

*The Colts were able to trade him to the Saints for a 1, 3 and 7 and ended up getting Bubba Smith.
*The Vikings gave up two first rounders for him, though the Saints typically squandered them: Kvin Hardy and John Shinners
*The Cardinals picked him up after the 1971 season and gave the Vikes John Gilliam and a pair of draft picks that never panned out.

Cuozzo seemed to be a pretty decent backup but he was eminently mediocre as a starter. His value was exaggerated by the occasional excellent performance like his 5 TD game for the Colts against Minnesota in 1965.

I don't play the "what-if" game that has dominated the forum recently but I am haunted by the question, "What if Joe Kapp had remained a Viking?"

BD Sullivan wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:The Vikings cost themselves at least one SB win when they allowed Joe Kapp to walk. 1970 was theirs for the taking and, to a slightly lesser degree, so was 1971.

Gary Cuozzo had some strange power over NFL general managers:

*The Colts were able to trade him to the Saints for a 1, 3 and 7 and ended up getting Bubba Smith.
*The Vikings gave up two first rounders for him, though the Saints typically squandered them: Kvin Hardy and John Shinners
*The Cardinals picked him up after the 1971 season and gave the Vikes John Gilliam and a pair of draft picks that never panned out.

I recall reading around 1965-66 that Gary Cuozzo was the best backup QB in pro football. The theme was Cuozzo would be a star on some other team. The big day against the Vikings in 1965 accelerated this viewpoint.

Honorable mention: Cardinals

8) Colts
7) Cowboys
6) Dolphins
5) Niners
4) Giants
3) Rams
2) Lions
1) Vikings

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Honorable mention: Cardinals

8) Colts
7) Cowboys
6) Dolphins
5) Niners
4) Giants
3) Rams
2) Lions
1) Vikings

The two SB combatants are 7 and 8? The Giants are #4?

JohnH19 wrote:

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Honorable mention: Cardinals

8) Colts
7) Cowboys
6) Dolphins
5) Niners
4) Giants
3) Rams
2) Lions
1) Vikings

The two SB combatants are 7 and 8? The Giants are #4?

Guess I ignored recent history all-out with this one. Fair or not, like college rankings, that usually gets applied. Perhaps lift Dallas & Colts up to #5 & #6 respectively if I want to credit them for their annual greatness the years leading up to '70. As for strictly the very season at-hand though, Colts beat Miami and that's it. Yes, by a whopping 35-0, but Miami beat them lopsided in their 2nd affair. Dallas split with Giants and besides that, only beat 7-5-2 KC who...put up 44 in Balt. Dolphins beat Raiders outside their split with Colts as G-men swept StL, winning convincingly in both games; the first of those well before Cards' collapse, just before their Monstrous steak over Oilers/Pats/@Dallas by a combined 113-0!

Again, strictly from a power rankings perspective which, in this case, completely ignored the late-'60s leading up. That AFC East was super-weak outside Balt & Miami. Dallas getting swept by Cards by combined 58-7 along with losing to Vikes the way they did (hey, 54-13 is 54-13) doesn't help their 'power' case either.