Rico Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 There's no right answer here, everyone's standards are different... but I would have to disagree on the 2000 Ravens, they didn't even win their division. To me, the greatest teams have dominated their season from start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Considering the Pats won the SB in 3 out of 4 years, they are hands down the most recent great team. And the Seahawks recent dominance in the post season and back to back SB's is nothing to sneeze at and were one play away from back to back wins. You also left out the 98 and 99 Broncos, who were outstanding all around teams. And the team that wont get much love just because of the who the QB was, but the 2001 Baltimore Ravens were pretty nasty too. They had the best Defense in the NFL since the 85 Bears, if not better, a 2000 yard rusher in Jamal Lewis, and arguably the best TE of all time in Shannon Sharp. Dilfer is why that team gets over looked, but people forget how efficient he played that year and how good he was in the playoffs. Not saying they are the greatest ever, but just pointing out how overlooked they get because people are attracted to shiny things which in the NFL is basically passing dominance. So I wouldn't say Dallas was the last great team by any means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Depends on the standard. I think post free agency NFL is vastly different from NFL of yesteryear. The Bills were the last great team of the pre free agency NFL. Patriots are the most dominant team in the post free agency era. Runner up would be the St. Louis Rams in the Greatest Show on Turf years from 1999-2004. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 There's no right answer here, everyone's standards are different... but I would have to disagree on the 2000 Ravens, they didn't even win their division. To me, the greatest teams have dominated their season from start to finish. Didn't that team go something like a month without scoring a touchdown that season, or am I thinking of another Ravens team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I'll say the 1993 Cowboys. Over the past 10 years, the only teams even close to the conversation IMO would be the 2007 Pats and 2013 Seahawks. Ridiculous how watered down the league is today. I thought this was about the Patriots this yr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah John Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 (edited) The NFL is an entertainment business. Sometimes it's good to have a kick-butt dominant team, but mostly what gets people watching and selling commercials is a lot of competitive matchups. I don't think the NFL wants dominant teams anymore. (Deflategate might have been an attempt at crippling the Pats -- not that that worked out.) Free agency is the anti-evolution breaking up of the fittest, so a team that relies on a core veteran group discovers it can't the players. The Bills keep striving but also lose talent as fast as they gain it. So do most teams. Edited November 7, 2016 by Utah John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 The 2010 Packers may have only finished 10-6, but I feel that they were a truly great team. Top 10 in both passing offense and passing defense, and beat a very good Steelers team in the Super Bowl. They followed it up by going 15-1 in the following regular season, before being upset by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Giants in the Divisional Round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cereal Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 C'mon, fellas, trick question........ 1964 Buffalo Bills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 Didn't that team go something like a month without scoring a touchdown that season, or am I thinking of another Ravens team? Yeah, their offense was brutal the first half or so of the season. Only an extreme Ravens homer could have thought they would end up winning the Super Bowl, everyone else was bitching about the O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rant_and_go Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Not too long ago Bills DC Dave Wannstedt tried to run the same defense from the '93/'94 Cowboys in the modern NFL. How did that go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HT02 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I'll say the 1993 Cowboys. Over the past 10 years, the only teams even close to the conversation IMO would be the 2007 Pats and 2013 Seahawks. Ridiculous how watered down the league is today. I think the 2007 Patriots are better than the 1993 Cowboys but its two completely different eras in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 This years Pats went 3-1 with a sack of parking tickets playing QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 2008 buffalo bills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsPride12 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 96-97 Packers and the Broncos teams that followed were both dominant football teams on both sides of the ball as well. I can't count the 2000 Ravens or 2002 Buccs because both of those teams were only dominant on Defense with very mediocre offenses. They wouldn't be able to hang with some of the all time greats that were built up on both sides of the ball like the Cowboys, Niners, Packers, and Broncos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Best Player Available Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I'll say the 1993 Cowboys. Over the past 10 years, the only teams even close to the conversation IMO would be the 2007 Pats and 2013 Seahawks. Ridiculous how watered down the league is today. It is subjective but I agree. I remember espn doing a special with Jimmy Johnson. On those teams, what ticked us off was his comments on playing the Bills. I am paraphrasing but close. " We peaked at the right time. But really our super bowl was beating the niners in the conference championship game. We knew the Bills weren't going to be a problem" Hated the f*+%#n guy ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Not a fan of FA or the rule changes. Expansion isn't that big of a factor IMO. Disagree with this. FA didn't water down the league, it simply equalized the talent from a few teams to many. It might have done away with the few powerhouse teams but it also made watching the majority of games a bit more exciting as they became more competitive across the board. Expansion, on the other hand, watered down the league. Suddenly guys were were backups were starters and guys who weren't in the league were backups. That's the definition of watering down. The biggest culprit in the quality of play declining is the practice rules that are in place now. Rules on how a defense can play (vs the pass in particular) and rules about live practices. Teams simply can't practice live drills as much anymore and we pay for it as fans. Granted, it does protect the players so there's a trade off. As for the question, I'd say the last great team was the NE team that won back to back championships in 2004 and 2005. Regular season record of 28-4 over those two seasons combined with 6-0 in the playoffs and that is a dominant team. Those back to back championships also gave them 3 SB titles in 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston's #1 Bills Fan Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Easy! 2016 Buffalo Bills!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Disagree with this. FA didn't water down the league, it simply equalized the talent from a few teams to many. It might have done away with the few powerhouse teams but it also made watching the majority of games a bit more exciting as they became more competitive across the board. Expansion, on the other hand, watered down the league. Suddenly guys were were backups were starters and guys who weren't in the league were backups. That's the definition of watering down. The biggest culprit in the quality of play declining is the practice rules that are in place now. Rules on how a defense can play (vs the pass in particular) and rules about live practices. Teams simply can't practice live drills as much anymore and we pay for it as fans. Granted, it does protect the players so there's a trade off. As for the question, I'd say the last great team was the NE team that won back to back championships in 2004 and 2005. Regular season record of 28-4 over those two seasons combined with 6-0 in the playoffs and that is a dominant team. Those back to back championships also gave them 3 SB titles in 4 years. I'm not sure that those Cheats**** teams would have performed nearly as well against the teams of 90 - 94. I would expect that the 2000 Ravens would have given them trouble as well. That last 49ers team in 94 might be the last truly dominate team. I know some may discount them since the Chargers were severely outmatched, they were in the playoff mix against Dallas every year and even the Giants in 90 - still a great team regardless. Call me a Bills homer, but our early 90s teams still would have won the division...Brady would not have been a fan of Bruce.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 (edited) Yeah, their offense was brutal the first half or so of the season. Only an extreme Ravens homer could have thought they would end up winning the Super Bowl, everyone else was bitching about the O. I know you will not believe me. But i called them as the Superbowl winning team the year before they won it. I thought the way they finished the season before was telling. This was also before the rule changes that put so much emphasis on QB play. I told my friend the Ravens are going to win the SB. To this day he calls me and asks every year who is going to win it- i have not been right again! Ha There are so many great teams. I am not sure who i could go with. Being an O lineman i have to say those Dallas 90's teams were pretty stout. The best oline probably ever. I always say E Smith's greatest attributes were his ability to stay healthy and his vision to see the gaping holes his line opened up. Not sure they are the last great team. I was fortunate enough to see them in the Super Bowl that year. I also saw the 85 Bear's team in the Super Bowl. That 85 Bears team was complete bad*ss. They recorded the Super Bowl Shuffle before the season ended. Think about that. Damn the Dolphins for beating them. Edited November 8, 2016 by atlbillsfan1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuklz2594 Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 steelers 1970's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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