At this point we are playing with house money.
Not in the "plucky underdog out performing any reasonable season expectations" sense but in the we have been awesome and no one can take that away sense and now we are just creating more head shakes of disbelief. Sure if they lose sunday we as fans and they as a team will take our lumps. There will also be the inevitable "that may have been the last hurrah" stories (which may or may not turn out to be true). And yea it may take time for the venom and jelousy to subside, But 5 or 10 or even 50 years from now EVERY one (still watching football) will know what we know.....That this was THE team for the Ages and that 15 years of unequaled dominance in a parity environment has been and and never will be equaled. This is run we tell our grand kids about. Baltimore or Indy wont be sitting around a stove in 30 years taking about what a epic defense that 2000 team was or how epic the 2006 Superbowl was. This team is our Babe Ruth, Ted Williams (with the championships), Mickey Mantle and 59-69 Celts.
Just look at the obstacles that needed to be overcome to make this happen.
1. You need a Great Player at the most important position who is successful from his rookie season.
2. He needs to stay healthy for the vast majority of that time period
3. He needs to check his ego at the door (allowing cap room and providing invaluable leadership)
4. You need other great units on the team to step up at crucial times during the run (Def, STs, OL , RB)
5. You need a Great coach who checks HIS ego at the door and focuses the team on the single purpose of winning.
6. You need a Patient consistent owner
7. You need some luck from a "incompetent opponents" perspective.
8. You need multiple "diamond in the roughs" who augment your team throughout the run
9. You need that some "I just want to win" guys and be a place they WANT to go there because they believe it will be the place.
And thats just off the top of my head. I am sure we could add more.
Not in the "plucky underdog out performing any reasonable season expectations" sense but in the we have been awesome and no one can take that away sense and now we are just creating more head shakes of disbelief. Sure if they lose sunday we as fans and they as a team will take our lumps. There will also be the inevitable "that may have been the last hurrah" stories (which may or may not turn out to be true). And yea it may take time for the venom and jelousy to subside, But 5 or 10 or even 50 years from now EVERY one (still watching football) will know what we know.....That this was THE team for the Ages and that 15 years of unequaled dominance in a parity environment has been and and never will be equaled. This is run we tell our grand kids about. Baltimore or Indy wont be sitting around a stove in 30 years taking about what a epic defense that 2000 team was or how epic the 2006 Superbowl was. This team is our Babe Ruth, Ted Williams (with the championships), Mickey Mantle and 59-69 Celts.
Just look at the obstacles that needed to be overcome to make this happen.
1. You need a Great Player at the most important position who is successful from his rookie season.
2. He needs to stay healthy for the vast majority of that time period
3. He needs to check his ego at the door (allowing cap room and providing invaluable leadership)
4. You need other great units on the team to step up at crucial times during the run (Def, STs, OL , RB)
5. You need a Great coach who checks HIS ego at the door and focuses the team on the single purpose of winning.
6. You need a Patient consistent owner
7. You need some luck from a "incompetent opponents" perspective.
8. You need multiple "diamond in the roughs" who augment your team throughout the run
9. You need that some "I just want to win" guys and be a place they WANT to go there because they believe it will be the place.
And thats just off the top of my head. I am sure we could add more.