Volume 1: First and 10
Hello my fellow SKAmericans, and also EDTGO. I kid ED, I kid. But seriously, do you have your green card available to show? Just for funsies.
Welcome to the first edition of Mornin’ Bias with MB3, the one and only “St Louis” Rams fan on this entire blog, and thus, the ultimate truther. Not like that hack BKOB. Did you know that BKOB has posters of Bill O’Reilly AND Brian Williams in his bedroom? Its true. They’re right next to his Danny O’Neill dartboard.
Over the next few months, or until Keal has to sell the site to Amazon to pay for his raging PCP habit, I will take you on a trip through some of the most topical NFL stories, such as player discipline, comparing players of different eras and whether Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers is more gay.
This will be an opinion based column, because as Charles Barkley reminded us a couple of weeks ago, stats are for nerds that didn’t get any girls in high school. Also, they take time to look up, and I have a limited amount of time between work, getting inebriated, and banging strippers while my girlfriend waits for me to come home.
Also, as any NFL scout will tell you, the eye test still rules in the Sport of Kings
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For the first installment, we’ll take a brief look at the greatest teams in the short history of the currently confirgured NFC West. For purely Biased purposes, this list will include teams from the “beginning” of the 21st century, although the actual division started a couple of years later. Feel free to disagree, debate or bitch about it. But the list is comprehensive and infallible.
Part 2 will come later this week and include my predictions for the Rams 2015 draft picks. Its short, since the Rams forked over 2 picks (a 4th and a 6th) to acquire Nickel S/LB Mark Barron during the 2014 campaign.
Top NFCW Teams of all time (in reverse order):
10. 2001 San Fran 9ers – Possibly the best 9ers squad in the long gap before returning to relevance under famed psychopath Jim Harbaugh. Led by Pro Bowlers Jeff Garcia, Garrison Hearst, Terrell Owens, and Bryant Young, they finished 12-4. Getting swept by the Rams probably kept them from achieving further success, and their season ended with a 25-15 Wild Card loss at Green Bay.
9. 2003 Seattle Seahawks – An average 10-6 finish and 1st round playoff exit. However, this team served notice that the Hawks were to be taken seriously. Fronted by the ridiculous OL duo of Jones/Hutchinson and a balanced overall team, they also established what have become two seattle traditions: being significantly better at home, and having a QB end the season with a terrible pass.
8. 2014 AZ Cards – Oh what might have been. A fast aggressive defense, calculatedly aggressive deep passing, and just enough mojo from Coach Bruce Fester. This team was cruising to a 1st round bye until Jeff Fisher twirled his villainous mustache and tore Carson Palmer’s knee on a play that he was not touched. Starting Ryan Lindley in the playoffs also qualifies them for several Top 10 Comedy lists.
7. 2011 San Fran 9ers – The arrival of Harbs and rookie phenom/crime magnet Aldon Smith reinvigorated a talented but underachieving team, most notably the improbable resurrection of career draft bust Alex Smith. A wild win over the Saints in the playoffs followed immediately by a crushing loss to goober legend Eli Manning would define the roller coaster Harbs tenure in a nutshell.
6. 2008 AZ Cards – Arguably the worst team on this list, they lost 3 games by 20+ points including 47-7 at New England in week 16. But oh what a playoff run. The resurgence of future HOF QB Kurt Warner lit a fire under long-suffering talents Fitzgerald, Boldin and Wilson and they came within an incredible pass by unconvicted rapist Ben Roethlisberger of a Lombardi trophy. In a surprising move, the team awarded a playoff share to Carolina Panthers QB Jake Delhomme.
5. 2005 Seattle Seahawks – The 2nd of 4 straight Super Bowl losing teams on the list, this was probably the peak team of the early-mid 2000s Seahawks run and they almost cashed in. A surprisingly flat big game performance against a 6th seeded Pittsburgh team that was worse than we remember was further marred by incessant whining over the officiating by the future best fans in the history of football ever.
4. 2001 St Louis Rams – A historic offense that was bolstered by the arrival of defensive guru Lovie Smith and three 1st round rookies on defense, this team finished 14-2 and was really only challenged through 19 weeks by a Saints team that had been a constant divisional nemesis. In reality, probably the best team on this list. But when you lose a SuperBowl as a 14pt favorite, Spygate or not, you drop a few spots.
3. 2012 San Fran 9ers – I tried to avoid teams from consecutive seasons, but the stark contrast from lateral passer Alex Smith to Run-Gun Instagram Terrorist Colin Kaepernick was enough to warrant it here. The league was simply not ready to expose Kaep yet, Harbs coached wonderfully and the defense was 70s-Steeler like. Sadly, the Ravens were a terrible matchup on both sides of the ball, and not even a league-imposed stadium blackout was enough for a comeback win in the Big Game.
2. 2013 Seattle Seahawks – Now we’re getting cooking. The whole convoluted reason for this list was to rank this team #2 and burst BKOB’s temples. A great defensive setup, two great RBs and cutting edge stadium sound, what more can you say? This was a great, great team, but not quite as great as team #1. We will expound on this topic in a future edition of Mornin’ Bias.
1. 1999 St Louis Rams – The Greatest Show on Turf. You know the story of the offense, and it will be the subject of a fantastic 30for30 in the next few years. When all is said and done, this team could have 7 Hall of Famers (Faulk, Pace, Warner, Holt, Bruce, Timmerman, Fletcher.) They could beat you multiple ways: shootout, slugfest, indoor/outdoor, you name it. Also fantastic in all phases of special teams and criminally underrated on defense. And yes the Super Bowl was played in 2000 so they make the 21st century cut. Suck it, its my column.
I hope you enjoyed skimming this first edition of Mornin’ Bias. I promise none of the others will be anywhere near this long (that’s what she said)
Now back to the comments and butt gifs.
