Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

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Bryan
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Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Bryan »

I am finishing up Tom Danyluk's book about the 1980's (Majesty & Mayhem) which I highly recommend, as well as his book on the 1970's, and in one of the last chapters Danyluk ranks the 1980s Super Bowl champion teams. I won't spoil all of it, but I found it interesting that the team he ranks last is the 1982 Washington Redskins. Danyluk's basic premise is that the Redskins aren't as talented as the other championship teams of the decade. While I agree that the Redskins didn't have a star power of the other 80's SB teams, two things the Redskins have in their favor is that they were very balanced on offense & defense and they won consistently in that time period...from a certain point in 1981 to 1983, the Redskins went 31-3 with two of the losses being by 1 point each.

So, the question is, where would you rate the 1982 Redskins on a 80's SB champ list? I think they were better than the 87 Skins, 81 Niners, 80 Raiders & the 86 Giants. Here is my list:

1) 84 Niners
2) 89 Niners
3) 85 Bears
4) 83 Raiders
5) 88 Niners
6) 82 Skins
7) 86 Giants
8) 80 Raiders
9) 81 Niners
10) 87 Skins
Brian wolf
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Brian wolf »

Good view Bryan but though the 1981 Niners were the ultimate Cinderella squad, they had a great season in terms of consistency, even with a pedestrian running game. Dean, Reynolds and rookie Lott galvanized the defense, which suffocated the Bengals and Cowboys ...
RRMarshall
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by RRMarshall »

The 82 Skins won a lot of close games thanks to K Mark Moseley, who was the league MVP that season. When the MVP of your team is a kicker, you have to say hmmmm....
Zero26
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Zero26 »

I agree with 84 Niners because they shut out 84 Bears in the NFC title game 23-0 and that group would go 18-1 the following year with much of the same team. They lost their 1 game by 3 points.

The 89 Niners were 14-2 lost their 2 games by 5 points, dominant in the playoffs and of course had Jerry Rice which the early Niner teams didn't. Team might have won with Steve Young where if Montana had went down in 84 he'd be replaced by Matt Cavanaugh. 89 Niners were dominant but the Vikings(who'd beaten Niners year before), Rams and Broncos weren't the most impressive list of playoff opponents for a Super Bowl winner. 84 Niners beat the next 2 Super Bowl winners who could be 2 and 3 in this list in the Bears and Giants. They then beat a 14-2 Dolphins team with a great offense holding them to 16. I don't think that can be topped. All with an 18-1 total record.

82 Washington hard to judge because it was a strike shortened year but they did go 14-2 the next year part of a larger 33-3 run Bryan mentioned. That run is capped off with a narrow win over the Niners who the next year would have all the glowing feats above. But then of course they got beaten very badly by the Raiders. If we take that game out of it they'd be right at the top of this list and would be a dynasty. The 82 team in particular still did only lose 1 game and avenged that loss in the playoffs. Would probably put them over all of the teams Bryan put them over except the 86 Giants.
Halas Hall
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Halas Hall »

Good list, thanks. The 1986 Giants were a team that went 14-2 in the regular season, but once the calendar turned to December they really raised their game.
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Bryan
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Bryan »

Halas Hall wrote:Good list, thanks. The 1986 Giants were a team that went 14-2 in the regular season, but once the calendar turned to December they really raised their game.
This is probably a 'moving criteria' on my part, but what I don't like about the 86 Giants is they somehow had a reputation as a powerhouse team yet they were almost just as much a Cinderella team as the 81 Niners or 82 Skins. I remember reading an article that asked "Where does the Giants defense rank among the best ever?" which was absurd on two levels. One, the 1986 Giants still finished second behind the Bears. Two, that was clearly the peak of the Giants defense in terms of dominance. They quickly lost their elite status and even in 1990 they were more of a veteran defense than a physical force. The 1986 Giants were overhyped, they weren't even the #1 seed in their conference, and they benefited in the 1986 postseason by avoiding the two teams that they didn't match up well with....the Bears and the Browns. The Bears annihilated the Giants at the start of the 1987 season, and that was the end of the 'reign' for NY.
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GameBeforeTheMoney
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

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Quick background on Moseley winning the MVP -- he set the all-time record for consecutive FGs that year. One clinched the division title. In another game he scored all of Washington's points. Now, it's important to note that John Riggins was also a finalist for the league MVP award, so they had two finalists for league MVP. Also, don't forget Theismann won NFL MVP the next season. The 82 Washington team doesn't get a lot of love, probably because of the strike. But they had a fantastic team and of course an exceptional coaching staff.

Ranking teams is always fun and interesting, we're all going to own our different conclusions. IMHO the 83 Raiders are one of the most underrated teams in Super Bowl history. That team crushed everybody in the playoffs, including the heavily favored defending champs in the Super Bowl. They scored at least 30 points in each playoff game and gave up 10, 14, and 9. They lost four regular season games, but two of them were by two points -- both to playoff teams; one was to Washington.

I don't know how they'd fare against the 15-1 49ers or the 85 Bears but I would love to watch those games to see how they'd play out. Several excellent teams in the 1980s and it was a great time to watch football.
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GameBeforeTheMoney
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by GameBeforeTheMoney »

Oh, and I forgot until just now -- that 1983 Washington set an NFL record for points scored in a regular season and that record held until 1998. Point is, that Raider defense crushed what was the highest-scoring offense in history at that point.
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Hail Casares
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Hail Casares »

Zero26 wrote:I agree with 84 Niners because they shut out 84 Bears in the NFC title game 23-0 and that group would go 18-1 the following year with much of the same team. They lost their 1 game by 3 points.
That 1984 NFC CG Bears team was being QB'd by Will Fuller. When the Bears matchup against the Niners again in 1985 at full strength, the Bears won by two touchdowns. I'm not sure how we can elevate the 1984 Niners above the 85 Bears because they beat a Steve Fuller led team and then 8 months later got beat handily by a full strength Bears team.
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Re: Tom Danyluk ranks 1980's SB champions

Post by Hail Casares »

My list:
1) 85 Bears
2) 89 Niners
3) 83 Raiders
4) 88 Niners
5) 84 Niners
6) 82 Skins
7) 86 Giants
8) 80 Raiders
9) 81 Niners
10) 87 Skins
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