From: mzimmers@netcom.com (Michael Zimmers)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Re: Niners 21, Saints 20
Keywords: WORSHIPMORANOW
Date: 19 Nov 92 02:30:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.1992Nov19.023016.26413
Distribution: usa
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Nov18.232416.26915@nntpserver.chevron.com> hjjcl@usho77.hou281.chevron.com (J.J.Clyde) writes:

>Zimmers writes:

>>>More like "Third time's the charm!"  And that's what we want.  And if
>>>the Niners are playing the best ball right now (very possible), then the
>>>Saints are definitely a close second.

>>Dream on.  Niether the Niners or the Aints have the complete package.

>WHO DOES!  The '72 Dolphins?!!

I'd relax my definition of "complete package" to include a few more teams,
notably the '89 Niners and the '91 Deadskins.  We can argue these and 
others, but the point is that both the Niners and the Aints are
fundamentally flawed teams by championship standards.

>>The Bowboys still look like the class of the league, followed by Minnesota.

>Remember Zimmers, I said "the best ball right now."  Look at the past
>two weeks:
>	
>	Dallas:	37-3  over Lions,	23-27 loss to Rams.
>	Vikes:	35-7  over Bucs,	13-17 loss to Oilers.
>	Saints:	31-14 over Pats,	20-21 loss to Niners.
>	Niners:	41-3  over Falcons,	21-20 win over Saints.

I hear you.  Now if you can draw some correlation between weeks 10-11
of the regular season and success in the post-season, I'm with you.
Otherwise, it's a short-term fluke that will self-correct by January.
Two weeks is far too short a sample space from which to draw any
meaningful conclusions.

>Now can you honestly argue that the Vikes and/or Boys are outplaying the
>Saints & Whiners at this point in the season?  I take "Class of the
>league" as meaning head-and-shoulders above the rest.  FAR from that.

If you redefine "class of the league" to mean the teams with all the
parts needed to click in post-season, it applies.

>Furthermore, if the Niners were playing the Vikes or Cowboys this
>Sunday at a neutral site, who do the think the bookies would favor?

The site is irrelevant from the Niners' viewpoint.  Actually, they
have a reverse home-field advantage, but that's probably unsubstantiable.

And when considering the sports line, remember that the bookie's job is
to get equal betting on both sides.  The Niners, with their popularity
and their fans' proximity to Nevada, are regularly overrated in the books.

>Then there's that 8-2 AFL team.......Bub...Biff...Babs....whatever.....

True but irrelevant.  The action is still in the NFC.

>>I still look for Philly to get it going by playoff time, too.  It's going
>>to be a rocky road for the NFC West.

>No argument here, but it was nice to find some solace in the fact that
>the rest of the NFC 'contenders' tripped up this past Sunday.

Don't get too excited.  The fact that the NFC East also-rans went down
the same week as the contenders is interesting trivia, but little else.
Come post-season, the Bowboys, the Beagles, and possibly the Deadskins
will all have to be contended with.  And as much as I hate to admit it,
I don't see the Niners successfully running that gauntlet.  The Aints,
even less so.

>>Now if we could magically combine the Niners offense and the Aints defense...

>No use.  The r.s.f.p gods would see to it that Glanville was coach.

Oh Gawd.  His first move would probably be to reactivate Dieter Brock.
-- 
Michael Zimmers                                    |  Home:  408 996 1984
SoftHelp                                           |  Work:  408 996 1965
Software Solutions for Open Systems                |  Data:  408 996 1974