I am a avid American football fan so this will be my ten favorite NFL teams. Instead of picking one year, I am picking teams throughout my 25 years of watching the NFL, and some of the teams really were not that good, but I liked them nonetheless. Anyway to the list.
- 2001 New England Patriots
Regular season 11-5
Won Super Bowl xxxvi (36)
The Patriots are my favorite team, so they have to be number one in my list. This particular team though not the flashiest, won with heart, intelligence and teamwork. Their star quarterback Drew Bledsoe got severely injured in week 3 and a 6th round pick Tom Brady came in with no experience and led them to the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl the Patriots were 14 point underdogs (that means they were favored to lose by 2 touchdowns!) The Patriots set a new standard for Super Bowl introductions when they came out as a team instead of one by one, going against the NFL's directions. They used that teamwork well, shutting down the St Louis Rams vaunted offensive attack by hard hitting, and good tackling. Even better Adam Vinateri kicked the wining field goal with seven seconds left winning 20-17 What a game and what a season!
- New England Patriots
2003 Regular season 14-2
Won Super Bowl xxxviii (38)
This Patriots team started off slow as well. Five days before the season started, the Patriots released Lawyer Milloy, the captain of the defense, because his play had fallen off and he still demanded more money. The result was a bad loss in the first game of the season 31-0 to the Buffalo Bills. But the Patriots soon realized why they were there, to win the Super Bowl and despite mounting injuries, they set about doing just that.
They won in every way possible. If you got into a defensive struggle with the Pats you lost, If you wanted to engage in a shootout you still lost, this team did everything necessary to win. In the Super Bowl this time the Pats were favored to beat the Carolina Panthers a team that was described as this years Patriots, referring to the 2001 Patriots, a tough plucky team. And tough they were but a copy never beats the original, and the Pats pulled it out (again!) with a Adam Vinateri field goal at the end, winning 32-29 in one of the best Super Bowls I even seen.
- 1988 New Orleans Saints
Record 11-5
Lost in First Round of the playoffs
This Saints team of the late 1980's was a choke artist team to be sure, but they had one of the most stifling defenses I have even seen. With a linebacking corps of Ricky Jackson, Pat Swilling, Sam Mills and Vaughn Johnson, the defense always swarmed to the ball and it was always 3 or 4 guys who made the tackle. They hit hard and allowed the fewest points of any NFL team that year, but they had a pretty bad offense and lost in the playoffs.
- 2000 Baltimore Ravens
Won Super Bowl xxxv(35)
I really should hate this team, they were arrogant, talked trash, played dirty, but these guys were the second best defense I had even seen, period.(Chicago '85 was the best) If they were not the jerks they were, perhaps I would have put them number 3. They were led by Ray Lewis, the most intimidating man in football, who had just beat a murder rap earlier that year, The Ravens also swarmed to the ball and hit very hard, eventually beating the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl 35
- 1981 San Diego Chargers
Lost to Cincinnati in the playoffs
This team led by Don Coryell and Dan Fouts, was one of the most exciting offensive teams ever, the almost always passed the ball, so much that the coach was nicknamed Air Coryell! The had good receivers in John Jefferson, Kellen Winslow, and I believe Wes Chandler, The won all of their games with scores like 38-34, so they were exciting week in and week out, but defense wins championships, so the Chargers could only get so far in the playoffs.
- 1990 Philadelphia Eagles
Lost in Playoffs
This is a team with another stifling defense, Led by Buddy Ryan the creator of the ''46'' defense, this teams was loaded with stars like Reggie White,Clyde Simmoms, Eric Allen, Jerome Brown, Seth Joyner, and more, they were the most talented defense I have ever seen (but not the best, they did not play as a team enough) They made electrfying plays, but generally fell short thanks to a conservative offensive philosophy.
7 1981 san Francisco 49ers
Record 11-5
Won Super Bowl xvi(16)
I actually hate the 49ers, but they did give me a thrill in the 1981 title game against my most hated team the Dallas Cowboys. Ask any older football fan about ''The Catch'', and he will know what you were talking about, it was this game and this team. The 49ers were down 24-28 and they needed a touchdown to win, time was running out, and they were on the Cowboys 15 yd line, Joe Montana, cool as ever, scrambled out of the pocket with Cowboys chasing him, and found Dwight Clark in the endzone for a leaping fingertip catch. This signaled a end to the semi dynasty the Cowboys had going (Pittsburgh was the true dynasty of the 1970's) and the rise of the 49ers'. They went on to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 21-16 in a somewhat boring Super Bowl.
8 St Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals last 25 years
Won one playoff game in those 25 years
I like this team because it makes me laugh, they are so bad. They cannot draft, their good players always leave, they play in 100 degree heat, they always grab over the hill stars (re Emmitt Smith, Seth Joyner) their owner is a cheap blubbering fool (Bill Bidwell) This team is only good for comic relief, but they are good at that!
9 1985 New England Patriots
record 10-6
lost in Super Bowl to Chicago Bears 46-10
This New England team holds a record that still stands to this day, they won 3 playoff games on the road to get to the Super Bowl. This team had heart on defense, and took the ball away more times than any other team that year. Stars like Andre Tippett, Steve Nelson, Raymond Clayborn, and Roland James powered the defense, while Craig James powered the offense with his legs, I would have ranked this team higher, but they got crushed in the Super Bowl and it still brings me pain to write it down!!! :)
10 Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, St Louis Rams, SF 49ers
record: who cares as long as they stink.
These are my favorite teams...to hate, but if you did not hate any team, who else would you root against?
