Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Originally posted by 8008:
When did the Seahawks become a "rival"? They are the seahawks.. the SEAHAWKS..
They are still pretty much an expansion team that the NFL keeps around to keep divisions even,
and people should feel sorry for their loud, wayward, and obnoxious fans.
Making fun of them is like making fun of a handicapped child who doesn't know any better.
The Iowa Barnstormers are typically a more formidable team.
We might as well make the Cardinals an official rival while we are at it. Browns too. Charlotte Bobcats while we are at it.
My feelings as well. It's hard for me to hate such an ahistorical franchise.
Not trying to pour gasoline on a fire but the Seahawks were the least relevant AFC team I could think of before the 2002 re-alignment. Let's go down the list:
AFC East:
Bills - 4 consecutive super bowl appearances
Patriots - Two super bowl appearances
Dolphins - '72 Dolphins, Dan Marino.
Jets - Joe Namath and Super Bowl III
Indianapolis/Baltimore Colts - Super bowl appearance
AFC Central:
Pittsburgh Steelers - 'nuff said
Cleveland Browns - a few NFL Championships. Jim Brown. nearly beat Broncos in '80s to go to super bowl.
Cincinnati Bengals - two super bowl appearances.
Houston Oilers - many competitive teams in 70s-90s...nearly went to super bowl.
AFC West:
Denver Broncos - Six super bowl appearances, last two as champions.
Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders - Two super bowl championships.
Kansas City Chiefs - Two super bowl appearances, one as champion.
Seattle Seahawks - Nothing before realignment. Only claim to fame is producing an 80 before 80....setting the TD receiving record for Rice to break. One hall of fame player that the average fan would know (Steve Largent).
And in case you thought it's AFC only, NFC has no suckers as well:
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 5 Lombardis in 8 appearances.
New York Giants - NFL championships and 2 Lombardis
Washington Redskins - Two Lombardis, 3 appearances
Philadelphia Eagles - Super bowl appearance, 3 NFL championships, very competitive from late '80s onwards
St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals - Pretty irrelevant in Super Bowl era up to realignment, but is the oldest professional football franchise. Two NFL championships from '20s, and cursed by controversy of '25 NFL Championship.
NFC Central:
Chicago Bears - George Halas trophy named for NFC champ. A Lombardi. Historic franchise
Green Bay Packers - Title-town.
Minnesota Vikings - Four super bowl appearances, and many competitive teams in late '80s and late '90s.
Detroit Lions - Cursed for fifty years after Bobby Lane swore them off. Four NFL championships.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Ok, pretty sucky from '76-mid '90s. But turned it around in late '90s and became champs first year of realignment.
NFC West:
San Francisco 49ers - Ahem.
St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams - Three super bowl appearances (one Lombardi), two more NFL Championships. 49ers biggest all time rival in division.
Atlanta Falcons - Pretty irrelevant until Deion Sanders, Andre Rison era to kick off the '90s. Made it to the super bowl.
New Orleans Saints - Saints were pretty irrelevant. When they had a decent QB (Archie Manning) rest of team sucked. When they got a great defense, no offense.
If you take the marginal teams here up to realignment: Bucs, Falcons, Saints, Cardinals, you could argue they've done more than the Seahawks have as far as relevance since then. Jacksonville has been to AFC championship game, Carolina in a super bowl, Titans have played in a super bowl extending the Oilers success, and the Ravens have won two super bowls. Saints won a super bowl. Falcons have been very strong the last few years.
Their relevance is all recent and their coaching tree includes all guys who were SF first (Holmgren, Mora Jr, even Carroll).
When in doubt ask someone who is more relevant to the history of the NFL: Seahawks or _______?
The list ain't big, if at all.
A lot is riding on them making something of what they have now. They win a super bowl and they move up a nice # of spots.
[ Edited by JTsBiggestFan on Sep 12, 2013 at 1:21 PM ]