Originally posted by WildBill:Originally posted by nw9erfan:With all due respect Wild Bill, it appears...to quote Walter Matthau in JFK....that you are "picking knat sh*t out of pepper").
If you read each of the points I made that you disagreed with, you will notice that I made a general statement which allows for enough room to include the points you made.
For example, I do think the '81 team had an aggressive defense, just in a different way than the current one. The young CBs in '81 played a lot of man coverage for example and that team blitzed a fair amount too.
I agree with you that Montana was more consistent in '81 than Smith has been this year but don't forget that '81 was his first full season as a starter in the NFL and his stats didn't jump out at anyone. He was "efficient", as I stated. Thus far, Smith has been "efficient" too.
Even though the Tampa team of '11 doesn't compare to the Dallas team of '81 (I also agree with you there), it still is regarded throughout the league as a "strong opponent"...
Both the '81 and '11 teams experienced success with creative game plans....I intentionally was no more specific than that because I recognize that the offensive approaches are different because of the players on the rosters. That '81 team had some good receivers (Clark, Solomon, Wilson) and few good RBs whereas the current team has Gore and Hunter and at least thus far, a pretty limited passing attack.
All of that being said, I appreciate you reading my initial long post and it proves you were around in '81 and were paying attention...
Cheers!
I may be picking at knat (what the hell is a knat or did you mean gnat?-hee hee, yes I'm picking again), but the post was "similarities" so just pointing at the gnat $hit.
Montana strung his efficiency together to make long drives more often. Where as Alex whether fair or not, has not. He has not turned the ball over, and his completion percentage is high, but Joe would string them in a way to make first downs and keep the drive going. Alex has had short fields because of ST and defense. Just being honest having been there, I don't think the defense would hold up back then if they had to play the way they did with this offense.
My other point is that Dallas was more like the Pats, Ravens and Packers, championship contenders while Tampa is just playoff contenders. Again gnat $hit, but meaningful gnat $hit.
I don't see the defense as agressive back in the day, just fundementally sound. They did
Are you saying that the 81 defense was not aggressive? I was just watching the 81 Americas game and db's were just flying around hitting people. If they had played in this era they would go broke with all the fines, including Eric wrights horse collar tackle on drew Pearson. I would love to have the 81 db's on this team.
