Super Bowl 2012

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by MikeThierry

I'm still angry at them for screwing my team out of a superbowl in 2001. I couldn't be more happier for the Giants.

Guessing by your baseball allegiance you are a Rams fan. Welcome to the club. I've long called the Patriots the greatest house of cards in the NFL. Without the bull crap (ESPN & Walt Coleman) they'd still be a laughing stock of a franchise that they are.

[MikeThierry]

Originally Posted by Slyder

Guessing by your baseball allegiance you are a Rams fan. Welcome to the club. I've long called the Patriots the greatest house of cards in the NFL. Without the bull crap (ESPN & Walt Coleman) they'd still be a laughing stock of a franchise that they are.

Yeah, I have been a fan of the Rams since moving to St. Louis, though I was still a big Chiefs fan for a long time.

[marcshoe]

I became a Rams fan in my early teens (in the seventies) mostly for inane reasons that I've mostly forgotten, but I've never had anything like as strong an attachment to them as I have to the Reds. I hate to say it on this board, but for the last decade plus, ever since I attended a game in Pitlsburgh, I've rooted for the Steelers as much as I have the Rams.

I will say, though, that Spygate left a bad taste in my mouth. Before that, I respected the Patriots, but ever since I root against them every chance I get. It was good to see the Giants win last night and see a Marshall alum (hey, I root for WVU but my master's came from Marshall) accidentally score the winning touchdown.

[WVRed]

The Patriots are a mirage of their former selves. They have a very young defense with no running game to speak of. Everything in the offense is geared around Tom Brady, two TE's, and a questionable supporting cast. That being said, they are the best the AFC had to offer.

The Ravens have more balance than the Patriots, but Joe Flacco has been pretty inconsistent and the defense is aging rapidly. The Steelers are aging as well on defense but need to return to their identity of being a run first team. I don't see hiring Todd Haley accomplishing that. Cincinnati is a wildcard with a bright future but you have to ask if Mike Brown will screw it up.

The AFC West is abysmal to even mention any teams. Houston is an elite QB away from being a real contender in the AFC although I look for the future of that division to run through Andrew Luck and the Colts.

If you would have told me three years ago before the Colts played the Saints in the Super Bowl that the NFC was the superior league I would have laughed you off of this thread. It is pretty telling though that a NFC WC team the past two years has knocked off a heavily favored team from the AFC.

[RedsBaron]

Originally Posted by WVRed

If you would have told me three years ago before the Colts played the Saints in the Super Bowl that the NFC was the superior league I would have laughed you off of this thread. It is pretty telling though that a NFC WC team the past two years has knocked off a heavily favored team from the AFC.

It seems as if the NFL goes through cycles where one conference is clearly superior to the other. In the 1970s the AFC was unquestionably the better conference with the Dolphins, Steelers and Raiders rivaled only by the Cowboys. After a brief period of rough parity between 1980 and 1983, the NFC then had a long reign as the dominant conference from 1984 through 1996, lead by the 49ers, Giants, Redskins, Cowboys and Bears. The Broncos upset of Green Bay in the 1998 Super Bowl seemed to herald a changing of the guard, lead first by Denver and the Ravens, and then by the Patriots, Steelers and Colts. Now it appears we may have another change, as the Giants, Saints and Packers were probably the three best teams in the NFL now (and the last three Super Bowl winners).