Statman
Practice Squad
- Messages
- 176
- Reaction score
- 0
Which Cowboy season was the best in history? Which was the worse?
It's difficult to express an opinion because, quite often, it's based on personal experience. However, many fans weren't around in the 70's, 80's, even the 90's. Therefore, the era in which you became a fan would probably get additional consideration that would make it difficult to form an unbiased opinion.
It's also difficult to quantify. But I'm going to try anyway.
I'm going to take each team's season in the NFL starting from the 70's when the merger resulted in a 26 team league. Otherwise, it would be difficult to compare AFL teams to NFL teams given their obvious difference in talent level when the new league first formed in 1960. So I start from 1970.
I've devised a formula that ranks each team's seasons according to their results in the following categories and with the subsequent weights in percentage of final score:
Record: 30%
Points Scored 10%
Opponent points: 10%
Offensive yardage: 10%
Opponent yardage: 10%
Point differential: 10%
Yardage differential 10%
Takeaway/giveaway ratio: 10%
I'm then going to factor in a weighting formula that compensates teams for a larger amount of competing teams. that is, a team that played in a season with 25 other teams will be evaluated differently than a team that competed in the league with 31 teams.
In effect, the score will not be influenced by rule changes, increases in athleticism or skill levels or by squad size. That's because the score will be derived from a comparison among the other teams for that particular season. What this means is that each team's season will be ranked according to the degree in which it was dominant/dominated.
I have excluded playoff results because one of the purposes of this evaluation is to show that the best team each season wins the super Bowl less than 50% of the time. This is why it has always been so foolhardy to make trades and sacrifice future quality for one season in the hopes of winning it all. Luck and circumstance always play a part and the way in which the greatest teams have been eliminated will proved some stark examples.
I will have the total results by Friday but I can tell you that the highest ranked Cowboy team was 1971.
Many remember this season as the one in which Roger Staubach took over as the starting QB and led the Cowboys to their first NFL championship. What many may not realize is that the latter part of the season, the last six games, was a point in which their two great RB's, drafted in the first round in consecutive years, were both healthy for the first time.
Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas, together with FB Walt Garrison, formed a trio that was so dominant that by the end of the season, Staubach was only throwing an average of 15 passes a game although the offense averaged 38 points.
All three RB's would receive an equal amount of carries. Sometimes Thomas would be the halfback with Garrison. Sometimes he would be the fullback with Hill, probably the deadliest combination.
That team was ranked #1 in offense in both points and yards, #1 in point differential, #1 in yardage differential, #2 in giveaway/takeaway for that season.
The worst team was 1989 when they went 1-15 followed by all three Campo teams from 2000 to 2002.
The best season in NFL history belonged to the unbeaten Dolphins, #1 in every category except takeaway/giveaway in which they were ranked #2.
It's difficult to express an opinion because, quite often, it's based on personal experience. However, many fans weren't around in the 70's, 80's, even the 90's. Therefore, the era in which you became a fan would probably get additional consideration that would make it difficult to form an unbiased opinion.
It's also difficult to quantify. But I'm going to try anyway.
I'm going to take each team's season in the NFL starting from the 70's when the merger resulted in a 26 team league. Otherwise, it would be difficult to compare AFL teams to NFL teams given their obvious difference in talent level when the new league first formed in 1960. So I start from 1970.
I've devised a formula that ranks each team's seasons according to their results in the following categories and with the subsequent weights in percentage of final score:
Record: 30%
Points Scored 10%
Opponent points: 10%
Offensive yardage: 10%
Opponent yardage: 10%
Point differential: 10%
Yardage differential 10%
Takeaway/giveaway ratio: 10%
I'm then going to factor in a weighting formula that compensates teams for a larger amount of competing teams. that is, a team that played in a season with 25 other teams will be evaluated differently than a team that competed in the league with 31 teams.
In effect, the score will not be influenced by rule changes, increases in athleticism or skill levels or by squad size. That's because the score will be derived from a comparison among the other teams for that particular season. What this means is that each team's season will be ranked according to the degree in which it was dominant/dominated.
I have excluded playoff results because one of the purposes of this evaluation is to show that the best team each season wins the super Bowl less than 50% of the time. This is why it has always been so foolhardy to make trades and sacrifice future quality for one season in the hopes of winning it all. Luck and circumstance always play a part and the way in which the greatest teams have been eliminated will proved some stark examples.
I will have the total results by Friday but I can tell you that the highest ranked Cowboy team was 1971.
Many remember this season as the one in which Roger Staubach took over as the starting QB and led the Cowboys to their first NFL championship. What many may not realize is that the latter part of the season, the last six games, was a point in which their two great RB's, drafted in the first round in consecutive years, were both healthy for the first time.
Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas, together with FB Walt Garrison, formed a trio that was so dominant that by the end of the season, Staubach was only throwing an average of 15 passes a game although the offense averaged 38 points.
All three RB's would receive an equal amount of carries. Sometimes Thomas would be the halfback with Garrison. Sometimes he would be the fullback with Hill, probably the deadliest combination.
That team was ranked #1 in offense in both points and yards, #1 in point differential, #1 in yardage differential, #2 in giveaway/takeaway for that season.
The worst team was 1989 when they went 1-15 followed by all three Campo teams from 2000 to 2002.
The best season in NFL history belonged to the unbeaten Dolphins, #1 in every category except takeaway/giveaway in which they were ranked #2.
