The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pats?

Post Reply
User avatar
74_75_78_79_
Posts: 2331
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:25 pm

The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pats?

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

In the 5-playoff-teams-per-conference era of '78-thru-'89, general consensus has the '85 Broncos as the best '6th'-seed team. In the following era since 1990 of 6-playoff-teams-per which has now come to a close, and given that the '91 Forty Niners and '08 Patriots seem to be the unanimous top-two such squads, who IYO is the best '7th'-seed team besides them?
7DnBrnc53
Posts: 1234
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:57 pm

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by 7DnBrnc53 »

The 1993 Dolphins are a good candidate. Even though they collapsed after starting 9-2, they had some bad breaks (Marino's injury, Terry Kirby's fumble against the Steelers, Mark Ingram being called out at the end of the game @NE in Week 17 when he may have been in), and they did win @Buffalo and Dallas that year (both SB participants).
User avatar
Todd Pence
Posts: 754
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 9:07 am

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by Todd Pence »

2005 Chargers
User avatar
74_75_78_79_
Posts: 2331
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:25 pm

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

Todd Pence wrote:2005 Chargers
Actually, the Chiefs were '#7' in the AFC in '05. Vermeil's last squad. They finished 10-6. Not much of a defense, but #1 offensively in yards. They beat the 10-6 Redskins and later the Pats and Broncos in back-to-back weeks; and beat...those Chargers convincingly penultimate week. Chargers are a very worthy non-playoff mention just the same! Brees' last year there. Snack in-midst of 12-4 and 14-2 outputs! It's easy to forget that they didn't make the playoffs. They almost beat the Steelers on MNF in Week #5; James Harrison making an INT and leaping over LT.
7DnBrnc53 wrote:The 1993 Dolphins are a good candidate. Even though they collapsed after starting 9-2, they had some bad breaks (Marino's injury, Terry Kirby's fumble against the Steelers, Mark Ingram being called out at the end of the game @NE in Week 17 when he may have been in), and they did win @Buffalo and Dallas that year (both SB participants).
I don't know. I remember even after they beat Dallas sort-of feeling they were a bit paper-tiger-ish thus far; even if they wouldn't have won in that flukish way. Marino being out, and fresh memories of the previous year's AFCCG-debacle didn't give me much faith in them going far even if they had averted that slide. But a slide it was and an 0-5 finish is an 0-5 finish.

Declaring a solid 3rd-best '7th'-seed from '90-thru-'19 isn't easy. Seems as if there's the two mentioned OP of this thread, then quite a fall-off from there as well as there being numerous teams for '3rd' that may be interchangeable with each other. One of those 'interchangeables', perhaps, could be Wannstedt's 2003 Dolphins. 10-6 finish. A solid defense (#3 in points-allowed), beat the Ravens and put up a 40-burger over Tuna's Cowboys on Turkey Day (the 10-year-and-two-day anniversary of that very Leon Lett classic). Likely Jay Fielder's best-ever game putting up a SBXXI/Simms-esque performance going 16-for-20, 3TD/0INT, all three of those TDs to Chris Chambers with Ricky Williams rushing for over 100. They also gave the Pats two good games but, then again, many gave those Champs-to-be good games in '03!
7DnBrnc53
Posts: 1234
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:57 pm

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by 7DnBrnc53 »

2003 Dolphins

Finished 10-6, but lost tie-breaker with Denver. Had four Pro-Bowlers on defense (Ogunleye, Z. Thomas, Surtain, Brock Marion). Defense had 22 INT's, 44 sacks, and finished third in points allowed. Offense was paced by RB Ricky Williams (1,372 rushing yards), WR Chris Chambers (64 catches) and TE Randy McMichael (49 catches).
CSKreager
Posts: 463
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by CSKreager »

74_75_78_79_ wrote:
Todd Pence wrote:2005 Chargers
Actually, the Chiefs were '#7' in the AFC in '05. Vermeil's last squad. They finished 10-6. Not much of a defense, but #1 offensively in yards. They beat the 10-6 Redskins and later the Pats and Broncos in back-to-back weeks; and beat...those Chargers convincingly penultimate week. Chargers are a very worthy non-playoff mention just the same! Brees' last year there. Snack in-midst of 12-4 and 14-2 outputs! It's easy to forget that they didn't make the playoffs. They almost beat the Steelers on MNF in Week #5; James Harrison making an INT and leaping over LT.
KC allowed 325 points in 05, albeit a 110 point improvement from 2004 (435 pts allowed)

You mentioned that Week 5 MNF game. That game ended up being monstrously important. God only knows how they would have had to break a 3-way 10-6 tiebreaker.
CSKreager
Posts: 463
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: The best '7th'-seed team since '90 besides '91 SF/'08 Pa

Post by CSKreager »

7DnBrnc53 wrote:2003 Dolphins

Finished 10-6, but lost tie-breaker with Denver. Had four Pro-Bowlers on defense (Ogunleye, Z. Thomas, Surtain, Brock Marion). Defense had 22 INT's, 44 sacks, and finished third in points allowed. Offense was paced by RB Ricky Williams (1,372 rushing yards), WR Chris Chambers (64 catches) and TE Randy McMichael (49 catches).
What's interesting in regards to DEN/MIA is that it wasn't really a common opponents tiebreaker (Both lost to N.E, DEN did not play HOU/PHI/TEN) though IND proved to be the difference (MIA lost to them, DEN beat em).

Basically Denver had a rotten record vs the NFC (1-3 vs. the NFCN), but a good record in the conference (Pats/Chiefs/Ravens only teams to get them) whereas MIA was the opposite (3-1 vs NFCE).

At the end of the day, Miami surely couldn't have fared any worse at the RCA Dome (heck, they had won 5 straight times there) than Denver did.
Post Reply