Drinking the Green Kool Aid

The NFL’s Next Great Dynasty July 29, 2010

The 70′s had the Steel Curtain, the 80′s were dominated by Montana to Rice, in the 90′s Dallas was America’s Team, and in the 00′s, we all know too well what New England did.

So, my question today is what NFL Franchise has a chance to be a dynasty in the Teens?  A dynasty in today’s terms really means  3 championships in the decade, and prolonged success throughout the decade.  As the current CBA situation brews, we don’t know what kind of league we will have after this season…so here’s a chance to project the future going by the current standards.

When you look at all of those teams, there are a few things they all had in common: a Franchise QB, a dominant defense, at last one offensive homerun hitter, and an elite head coach.

While I am not sure there is a team that currently has all of those pieces (the Saints are probably the closest), to me there are 5 teams today that are in contention to be the next dynasty in this league…and yes, the Jets are one of them.  Some of them have young QB’s who project to be franchise players, and head coaches who are in their first few years who project to become great ones.  We’ll have to see.  Here are my 5 candidates:

NY Jets: Obviously I’m going here.  While the Jets have added a lot of pieces they will lose, they will keep a core of elite players together for a long time.  (See an earlier post on this very topic here).  But Rex Ryan looks like the right coach, and Mark Sanchez seems like the right QB, who is doing all the right things.  The missing piece right now is the homerun hitter on offense.  It might be Shonn Greene, it might be Santonio Holmes…we don’t know yet.  All of the talk surrounding the Jets has anything less than a Super Bowl win as a failure.  Good- I agree with that and love high standards.  But if something goes wrong (i.e. Mark Brunell takes ANY snaps this year), the core is going to be back in 2011, or after any lockout.

New Orleans Saints: Already the front-runner having won the first Lombardi of the Teens.  Drew Brees is the oldest QB out of any of the teams I’ll be talking about, but he seems to have another great 3-5 seasons in him.  If the Saints can add two more championships by the time he slows down, expect a Disney movie starring Dennis Quaid as Sean Peyton, overcoming his pill addiction, and Sandra Bullock as Mrs. Brees to not be far behind.  The thing about the Saints is that it was their Defense that won it for them last year.  They’ve added some nice pieces in the secondary over the last few years, and project to have one of the better D’s in the league for the next few seasons.

Baltimore Ravens: Weird thing about the Ravens- they might have one of the best OFFENSES in the league for the next decade.  They have a franchise left tackle, a franchise QB, and one of the most explosive backs in the league.  Add that to the culture of playing great defense that is embedded in their franchise, and one of the best young coaches in the league in John Harbaugh, the sky is the limit for this team for years to come.  Yes, they have some secondary issues going into this season, but I expect that to get corrected either from the draft or through free agency (I don’t know what corner wouldn’t want to play on that defense).

Green Bay Packers: The question mark here is the head coach.  Mike McCarthy seems good at improving young players to a point, but the Packers have had some teams over the last couple of seasons that have completely underachieved, especially in the playoffs.  I’m not going to write him off completely though- he has the best Quarterback in Fantasy Football, a slew of offensive playmakers, and a budding defense.  If the Packers can develop a young corner to eventually replace  Charles Woodson, the second-best defensive player in the league in 2009, they will be set for a while.

Detroit Lions: Yes, I know.  But this isn’t a joke.  Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Ndamakung Suh are three franchise players…and each could eventually be the best at their position in the NFL.  Jim Schwartz is only going into his second season, but you can see he is already changing the culture.  He also has a winner’s personality, along with a sense of humor that will keep his young team relaxed.  He was once quoted in Sports Illustrated (paraphrasing here), “Some people use the internet to watch adult videos, I go on YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlights.  That’s what gets me excited.”  Look, the Lions have a a great number of issues, especially on the line- but they appear headed in the right direction.  If they live up to my potential-dynasty billing it will likely be in the last half of the decade.  But they can get there.

Anyone I left off?