What decade was the best for watching NFL football ?

[Tsaikotic]

for me it would be late 80's to 90's...better QB's, teams kept players for they're whole career, no tuck rule, no cheating(that we know of)

[34-78-83]

For football in general and not the Bills specifically I gotta say the 80's were great.

 

Marino, Kelly, Elway, Montana, Ken Anderson, Fouts, Payton, Dickerson, Riggins, Marcus Allen, LT, Singletary, Clay Matthews, Lester Hayes, Monk, Lofton, Rice, Reed, Dent, Mecklenburg, Dorsett, Byner and Mack, Kosar, Bruce, and on and on...

[OCinBuffalo]

There was a point...middle/late 80's, early 90's, where the NFL stood for the "No Fun League".

 

This was because so many teams followed the Bears, Giants, Redskins, Eagles and to a lesser degree, Cowboys, Saints, and 49ers(on defense) form of boring-ass, run and stop the run, "the whole game comes down to the lineman", "bore us to tears" thing. Literally, games were being won by scores of 9-6. It was the best display of defense I have ever seen. But it was, massively conservative, Bill Parcells/Phil Simms "throw a pass once a quarter" football.

 

Please understand, this was AFTER or WHILE teams like the 49ers, Bengals, Browns and Dolphins had had their offensive heyday. In fact, the only teams playing big time offense were the Dolphins, Bengals, and Browns, with the 49ers as the elite. 5 teams that were fun to watch, the rest was Madden talking to Pat Summerall about fat-ass dudes grabbing each other, or, once in a while, a TE like Dwight Clark actually making a play. Why do you think Jerry Rice/Joe Montana were such stars? Because they were the only thing that was worth a "highlight". ESPN made their bones(highlights) on those guys, Warren Moon, and the Buffalo Bills.

 

But, for a while there, football became the most boring sport on the planet. Hence the N.F.L. moniker as described above.

 

I guarantee that there are still tools everywhere that are upset because the No Fun League had to get rid of Pat Summerall and let FOX start running things. I was one of the tools, so I know. But, the man announces...golf...and does hardware commercials...when he's not doing football, and you wonder why it was called the No Fun League?

 

Like everything else, every damn time the pendulum swings too far one way = Pat Summerall, it is sure as hell has to swing WAY TOO FAR the other way = why Deion, Faulk, and Sharpe were allowed to call the Colts vs. Bills game recently.

 

But, back in 88-91, lo and behold, some teams came along. These teams were all about "crazy" offensive ideas. These teams were AFC teams(what a surprise), and the boring-ass, 2-3 yards and a cloud of dust teams suddenly started to get beat by 4 TDs.

 

These teams were: to a lesser degree, the Chiefs and the Raiders, but the big time was the Houston Oilers, the Miami Dolphins, and the greatest = the Buffalo Bills. Nobody had ever seen offenses like the ones that played in the AFC. The problem? The NFL officials, the league, and every supposed "football fan" wasn't ready for it.

 

In fact, for a while there, the boring-ass people were in charge. The NFC was considered "superior" to the AFC. But, every time that one of these AFC teams played against an NFC team in the regular season, the AFC team would destroy them. See: us, the Oilers, Chiefs or Raiders....against the Giants, Bears, 49ers or Dallas the entire late 80's to early 90's. The Bills spanked every team that they ever lost a SB to, and the 49ers, within 1 or 2 years of losing to them... in the regular season.

 

The point? ==== the marketing people took over and changed the rules, the draft, and everything, and said: Pat Summerall and the rest of you boring-ass, offensive line loving, Pepto Bismol people, STFU and GTFOut.

 

And the NFL has NOT been the No Fun League ever since. Madden is the only guy who was able to survive the change. Why? Because they had to throw the boring-ass crowd something...so that's where the Dallas Cowboys "sweat meter" comes from. In any transition, you have to allow some of the old-school a chance to keep themselves relevant, productive, and therefore....still around. Madden personifies this concept better than anyone.

 

Yeah, we had to trade better football for Lowest Common Denominator = FOX coverage and Terry Bradshaw. But, we got better football games in the bargain. Nobody can say that the last 10 SBs were anywhere near as boring as the 10 before.

 

So, the answer to your question? Football is way, way, way more interesting now than it has ever been. Proof? Somebody started a new thread about how much the Giants/Redskins game sucked.....Like I said, nobody wants to watch NFC East teams' 3 yards and cloud of dust BS football regardless of everthing.

[buckeyemike]

I would think the 70s, but if you're not looking at right now, you'll miss something new.

[Whites Bay]

I've been watching in earnest since about 1970. I don't want to pine away about "The Good Old Days", and "walking to school 20 miles each way uphill in the snow", but there are two reasons that I single out the late 1980s as a different era:

 

1) I remember watching my first satellite broadcast. This was back before DirecTV and Dish Network. I mean the big, old-fashioned monstrosities that took up an entire backyard. The technology was so embryonic that it was not uncommon to catch moments where the announcers had left the booth...or, in some cases, they weren't ever there to begin with! I remember watching a Bills-Broncos game with a simple, direct feed. No talking heads, no one explaining (or attempting to explain) everything. That would just never happen now. It's.....well, it's just become so goddamn slick and overproduced.

 

2) In the same era, I remember sitting in the stands at (the then-) Rich Stadium. In between plays, one heard....the crowd. The whistles. The guy two rows in front of me explaining the formation. The officials and benches yelling (if I got close enough that game). Today it's just NOISE NOISE NOISE. There are advertisements ALL THE FRIGGIN' TIME in between each and every goddamn play! Every minute of every game is bought, sold, purchased, claimed and spoken-for. I'm one of those people that hit the "Mute" for every commercial. That doesn't happen at the Ralph! It's like Tim Horton's or Excellus is trying to drill into my brain stem.

 

To OC in Buffalo's point, I don't know if the PRODUCT - the game itself - has changed. Perhaps. It IS a more complex and faster paced game, and I think it has to be if a team wants to stay competitive in the media market. I mean, who the hell wants to watch those 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust Los Angeles Rams/John Robinson teams from 1983?

 

What has DEFINITELY changed has been the PRESENTATION. And it's changed for the worse. I'll sit at home with my Mute button, thanks. I do miss the stadium (season tickets from 1990 - 1993, and 2002 - 2005) and my tailgating squadron, but it's just gone over-the-top for me.

[WellDressed]

San Diego vs. Miami

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

The 70's --- When defences were allowed to play football. When db's could smack a wr in the head and qb's were fair game well after they released the ball. No five yard buffer for wr's and no two-step rule for d-linemen. What's next, velcro flags for qb's ?

[ExiledInIllinois]

in the history of the NFL? id guess the 70s (even though i wasnt around for 90% of that decade)

 

the game was more raw and less "lasers, pop stars and players who cant get by on $4mil"

 

 

And totally more 'roids!

 

[Reed83HOF]

I can't imagine anyone here saying anything other than the 90's! The Bills team back then was awesome! I would every time Thurman made a huge run or Reed made a huge catch or Tasker gave a snot-bubbler to an unsuspecting return man.

 

Or when Bruce was planting Marino into the turf

[Fezmid]

Fez, you really need to go to a few games. TV, while better than ever, pales in comparison in many aspects to a real, live, in the stands, game.

Football in HD on TV is *FAR* better than football in real life in the Metrodome. Seriously.

 

Of course football in SD on a 13" B&W TV is still slightly better than football in real life in the Metrodome.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

85-95