Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000

The year that was

PFW’s Ron Pollack discusses surprises and disappointments of the ’99 season

By Ron Pollack, Editor-in-chief

Pollack: I think of surprises as positive turns, so I’ll talk about the teams that showed unexpected improvement. The biggest shock to me was the Carolina Panthers. I thought they were going to be genuinely awful when the season began. George Seifert did an absolutely phenomenal job with this team, especially the passing attack. Clearly, Seifert was not just riding the coattails of the 49ers’ dynasty when he was the head coach there. Indianapolis is an obvious choice. I thought the Colts would be much improved this season, but I didn’t think they’d be this much improved. I saw them taking one nice-sized step this season, and instead they took three giant steps. I always felt that Jim Mora did not get enough credit for the job he did in New Orleans. Given how strong the present and future looks for the Colts, Mora’s reputation should really grow by leaps and bounds as time goes on. The Rams are a team that I’m surprised by, but not as much as you might think. PFW’s Joel Buchsbaum and I talked a great deal before the season began about the Rams. Joel thought the Rams were going to be the surprise team of the season. But then Trent Green got hurt, and we backed off on our predictions for the Rams a bit. I’m shocked by how well Kurt Warner has played, but the rest of the Rams’ roster is filled with players who I thought were ready to step up this season. There are a couple of teams that did not achieve as much as expected this season but nonetheless deserve mention under the positive surprise category. Those teams are Denver and the New York Jets. Both were expected to contend for the Super Bowl. Neither came close because of crushing injuries. That said, I think it is amazing how competitive both teams played after their seasons went down the tubes. I wasn’t as high on the Jets as most heading into the season because I thought their offensive line would let them down. Instead, the offensive line became a strength. If Vinny Testaverde had not gotten hurt, the Jets would have been dynamite. The Broncos lost John Elway to retirement and RB Terrell Davis, TE Shannon Sharpe and LB John Mobley to injuries. No team, I don’t care how good, can survive that. Nonetheless, Brian Griese had a very respectable year at quarterback. If he continues to improve next season and Davis and Mobley return at close to where they were before getting hurt, the Broncos should be a handful again in 2000.

Pollack: The Dolphins are still alive, so they might still prove me right (although I doubt it), but I thought they were going to be the dominant team of this season. They certainly weren’t during the regular season. The running game is still not there, and Dan Marino has lost quite a bit to age. Green Bay was a big disappointment to me. I thought Ray Rhodes was the right man for the job. Like Ron Wolf, I was wrong. Brett Favre’s injury early in the season did not help matters. Favre pulled out some miracles almost no other quarterback could this season, but he did not perform at an MVP level much of the season. Still, I’d love to have Favre on my team if I were an NFL owner or head coach. The guy is a warrior. Atlanta had a disappointing season, but that was due to Jamal Anderson’s injury. There are a couple of teams that some people may view as disappointments, but not me. Some experts thought this was the year Arizona would break through, but heading into the season, I saw the Cardinals as a team that would take a step backward before possibly taking the next step forward. Minnesota was the Super Bowl pick of most and while they are still alive and could very well reach the Super Bowl (although I’m sticking with the Rams), the Vikings’ record during the regular season was not what most people expected. I don’t see them as a disappointment, because I was not on the bandwagon heading into the season. I thought their defense would keep them from matching last season’s regular-season success and also felt Randall Cunningham would not match his 1998 results. I was right on both counts. I think the Vikings made a huge mistake in the draft not selecting for now instead of the future. QB Daunte Culpepper was a luxury that a team trying to win a Super Bowl right now could not afford. I thought the Vikings should have either traded up in Round One to take a cornerback or selected DE Jevon Kearse. Either move would have paid off handsomely. Give credit to the Vikings, however, for getting QB Jeff George as Plan B in case Cunningham faltered like he did. George has saved the season for Minnesota.

Pollack: Kurt Warner, obviously. Anyone who says they saw this season coming for him is flat-out lying. It just may be the most improbable success story I’ve ever seen. I thought Jevon Kearse would be good, but I didn’t anticipate him being as dominating a rookie as he has been. Redskins RB Stephen Davis has been a very nice story in that he wasn’t even the favorite to win the starting job and he goes on to have a monster season. Isaac Bruce has been a surprise for the Rams. It’s no surprise that he’s a great player, but it’s been a surprise how healthy he’s been able to remain. Panthers QB Steve Beuerlein has had an astonishing season. If Warner hadn’t burst onto the scene, Beuerlein would be the shocking QB story of the year. Despite taking an unbelievable beating at times, Beuerlein went from a journeyman to the second-most productive quarterback in the league this season behind Warner. Broncos DT Trevor Pryce was an up-and-coming player at the start of the season, but he really stepped up his play several levels in 1999. Some people might consider Redskins WR Michael Westbrook to be a surprise, but I wrote during the preseason that this would be his breakthrough year (hey, if I own up to what I wrote about Rhodes, I get to take a bow for my Westbrook call).

The Archives
1999 - 2000 Season