1984 Niners - 'paper champion' greatest team?

[Saban1]

About my post about the 1948/49 Browns and Eagles: I felt that the implication of TanksandSpartans' posts was that the Cleveland Browns just beat a shell of the great Philadelphia Eagles teams of 1948 and 49 and if they played those Eagles teams at full strength, then the result would have been much different. That is why I posted what I did.

I think that the 1948 and 1949 Eagles teams were great. I just think the Browns were better in those years.

BTW, I read somewhere that Greasy Neale physically attacked the Eagles owner late in the 1950 season while they were arguing. That probably had a lot to do with his firing.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Actually, TanksandSpartans, your post doesn't address what I said at all.

I think it does. The '50 Eagles were a team with numerous issues - in my opinion it was enough to render them mediocre. In your opinion, they would have been the best team in the East and possibly NFL without the AAFC merger. We disagree.

I said with a mountain of evidence why the Eagles in 1950 would have been the best team in the East and likely the NFL had there been no merger.

I don't think so at all. Even if they did hold off the Giants to win the East, I think the Rams finally get their revenge. The Rams were in the middle of a nice 3 year run.

What does Greasy Neale getting fired AFTER the 1950 season have to do with what likely would have happened in 1950 with no merger?

His relationship with ownership was bad to start the season even without the merger because there was dissension in camp - I think it makes a difference, but you make a fair point, they may have recovered from this without the opening game blowout.

And what does Thompson retiring AFTER the 1950 season have to do with his performance in 1950? I'm sure he played just as hard that year as he did any other time even if he was unhappy.

Fair point. But he was also 34 during an era QBs weren't as well protected. His performance wasn't totally off, but less consistent - more variance with a few big games helping out his totals.

do you think the Eagles would have lost to the pathetic Bulldogs and the mediocre Giants without Weinmeister, etc. And I'm still failing to see what the Eagles' record in 1959 has to do with 1950.

I don't understand why they would have had to lose to the Bulldogs. The Giants had Eddie Price, Charlie Conerly, Emlen Tunnell, and probably a few other decent players without AAFC connections. I think it would have been enough to defeat a mediocre ’50 Eagles team for the division title effectively ending the Eagles run. I honestly believe that. I think a lot of variables go into winning a championship and the Eagles just didn't have the pieces in place in '50 to do so. I don't think the run has to end with them going 0-12. It could have just as easily ended with them getting edged by the Giants. And then the same dominoes fall - Neale fired, Thompson quits, Van Buren is completely done. The '50 version of the team wasn't the same as the '47 - '48 - '49 version and I laid out some of the reasons. I probably could have just stopped with Van Buren though. As far as their 1959 record, I was just pointing out '50 being the start of a downward trend - really that can be disregarded since you mentioned you were OK with saying they were done in '51.

[TanksAndSpartans]

BTW, I read somewhere that Greasy Neale physically attacked the Eagles owner late in the 1950 season while they were arguing. That probably had a lot to do with his firing.

Yeah, that's not even the worst he's been accused of. He's always been an interesting figure in the history of pro football to me - an All-Pro back in the Thorpe era, played in a World Series, played for the Ironton Tanks, Eagles run, etc.

[BD Sullivan]

BTW, I read somewhere that Greasy Neale physically attacked the Eagles owner late in the 1950 season while they were arguing. That probably had a lot to do with his firing.

Yeah, that's not even the worst he's been accused of. He's always been an interesting figure in the history of pro football to me - an All-Pro back in the Thorpe era, played in a World Series, played for the Ironton Tanks, Eagles run, etc.

While I'm not sure if any physical violence took place, Neale and Eagles owner Jim Clark got into a screaming match after the Eagles lost 7-3 to the Giants in Week 11. They had patched things up, but supposedly Clark and the other owners were annoyed with Neale's draft selections. Neale then said he was blindsided after getting fired on 2/7/51--by telegram.