Sports What Ifs.

AltSptHst

Humm Baby Baseball posted this video:


At 14:17, the poster talks about Al Chambers, the #1 overall pick in 1979 (selected by Seattle).

Also, the year before, the Mariners took Tito Nanni sixth overall . He was another bust. However, there's more to the story: a scout by the name of Jerry Krause (yes, that Jerry Krause) was basically pounding the table for the guy that was drafted six picks later. His name: Kirk Gibson (by the Tigers).
 

Unknown

DTF955Baseballfan said:
Montana as a Chief from the start would be really interesting. Though I'm really loving the idea of him as a packer. It's amazing, I remember Lynn Dickey as being better because I started following football closely in 1982. He had a good they good year during the strike and then over 4000 yd at a time when it wasn't done very often.. But looking at the stats he was really kind of poor and would probably have been replaced In mid 1980. Enough for Montana to get them 1 or 2 more wins.
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And another thing that would help: Kansas City Chiefs RB Joe Delaney doesn't go to the Critter's Creek amusement park in Monroe, Louisiana (in OTL, he went and tried to help three drowning children in a water hole in the park--he and two of the children died) on June 29th, 1983...
 

kinnikuniverse

Fellow canadian here with a what if about a CFL legend: Doug Flutie.

What if, instead of playing in the USFL, Flutie decied to play for the Los Angeles Rams, the team that drafted him?

There were seasons in the late 80s where the Rams actually were very close to winning the NFC west against the niners many times.

1985: now obviously, even with flutie, they don't beat the 85 bears, an all time great team.


1986: the rams actually finished tied with the niners for top spot of the division, but the niners won it on a tiebreaker. The rams would lose to the eventual champions washington, but flutie might be the difference maker in having the Rams finishing 1st in the NFC west, thus the niners faces Washington in that first round matchup, while the Rams would face a weaker Bears squad. Would Flutie send the Rams to the NFC Championship game? And so, would they have a good chance at beating the Giants or whoever wins the second round game and perhaps make it to the super bowl?

1987: no chance, really, as the rams had a slump, and i dont think flutie would've changed that.

1988: now this is interesting. The rams again finishes tied at the top of the west with the niners, and again, the niners win on the tiebreaker. I think flutie makes the difference, which means niners faces minny, but the niners, given how easily they beat the vikings IRL, would pretty much do the same, but i dunno if the Rams had a chance agaisnt the niners in the second round game.

1989: rams do make the NFC championship game, but i dunno if Flutie would be enough to beat that niners squad.

So yeah, personally, depending on what happens on the other side of the bravket, i think the rams's best chance at going to.the super bowl with flutie qould be the 1986 season.

Whaddya think? Would the Rams have made it to the big dance with flutie as QB?
 
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KingSweden24

Denying the Niners a potential third ring in 88… does that make the Niners a less likely champion the following year without the experience of that thriller with Cincinnati?
 

Unknown

WI the Pittsburgh Steelers have the #1 draft pick in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft?

That year, the pick was O.J. Simpson, so do the Steelers draft him--or do they still draft Mean Joe Greene, like OTL? They did have a need on defense, IMO...
 

AltSptHst

Unknown said:
WI the Pittsburgh Steelers have the #1 draft pick in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft?

That year, the pick was O.J. Simpson, so do the Steelers draft him--or do they still draft Mean Joe Greene, like OTL? They did have a need on defense, IMO...
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Chuck Noll has always said that Greene would have been the pick regardless. And, the Rooney's probably back him because they wanted to let the coach had the final say in personnel decisions. However, passing on Simpson doesn't get him on the right foot, and the seat would have been way hotter for Noll early on.
 

Coiler

Another NFL Draft WI: The Saints pick Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 Draft instead of George Rogers. How would the quarterback smasher in New Orleans instead of New York affect the NFL?
 

KingSweden24

Coiler said:
Another NFL Draft WI: The Saints pick Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 Draft instead of George Rogers. How would the quarterback smasher in New Orleans instead of New York affect the NFL?
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LT as part of the Dome Patrol would have made those late 1980s Saints *very* fearsome
 

peeter

Coiler said:
Another NFL Draft WI: The Saints pick Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 Draft instead of George Rogers. How would the quarterback smasher in New Orleans instead of New York affect the NFL?
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The left tackle position might not be seen as valuable and LT may not be seen as great as he is now. No doubt people would still revere him but the credit for the great defense in NO would get spread out a bit more than it did IRL for the NYG. Assuming the rosters are 100% the same on the defensive end for New Orleans.

An interesting what if I’ve been thinking on is if the Patriots drafted Randy Moss in 98. I think it could potentially save Pete Carrol’s job for a few more years to butterfly away the patriots drafting brady. In fact pretty much any team could have had Randy Moss if they really wanted to
 
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DTF955Baseballfan

They hit a slump in the mid 80s before Rising again in 1987, but people forget how good the saints were compared to their past in the early 1980s.

I doubt LT alone is good enough to get the Saints to the wild card game in 1981, especially since they wouldn't have Rogers. Ssomeone else would play the Eagles though because I think he was powerful enough that the Giants go from 9 back to eight wins if not seven.

Suppose the Saints draft even a decent one later in 1981 or that one is their top goal for 1982. Suddenly, they were four and five in 1982. Give them one more win and they make the playoffs. They probably get blown out but it is their first season over .500 at 5 and 4. (Their only really close loss was to Tampa Bay so they would probably have finished 7th and lost to the Cowboys in the playoff tournament.)

Or, maybe they're the same as OTL. They were 500 in 1983 and nearly beat the Rams out for the last wild card spot. If they win that game Even in our timeline they go to the playoffs. Let's say they have a better offense by this time. They would probably go to the playoffs and win the wild card. With the 49ers at 10 and 6, they could potentially even win the division.

They're not getting by Washington though. Washington was really revved up in the opener so they would beat the 49ers even if the 49ers were the wild card, and then Washington would beat the winner of New Orleans and Detroit. Either that or Washington clobbers New Orleans in the divisional round.

If they have won a playoff game, though, and finished above 500 for the first time in franchise history, does that save Bum Phillips' job for another year or two? I don't know if his leaving was health-related, though, so maybe not.

The Giants won a few close games in 1986. Depending on who they have instead, I wonder if they could be the wild card that year. They would then go to Chicago and if they win there probably washington. With Lawrence Taylor as the MVP it is possible that they miss the Super Bowl although they had enough other good players and probably do draft pretty well otherwise.
 

Unknown

WI the New Orleans Saints lose their Week 7 and Week 10 games to the Rams and Falcons and go 1-13? (In OTL, they won both games by 27-26 and 21-20, respectively--or one point each.)

This means that they have the #1 pick in 1978, not Tampa, which means that they draft Earl Campbell--and they're not going to trade him to Houston, IMO...\

Effects, anyone?
 

AltSptHst

Unknown said:
WI the New Orleans Saints lose their Week 7 and Week 10 games to the Rams and Falcons and go 1-13? (In OTL, they won both games by 27-26 and 21-20, respectively--or one point each.)

This means that they have the #1 pick in 1978, not Tampa, which means that they draft Earl Campbell--and they're not going to trade him to Houston, IMO...\

Effects, anyone?
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The Saints had Chuck Muncie and Tony Galbreath in their backfield, and they didn't have a very strong defense (they were 26th in total points allowed and 25th in yards given up in 1977). So, I think they take Kentucky DE Art Still #1 overall. That would have been a pick that strengthens two positions (Still plays DE, and they can move Elois Grooms to DT where he belonged).

Then, at #2, the Bucs still trade with the Oilers, who still get Campbell.

As for KC, maybe they take Wes Chandler at #3. New HC Marv Levy wanted defense, but the next defensive player taken was Ross Browner (eighth overall by Cincy), and their WR core was desolate outside of Henry Marshall (maybe that is a trade down spot in this world).
 

Nivek

Don Corleone said:
They don't have Merriman or Kaeding (those guys were drafted with extra picks from the Eli trade).

Better path would be Arizona takes Rivers at 3 and San Diego takes Fitz at 4.
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That's the point but I think for the Cardinals was Eli or Larry no matter what. I think if either was out, either we take Sean Taylor to be the new Aeneas Williams or rivers/Ben (dunno if cardinal found any character issues on Ben unlike the browns)
 

AltSptHst

In an earlier post, I talked about how Parcells wanted to go back to the Giants in 1997. I also heard something (this was from Fred Edelstein. Someone posted ESPN's NFL Game Day pre-game from SB 25, and Berman was interviewing him) very interesting: Before Super Bowl 21 (against the Broncos in Jan. 87), Parcells came to a secret agreement with the Falcons to be their HC. The Giants heard about it, and put a stop to it.

However, what if the Falcons and Giants came to an agreement, and Atlanta sent their first and third round picks in the 87 draft to the Giants for Parcells?
 

MartinD

"With the second pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the New York Jets select Justin Fields, quarterback, Ohio State."

There are quite a few interesting 'what if?' scenarios in the 2021 draft, with 5 quarterbacks taken in the first 15 picks, but this one is somewhat topical, with Zack Wilson being relegated to third string for the Jets this week. Fields was seen by several draft analysts as the second-best QB available at the end of the 2020 college season, so seems to be the most obvious alternative for the Jets if they don't have the same fixation on Wilson that seemed to happen OTL.

This would also have significant knock-on effects on later picks - it seems to me that San Francisco would probably take Wilson at 3, and there were several teams that could justifiably take a QB with their first-rounder that didn't OTL (Atlanta at 4, Carolina at 8, Denver at 9) who may have been sufficently interested in Lance (or Wilson, if the 49ers do still pick Lance) to select a QB instead of TE Pitts, CB Horn or CB Surtain. Even if Lance and Jones are still on the board after the first 10 picks, are Chicago interested enough in either of these QBs to trade up, as they did for Fields?
 
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