The history split was part of the deal Art Modell made with the city of Cleveland to allow him to move to Baltimore with the 1.0 version.
Sure, it was good Cleveland kept the rights to the name and logos, but to me it stretches credibility to treat the Ravens as a brand new franchise that just happened to have the same players as an existing one while treating the new Browns as the same as the old team even though they didn't play for three years after the move and needed an expansion draft.
Functionally I agree with you, but legally that was what the deal struck was and the fiction the league and all its properties will follow.
Would that it were so simple.
It's not like the Ravens built a dynasty with the 1995 Browns. By the time they won their first Super Bowl for the 2000 season, only one player from that team was on the roster and the coaching staff was overhauled. That team had basically as much in common with Belichick's Browns as the 1999 revival team.
On the flip side, Baltimore seems to treat the Ravens as an extension of the original Baltimore Colts. Like, their Ring of Honor lists Ray Lewis and Raymond Berry together as if they played for the same team.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Jan 21st 2021 at 11:33:39 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Would that it were so simple.
Hey, since Tom Brady is about to play in his 14th conference title game, here's a Boston Globe article from nearly twenty years ago before the start of the 2001 season.
Patriots make Brady No. 2 quarterback
Coach Bill Belichick said yesterday that second-year pro Tom Brady has been promoted to backup ahead of Huard, a five-year veteran.
“I’m not saying that that situation will be that way every week throughout the year,” Belichick said, “but based on the preseason, we just feel like Tom, right now, is a little bit of ahead of Damon in terms of handling the team.”
Brady, a sixth-round pick in 2000 out of Michigan and the team’s fourth quarterback most of last season behind Bledsoe, John Friesz, and Michael Bishop, drew praise from Belichick and the coaching staff for his work in spring minicamps, to which he showed up noticeably bigger. Brady was diligent in offseason workouts, adding at least 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pound frame.
Brady held Belichick’s attention during training camp and exhibited great poise in four exhibition games, completing 31 of 54 passes for 384 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. But it wasn’t the numbers that convinced Belichick Brady was better-suited to step up in the event of an injury to Bledsoe. It was Brady’s ability to direct the offense, which he did well even last year as a rookie.
“I don’t think there was any question in anybody’s mind that Tom had clearly taken over the leadership of that entire group [of last year’s rookies] — offense, defense, everybody that was involved,” said Belichick. “I think he was well-respected.
“Tom has a lot of natural leadership. [It] was something that all those players saw and looked up to, and it was easy to see that it was a natural thing for him and he was very comfortable doing it.”
Brady said he didn’t come into the season with aspirations of overtaking anyone.
“I think I approached it like I’ve always approached it,” said Brady, who was inactive for 14 games last year and played in one (three attempts, one completion for 6 yards against Detroit). “Whether I’d be No. 2 or No. 3, I’d always be ready to play.
“I’ve always taken the approach that you control the things you can control, and that’s just your own performance. So you go out there and you do the best you can. It just all worked out this week that I’m No. 2.”
The move was prompted more by what Brady did than what Huard didn’t. Against the Giants Aug. 10, Huard was first to relieve Bledsoe and looked sharp, completing 9 of 12 for 85 yards despite taking a number of hits. But Brady also played well in that game (8 for 14, 92 yards), and Belichick wanted to see how he would do against a first-string defense.
The following week against Carolina, Brady took advantage of the opportunity, subbing for Bledsoe after the first series and going 11 of 18 for 122 yards and a touchdown, New England’s first of the preseason.
Neither Huard nor Brady played much against Tampa Bay, and Brady got all of the relief duty in the exhibition finale against Washington. He hit on 11 of 19 for 166 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown toss to Kevin Faulk.
“Nobody’s down or disappointed with Damon in any way,” Belichick said. “We just think that Tom has had a real good preseason, and he’s played well in some opportunities that he’s gotten against good competition. Maybe it’s because he’s been here for a year and has a little bit more knowledge of the system, but I just feel like, right now, he’s the next-best in terms of being able to handle the whole team.”
Huard handled the demotion with class.
“Certainly you’d like to have the first crack at it if something happens to Drew — hopefully, nothing does,” said the 27-year-old Huard, who got a $375,000 signing bonus and will count $600,000 toward this year’s salary cap, an expensive third quarterback. “But either way, the guy who goes in there next better do well, because I’m on his tail, or he’s on my tail, one way or the other.”
In the offseason and at the beginning of camp, Belichick insisted that Huard (5-1 in six career starts) was the No. 2 QB because “he’s won in this league, and that’s not easy to do.” When asked what changed his mind, Belichick said simply, “Four preseason games.”
But experience has taught Huard that depth charts aren’t etched in stone.
“I’ve been around this game for a while now, and I realize how fast things change, how you have to be prepared because you never know when your opportunity is going to come,” Huard said. “All you can do is stay positive.”
Patriots fans may remember that Huard, playing in place of an injured Dan Marino, beat the Patriots twice in 1999 — a 31-30 come-from-behind victory at Foxboro and a 28-17 win five weeks later in Miami. He threw two touchdown passes in each game.
“I’ve had some success in this league and I’ve won before, and I plan on doing that again,” said Huard. “You just keep fighting. It’s a long season, so you always have to be prepared and ready to go.”
Bledsoe, Brady, and Huard all are good friends, and even though he was disappointed, Huard was complimentary of Brady.
“He’s a great competitor, a real high-energy guy, and he plays with lots of enthusiasm,” said Huard. “He’s very intelligent. He’ll play a long time in this league.”
This is disconcerting to read, knowing all that followed.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Jan 21st 2021 at 11:46:08 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Now I really want to see a follow up interview with Huard. Although reading his Wikipedia page he did have a few games in KC after leaving NE, so it wasn't quite a Pete Best scenario.
Would that it were so simple.
Huard got two Super Bowl rings with the Pats and name-dropped in an America's Game episode, so he's not quite a footnote in the Patriots dynasty, but goddamn, we'd be an entirely different team if Belichick wasn't such a strong advocate for Brady early on. Like, the narrative is that Brady would have never seen the field if Bledsoe was healthy, and while that's more or less true, Brady would have never been in a position to succeed him if BB wasn't so impressed by him. Like, we took him No, 199, but the fact that we took him at all was amazing. We had 4 Q Bs in 2000, specifically to keep Brady a Patriot.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
I just found out that Mike Polk Jr declared the Factory of Sadness closed a couple weeks ago.
Would that it were so simple.
Tom Brady will be playing in his tenth Super Bowl. Tampa Bay to be the first to play a true home game in the Super Bowl.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Full credit to the GOAT. I may be a Packers fan but there really is no contest. Only if the 2020s becomes the decade of Mahomes will that title be in doubt.
That said, that was an ugly loss. I'm not going to do Tampa Bay a disservice and say they didn't deserve to win. That defence played lights out but man were there some horrible decisions made by Green Bay. The TD before the half was unforgivable. Rodgers trying to fit it to 17 when he had open field in front of him. WTF was the rationale for taking three points when down by 8 with 2 mins to go?
The odd thing was, we were at our best when down multiple scores. It meant we had to throw out the initial game plan and rely more on a bit of invention. But when we got to within a score, it was almost as if we went back to the original plan - which clearly didn't work first time so why would it work the second time. It almost felt like when we were down 5 we were playing as if we already had the lead. There's confidence, and then there is hubris.
This one is going to rankle, for sure.
Would that it were so simple.
I think Tampa was on the verge of throwing the game away. Brady threw three picks and they were all on these idiotic deep passes that seemed to be entirely Arians' handiwork. Defense really stepped up in the second half to make up for it.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Thing is though - all of those interceptions were deep interceptions. YouTube has a phrase for them: an arm punt. So yes, Green Bay got the ball but didn't really gain decent field position. The only real damage they did was to Tom Brady's passer rating.
Tampa Bay on the other hand got one pick around midfield, the Jones fumble set them up goal to go and they also got two decent kick returns I think.
Second straight year we were one Packers win short of a rematch of the first Super Bowl.
Would that it were so simple.
Further interesting trvia:
- Seventh Super Bowl between two quarterbacks who have each previously won a Super Bowl.
- If Kansas City wins, they become the first team since the 2004 New England Patriots to defend their title.
- If they lose, they repeat the 2015-2017 Patriots' trifecta of losing an AFCCG, winning the Super Bowl, and losing the Super Bowl in succession.
- If Tampa wins, they become the second NFC team after the 2011 New York Giants to win the Super Bowl twice in the 21st Century.
- If Kansas City wins, the AFC will have more Super Bowl wins than the NFC for the first time since 1991. The New England Patriots had finally closed the deficit caused by the NFC's winning streak from 1981-1996 with their victory in Super Bowl LI, and parity since then has more or less been maintained.
- This is the first time that Tom Brady has gotten to the Super Bowl after winning a Wild Card game. His two previous attempts in 2005 and 2006 ended at the divisional and the title game, respectively.
- Tom Brady becomes the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls in a decade: 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020.
- Since 2011, these are the NFC other quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl: E. Manning, Kaepernick, Wilson, Newton, Ryan, Goff, and Garoppolo. Brady has started more Super Bowls than all of them combined.
- Since 2010, these are the other AFC quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl: Roethlisberger, Flacco, P. Manning, Mahomes. Brady has started as many Super Bowls as all of them combined.
- If Brady wins, he will have the longest differential in years between his first championship and his last for a starting QB at 19 years.
- Brady is the first and only quarterback to play a Super Bowl in three different decades.
- If victorious, Brady will be the only QB to win the Super Bowl from the AFC and the NFC.
- Another year gone that makes XLV look more unique — the only matchup in the past 11 seasons to feature two teams who each only appear once during that time span.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Jan 24th 2021 at 1:23:06 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Following the Bills - Chiefs game, it honestly started out so well for the Bills. I didn't watch it - to depressed from the Packers game plus timezone issues. But their early start followed by collapse honestly gives credence to my pet theory.
Bills Team: Wow, we are 9 points up over the Chiefs, we might go ahead and win this! I guess it doesn't hurt to see who we would be playing in the Super Bowl. Huh, that's odd, I thought we would be playing the Packers but it says here that Tampa Bay won. Which means we'll be playing... oh no... not him... we thought he was gone... that he couldn't hurt us anymore... Tom Brady...
Bills Team goes onto to lose the AFC Championship game due to suffering an PTSD episode.
Would that it were so simple.
The Bills aren't the only team to start out hot against the Chiefs and then lose. I think they're built up so much by their reputation as an invincible super team that opponents, unconsciously or not, relax half way just because they have the lead over them.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Vegas lines have KC -3 right now, which isn't as high as I thought it'd be to be honest.
Would that it were so simple.
That might change over the next two weeks. 538 has KC -1 according to their quarterback-adjusted model and TB -1 according to their unadjusted projection.
This might be the second Super Bowl to be a toss-up.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
vicarious
Well
This is certainly
Some kind of Super Bowl
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Godawful, in my opinion.
Yet I can't stop watching this train wreck.
I would have no problem rooting for the Bucs were it not for the presence of Antonio Brown and Tom Brady.
Brady winning always brings the extra enjoyment of the amount of people who don't want him to win.
Certainly not the game I was expecting, but the Coordinators for the Bucs had everything on point. Was impressive to watch.
Would that it were so simple.
Love seeing the Chiefs eat crow.
Brady is the one true god.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
64th Successor
I'm not even mad that Brady won another Super Bowl. Just so happy the Chiefs got humiliated even worse than what they did to us last year.
If you have a problem with Hokuto then tell it to me!
That guy with the face
So, Brady now has as many rings as the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. If people hate him so bad, why aren't they rooting for him to win two more, so he can become a mortal man doomed to die?
Qui odoratus est qui fecit.
Even though they lost today I was glad to see the Cleveland Browns 2.0 get their first ever playoff win.
One thing I take issue with, though, is the fact that the current and original Browns teams are officially considered the same franchise while the Ravens are considered a different one. As much as it sucked for Browns fans to lose their team, I think it would make just as much sense to, for example, consider the Houston Texans and Oilers the same franchise and make the Titans a different one.