So, my pick for best single season offense ever, is the 00 Rams. It shouldnt come as a shock that the “greatest show on turf” was selected by one of us, and for a damn good reason. Alright, before i get into all of that, though, let me start off with saying my opponent and good friend of mine, Dylan, has selected the 07 Patriots. Let’s get right into this.
The 00 Rams offense went a little something like this.
QB
Kurt Warner (11GS)
PROBOWL ALERT
– 3,429 yards
– 21 TDs
Trent Green (5GS)
– 2063 yards
– 16 TDs
This combines for an astonishing
– 5,492 yards
– 37 TDs
(Compared to Brady’s PROBOWL ALERT: 4,806 yards, 50 TDs.)
[Yes, Bradys TDs are higher, and i’ll get into why this is later. All you need to know now is that, somehow, Rams QB play has the Patriots beat by nearly 700 yards, and when i’m done with my whole argument you wont understand how that’s even possible.]
Oh yeah, did i mention that in 5 games Trent Green had 8.6 YPC, and in 11 games Kurt Warner had 9.9 YPC? Meanwhile, Brady had 8.7 the whole year. To recap this, the starting Rams QB had a staggering 1.2 more YPC than Tom Brady, while the Rams back up QB had only .1 less, while both combined put up more yards than Brady.
Moving on.
Perhaps, you’re wondering how in the hell the Rams managed to have that kind of numbers through the air. Let’s get into it, shall we?
WR
Torry Holt
PROBOWL ALERT
– 1,635 yards (more than anyone on the Patriots, which makes sense, as the Rams have more yards through the air)
– 6 TDs
WR
Isaac Bruce
PROBOWL ALERT
– 1,471 yards (22 yards less than Patriots leading receiver in yards)
– 9 TDs
Let’s compare it to the Patriots 2 WRs (also, did you notice that all of the Rams starters, INCLUDING 11 games Kurt Warner made the probowl?)
Let’s compare to New England’s leading 2 WRs, shall we?
WR
Randy Moss
PROBOWL ALERT
– 1,493 yards
– 23 TDs
Wes Welker
– 1,175 yards
– 8 TDs.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “well Moss has a lot more TDs”. That is indeed true, but let’s look at the bigger picture here. Remember it’s better overall offense, not better player. Brady, who has 50 TDs, has (23+8) 31 of his 50 TDs thrown to only 2 people. That’s over 50%. Remember, this is the best overall offense, not just who was the better WR.
Meanwhile, the 37 TDs posted by both Warner and Green combined, accounted for (9+6) 15, well under 50% of their 37 TDs. Well, it kind of speaks volumes to the rest of their WR corps, huh?
Here’s the rest of the teams production via receiving (not limited to WRs) outside of their top 2 WRs
Rams
– 2,386 yards
– 22 TDs
Patriots
– 2,138 yards
– 19 TDs
As you can see, the Rams are clearly the team who had more depth. REMEMBER, this is not about which WR had the better season, this is about which OFFENSE as a whole had a better season. To show how not deep this Patriots offense is, if you take away Randy Moss, Tom Brady’s TDs get cut in nearly half, turning his 50 TDs into 27. How’s that for 1 WR doing all the work vs the whole team doing it? Are you still not convinced that Randy Moss isnt the sole that offense (not including brady) was considered elite in NFL history?
Rams – 540 total points
Patriots – 589 total points.
Take away Isaac Bruce (9 TDs[9×6=54]) 540 – 54 = 486 points total
Take away Randy Moss. (23TDs[23×6=138)
589 – 138 = 451 points total. Just like that, the Rams, who have 49 less points total, now have 35 more points total. That’s a 84 point swing. Big difference, w/o the 138 points from Moss.
As i’ve shown you so far, the Rams QBs have more yards, the Rams top 2 WRs have more yards, and the Rams supporting cast outside of their top 2 WRs have both more yards and TDs than that of the Patriots. It’s clear the Rams have a better passing game as a whole, outside of just 1 WR as the Patriots have.
Alas, this isnt about which team has the better passing game, although the Rams win that as a whole, now is it? Na. This is the real separator. Hey, do you remember when i told you earlier that i’d eventually explain why it’s crazy that the Rams had that much more passing yards, and why Brady having more TDs isnt a surprise at all? Well, i didnt forget, it’s time for that.
As a whole, the Patriots rushing game has
– 1,849 yards
– 17 TDs
– 4.1 YPC
Marshall Faulk, by himself
PROBOWL ALERT (did you notice that the Rams QB who played 11 games, the Rams 2 WRs and the Rams RB all made the probowl? Talk about a deadly, deep offense)
– 1,359
– 18 TDs
– 5.4 YPC
Yes, you read that right, one runner for the Rams had more yards than the ENTIRE Patriots runbacks combined, with a higher YPC by OVER 1 WHOLE NUMBER. Is that what you’d define as a balanced offense? One WR having 6 more TDs than your ENTIRE Run game combined? Your running game combined not having as many TDs, nor YPC by a lot less as just 1 single RB? The running game is blown out of the water here, Rams win in a landslide
Note; Rams rungame outside of Marshall Faulk accounted for another 8 TDs, giving them 9 more TDs as a whole than the Patriots run game
Ok, right about now, you should be thinking
“Wow, the Rams offense has more Yards total, more YPC from their QBs, a more balanced passing game than the Patriots, AND a run game which the Patriots didnt even have compared to the Rams? What else can you say, it’s already over”
The Rams did all of this with 44 LESS plays than the Patriots had all season. I mean, very clearly they’re more efficient with their possessions as well if they did all of this in less plays. At the end of the day, the Rams have more passing yards, the Rams have more rushing yards, the Rams did both of that in less plays, the Rams have all 4 of a teams key positions at probowl (one can argue TE > WR2 now and they wouldnt be wrong, but they would be wrong in 2000.), and a ring to go along with that(the prior year, with the same exact offense when Kurt Warner was healthy) WHICH, as we all remember, the Patriots did not despite their 16-0 season nor any season with the same offense.
If, for some god damn reason you arent convinced that the 2000 Rams were the better offense, in 1999 Kurt Warner won MVP, and in 2000 Marshall Falk won MVP. That’s 2 players from the same offense in back to back years. Talk about incredible. I talk of the year prior for 2 reasons. A: it ties into the next year considering all the players are the same and played at the same, it not higher level the next year, and B: Kurt Warner was injured, ultimately ending the Rams season in the playoffs, although Green stepped in and did a fine job, which, just adds to their depth even more as a total offense. At the end of the day, with all that, the offense that the Pats had in 2007 should not even be in the same sentence as the greatest show on turf. Thanks for reading