Any time a list of the greatest players or the best teams is released, it’s a fun read that usually leads to a heated debate over which spot a player or team was put in or which players or teams didn’t make the list.
In the case of NFL.com’s list of the greatest teams of the last decade, written up by Tom Blair, fans of the Denver Broncos can debate a couple of things.
First, it’s nice to see that the Broncos have a team on the list, but is it the right team?
In the No. 5 spot, the 2013 Broncos sit. However, that team lost the Super Bowl and the 2015 Broncos, the team that won it all just two years later, was omitted.
Yes, the 2013 team sits atop the offensive records books in many offensive categories and Peyton Manning had a season few will ever forget, throwing for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns that year. But that offensive machine scored just eight points in the Super Bowl.
Shouldn’t winning the Super Bowl make you one of the best teams of the decade?
Strangely, only three teams on this list won the Super Bowl and one of them didn’t even reach the conference championship game? What?
The 2013 Seattle Seahawks, the team that handed the Broncos that embarrassing drumming in the Super Bowl, sit at No. 1 on the list. Coming in at No. 2 is the 2015 Carolina Panthers?
Yes, the same Panthers who were thoroughly dominated by the defensive-minded Broncos, a team not even on the list. Yes, this is a strange list to be sure.
It’s interesting that the top two teams in Blair’s mind are the two teams that the Broncos have faced in the Super Bowl.
Were the ’13 Broncos better than the ’15 Broncos? That’s debatable, but the ’15 Broncos were definitely better than the ’15 Panthers and that was proven on an actual field.
Though it’s nice to be recognized on these lists, the Broncos will gladly take their rings and the memories of lifting up the Lombardi Trophy instead.
