What is championship vs playoff football?

[geezer]

Okay, I was listening to the radio and Clayton was asked about the Niner's going forward. He said something like they have maybe 1 more year of playing championship level football and after that just playoff level football.
He said that teams have a 5 year window on average and SF in in the 4th year.

The thing is, I always thought that once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen. Look at all the 5th and 6th seeds who end up winning it all. And if you got a great team to start with, how hard is it to hit big on just a couple of draft picks. We are all talking about SF and Sea, while the Cards and Rams might just quietly bite both teams in the ass!

And I thought SF had a bunch of draft picks so I am confused. As a seahawk fan, I would like them to drop off a bit but I don't think they will.

Bulletin board material for the Niner's for sure.

 

[Midnightangel]

I see what he's getting at, but I really don't see a difference. Once you hit the playoffs, anything can happen - and usually does - just like you said.

Maybe he meant that the Seahawks will dominate less but still make the playoffs?

Like I said, once you hit the post season anyone can win it all.

 

[geezer]

Well, the Niner's rolled for about a decade. So have the Patriots. I am beginning to believe it has more to do with the teams front office and management than it does individual players. Having a top tier QB doesn't hurt but you still gotta put good players around him.

 

[cwood]

The first thing that comes to mind is almost no teams have a 5 year window of playing championship football in the free agent era. The Patriots and Steelers are the only two teams I can think of with that kind of window. That alone makes it seem like kind of a dumb statement. And then we get to the fact that the Patriots window has been 13 years at this point

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

49ers are starting to get old. They have a bunch of players hitting 30+ soon and wont be able to sustain the level of play.

Dynasties are build when VERY young players dominate a team. Dallas had that in the 90s, 49ers had it in the 80s, Pats had it in the early 00s, etc.

And sorry 49ers fans, but my BIGGEST concern would be Justin Smith. If you can't replace his level of play with someone in the draft (highly likely) the whole front 7 falls apart. Aldon Smith lol.... that whole defense starts with Justin. By far a top 5 3-4 DE in NFL History. If you can't replace that, 49ers are going to start a downward spiral... (similar to current Steelers).

 

[geezer]

You know its a rivalry when we know most of the other teams players by name.

 

[Jakology]

49ers are starting to get old. They have a bunch of players hitting 30+ soon and wont be able to sustain the level of play.

Dynasties are build when VERY young players dominate a team. Dallas had that in the 90s, 49ers had it in the 80s, Pats had it in the early 00s, etc.

And sorry 49ers fans, but my BIGGEST concern would be Justin Smith. If you can't replace his level of play with someone in the draft (highly likely) the whole front 7 falls apart. Aldon Smith lol.... that whole defense starts with Justin. By far a top 5 3-4 DE in NFL History. If you can't replace that, 49ers are going to start a downward spiral... (similar to current Steelers).

I think its important to find a player to plug in there that can play solid. But. The Niners are so good across the board defensively, that I don't think they will go into a downward spiral. As long as they find someone that can play there, they're fine.

 

[Gooch1034]

I can understand what he meant. It is the difference between SF and Carolina. You expect SF to at least make it to the NFCC but the Panthers aren't. Anything can happen in the playoffs but the teams playing championship football are the safest teams you would put money on if you had to. Seattle, SF, Denver and NE.

 

[geezer]

Maybe I can't tell which team is playing championship football. The Colts beat Seattle, Denver, and San Fran in the regular season and beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. That's a pretty good resume. And they lost to the Patriots in the second round. Had they had HFA, maybe they would be considered to be playing championship football.

 

[BloodType49]

49ers are starting to get old. They have a bunch of players hitting 30+ soon and wont be able to sustain the level of play.

Dynasties are build when VERY young players dominate a team. Dallas had that in the 90s, 49ers had it in the 80s, Pats had it in the early 00s, etc.

And sorry 49ers fans, but my BIGGEST concern would be Justin Smith. If you can't replace his level of play with someone in the draft (highly likely) the whole front 7 falls apart. Aldon Smith lol.... that whole defense starts with Justin. By far a top 5 3-4 DE in NFL History. If you can't replace that, 49ers are going to start a downward spiral... (similar to current Steelers).

The 49ers are banking very heavily on the 2013 Draft class to step up, we basically Red shirted Tank Carradine and Marcus Lattimore as the heir's to J. Smith and Frank Gore. I think Aldon Smith will be fine and remain a 49er for a very long time he is arguably the most dominant pass rusher in the NFL and those are about as valuable as franchise QB's.

A lot also hinges on Bowman's recovery and when he can step back on the field and play at a high level again. I think Iupati might be the odd man out in resigning players after this season with a lot of key free agents on the horizon, while many people would say its crazy to let him walk he had a very average season and seemed to have trouble staying healthy. We have question marks all over the secondary, Are we keeping Whitner and Brown ? I would be absolutely shocked if Carlos Rogers was back next season considering he is our highest paid player.

This season will be a major turning point and I am cautiously optimistic about the future.

 

[Wolvie]

Look at the elite teams this year: Seattle, San Fran, Denver, Carolina, New Orleans, New England (NO and NE maybe don't deserve to be here). These teams can pound just about anyone into submission. On any given Sunday you wouldn't think twice if they walked away with a win against anyone.

Now look at these teams: Green Bay, Detroit, Arizona, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego. These are teams that you expect to win when they aren't playing any of the aforementioned teams. These are teams that you fully expect to make a run at the playoffs. In order to win it all though, they're gonna need some bounces of the ball and somehow manage to upset one of these other teams

I think that is the difference in "playoff" football and "championship" football

 

[WizardHawk]

Okay, I was listening to the radio and Clayton was asked about the Niner's going forward. He said something like they have maybe 1 more year of playing championship level football and after that just playoff level football.
He said that teams have a 5 year window on average and SF in in the 4th year.

The thing is, I always thought that once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen. Look at all the 5th and 6th seeds who end up winning it all. And if you got a great team to start with, how hard is it to hit big on just a couple of draft picks. We are all talking about SF and Sea, while the Cards and Rams might just quietly bite both teams in the ass!

And I thought SF had a bunch of draft picks so I am confused. As a seahawk fan, I would like them to drop off a bit but I don't think they will.

Bulletin board material for the Niner's for sure.

Championship level football is the conference championship games and beyond while simply playoff level is the first two rounds of the playoffs.

In other words, Clayton was saying the 9'ers likely have maybe one more year of being strong enough to reach the NFCCG and after that might slide back to losing in the first or second rounds.

 

[geezer]

I would like to think that even after the so called "window" closes, a team with a good organization can get back to that level rather quickly.

 

[Tacoma_canuck]

Maybe I can't tell which team is playing championship football. The Colts beat Seattle, Denver, and San Fran in the regular season and beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. That's a pretty good resume. And they lost to the Patriots in the second round. Had they had HFA, maybe they would be considered to be playing championship football.

Even though Indy beat the contenders in the regular season, they were too inconsistent to be put in that category, imo. I think I understand the point of the statement. There are very few teams with an owner and front office like the Patriots. The Pats are able to sustain success because of the smart people running that team. The Steelers have done it for years too, but it's looking like they are finally at the end of that cycle. (I do believe they will get back to that sooner rather than later).

As for San Fran, I don't think their window is quite that short but I can understand some of the concerns. Some age to deal with soon but that defense is still top-notch for awhile and that will keep them in contention.

 

[WizardHawk]

I would like to think that even after the so called "window" closes, a team with a good organization can get back to that level rather quickly.

The era of dynasties was before caps and free agency. It's not impossible to have short ones now, but it is far more difficult and the gap between haves, and have nots isn't nearly as great.

Look how fast Pete and John built up a championship quality team in Seattle. It can be done, but isn't done that often. If you have a few core pieces you can rebuild up fairly fast like a real franchise quality QB (look at NE) and it helps to have a few skill players and core defenders as well.

When it comes to SF the question is do they have that franchise QB? I think the jury is still out on the long term question about that. Kaepernick is young and looks to me to be kind of stubborn in many ways. He isn't the first and won't be the last. Favre was one that comes to mind that was kind of arrogant and not as willing to listen when he came into the league. But then so are dozens of busts. SF does have some core pieces around them though.

I listened to Clayton as well and I think his point had to do with their cap situation and some key pieces needing to be shored up after next year. They also have some age issues at a couple of positions.

I'd say we pay more attention to the fact he said they could still be championship quality this coming year and leave the rest for after next season.