1984 49ers Offense vs. 1989 49ers Offense

[Guest Flawless Cowboy]

I'm kinda bored, and after playing a few rounds of Tom Landry Strategy Football (if anyone plays this and is up for an online game I'm totally willing), I've decided to try and fin out which 49ers offense was the best. I whittled it down to the 84 and 89 teams, which I feel were the best two years of 49ers history. By the way, for overall best team the 84 49ers are the better team, but due to an outstanding defense which sent IIRC 10 players to the Pro Bowl (sounds crazy, but I'm pretty sure it's somwhere around that number, I'm positive the entire secondary got in). Anyway, on to the comparison.

First off, the 89 team was George Seifert's first year as coach. I'm not sure how I'm going to have that play a factor in my comparison. I think any sane person would choose Walsh over Seifert, and since I mainly want to judge the quality of players, I'll try not to have coaching play a factor in my judging.

Starting off at the QB position, the 89 team has quite the advantage.

ATT COMP % YDS Y/A TD INT

84 Montana 432 279 65 3630 8.4 28 10

89 Montana 386 271 70 3521 9.12 28 8

89 Young 92 64 69 1001 10.88 8 3

For those who doubt Montana's status as on the of the greatest QB's off al time, I feel the 89 stats should help change some minds. Montana had a 112.4 pass rating that year, which is even more remarkable when he wasn't playing at full health (which is why Young got quite a bit of playing time). I think the real telling stat ther is the Yds per attempt. For comparison Brett Favre in his prime was averaging around 7.7 yds/att. In fact after a quick skim the only player that I could find who add at Y/A that high was Marino during the 84 season (his 5000yd 48 td season) with a 9.01 Y/A. But 84 Montana was no slouch. His Y/Att is still quite high, and when you conisder that most QBs who break 4000 yds get 500+ attempts, I feel he come across as a great QB, it's just that the 89 Montana comes across as a legendary QB.

Im not really spend any time comparing receivers, as 1989 are the obvious better, with Jerry Rice and John Taylor, probably the greatest WR duo ever. Both broke 1000 yds that season, and Rice set a record for TDs by a 49er. Meanwhile on the 84 49ers the top two were Dwight Clark and Freddie Solomon. Neither broke 1,000 yds, but that was due mainly to the receving-by-committee philosophy that they used that year. But still, they don't compare to Rice and Taylor.

The running game though, is where the teams change positions

84 Wendell Tyler 246 1262 5.1 7

84 Roger Craig 155 649 4.2 7

89 Roger Craig 271 1054 3.9 6

89 Tom Rathman 79 305 3.9 1

My biggest complaint with the way look at teams in the past is to add of the number of yards or points and then say, voila, this persons better than that person. I fyou do that for this, you'll find the 89 team to be better than the 84 team by about 300 yds. But I would still pick the 84 team. Why? Football, for an offense, is all about balance. Name any post 1970 Dynasty, the Steelers, the Cowboys, the Redskins, the Bills, the Packers, the Broncos, the Dolphins, they all have s good passing and good rushing game. Yes Roger Craig is a good two way running back, but he could never carry a running game. The way to stop the 89 49ers was simple (though hard), all you had to do was shut down the pass, and they would have been hobbled. But the 84 team, you shut down the pass and you still have Wendell Tyler who can give you 5 yards a carry, not to mention Roger Craig as well.

Does anyone agree with me? Would anyone chose the 89 49ers? Does anyone think I'm an idiot in my choice? Any comments at all?

[DMN in the House]

1. Brett Favre is a better QB then Joe Montana was.

2. I pick '84, soley based on the run game. A one dimensional team, save the New England Patriots, hardly ever goes anywhere.

[Guest kijlhumt]

Because the Patriots are a superior team on defense, special teams, and coaching.

[gunnar hendershow]

1. Brett Favre is a better QB then Joe Montana was.

2. I pick '84, soley based on the run game. A one dimensional team, save the New England Patriots, hardly ever goes anywhere.

←

1. So was Johnny Unitas and Otto Graham.

2. I pick '84 for the same reasons you did.

[DMN in the House]

Because the Patriots are a superior team on defense, special teams, and coaching.

←

Yes, but we are talking about offense, and thus far, the Pats have had little in the way of a run game.

[Guest kijlhumt]

They have a good enough one to help Brady get his job done effectively and take pressure off of him.

[Cactus Drags]

No way is Favre better than Montana. No way.

[gunnar hendershow]

No way is Favre better than Montana. No way.

←

Montana had Jerry Rice.

Favre had... well... uhh... Reggie White on defense.

[Cactus Drags]

I don't care. I've always preferred Montana. By the way, what's Tom Landry Strategy Football?

[Typical Phenom]

Just because you prefer Montana doesn't make him better than Favre.

And I'll go with 89' because Roger Craig was more of a threat out of the backfield than he was i 84, plus Brent Jones had emerged as a legit weapon to go alongside Taylor and Rice.

[Cactus Drags]

Prefer as in I prefer him as a quarterback, as in, I think he's better than Favre, so I prefer him.

Montana was better because if the team was down with only a few minutes left, you could always count him to fix it, hence him being called the comeback kid. He used his team better, Favre would take it upon himself, and wouldn't succeed as often.