You've heard of the Kentucky Derby — and even the demolition derby.
But what about the "Intimidation Derby?"
In 1999, the then-St. Louis Rams scored 526 points while allowing 242 en route to a 13-3 record, good enough for the number one seed in the NFC playoff draw — and from there, they defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV.
That's a point differential of +284 — even though it was compiled against teams with a combined record of 93-163, a .363 winning percentage. Plus the Rams played only one game against a team with a winning record in that entire (regular) season — the Titans, also 13-3 that season, to whom they lost (but avenged that defeat in the Super Bowl, as above).
Still, it was a remarkable accomplishment for a team that had finished 4-12 the season before.
As we head into Thanksgiving, the 8-3 Ravens and the 7-3 Cowboys both have a point differential of +127, putting them on pace for margins of +196 and +216, respectively, so that both teams (Dallas especially) are within realistic striking range of the '99 Rams.
By contrast, both the 9-1 Eagles and the 7-3 Chiefs have a point differential of just +61, and the Eagles have yet to defeat an opponent by more than 14 points in 2023, while the Chiefs have only one such victory (comparatively, Dallas has 6 wins by 15 or more, and Baltimore has 5).
A large part of why "America's Team" has so many blowout wins is the much-maligned (for some mysterious reason) Dak Prescott, who has ten 400-yard games (of which one was a 500-yard game) in his eight-year NFL career (Patrick Mahomes also has ten 400-yard games). Jalen Hurts' high-water mark is 387 yards on October 3, 2021, against, oddly enough, the Chiefs.
Looking forward, the Cowboys have won 12 straight at home, their most recent defeat at Jerry World a 19-3 loss to Tampa Bay in the 2022 season-opener. They will be at home on Thanksgiving Day, as always, against the Commanders, who are coming off a dreadful, error-filled loss to the Giants at home (turning the ball over 6 times, while the Giants had no turnovers) — and since 2014, Dallas has played six games the following Thursday night as well, going 5-1 in those games. And sure enough, this season the pattern repeats, as Dallas will host the Seahawks, who allowed the Rams to complete a sweep of them this past Sunday, on November 30.
As for the Ravens, not only are they blowing their opponents away rather frequently, but in the last two weeks they have ended the 2023 seasons of the starting quarterbacks of two of their three division rivals — Deshaun Watson and Joe Burrow. And like Dallas, their next two games present them with an awesome chance to pad their point differential, as on Sunday they will head out to SoFi Stadium to take on the spectacularly underachieving Chargers (who have just lost Joey Bosa, likely for the rest of the season, with a severely sprained right foot) — it figures to be "Let's Go Brandon (Staley), Out the Door" by season's end if not sooner — and following a bye week, it's back home for a game against the Rams, who are 14-28 dating all the way back to 1992 as a visitor in cold weather.
Baltimore's old-school physicality on both sides of the ball (the defense has never needed any introduction in this area, but the rushing attack is now led by the 6-foot-1, 238-pound Gus Edwards, a native of Liberia who was introduced to the game at Staten Island's Tottenville High School) is welcome indeed in a league that has steadily been going away from this style of play for literally decades.
Despite team records, a lot of fans will be rooting for the Cowboys (or the 49ers, a close third in the "Intimidation Derby" with a point differential of +122 and five wins by 15 points or more) and the Ravens to meet in Super Bowl LVIII, just for the principle of the thing — especially fans in cities that don't have an NFL team but should have one, like San Antonio, Columbus, San Diego, Oakland, and St. Louis (the last three having had their NFL franchises stolen from them via pure greed).
To them, in the words of the late Rush Limbaugh, it's The Way Things Ought to Be.
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