Did We Have In 2012 A Unit As Good As The 2009 Units? (1 Viewer)

RJ in Lafayette

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I just watched--for about the tenth time--the highlights DVD of the 2009 season. Like the 2009 season, the video is just magical. But I was struck that so many of the big plays during that season were made by players who left before 2012--Sharper, Porter, Bush, Meachem (though I also saw big play after big play by Thomas)--leading to the question of whether we had in 2012 a unit better than, or even as good as, our units in 2009.

At receiver, we had Meachem as well as Colston, Moore, Henderson and Shockey.

In the offensive line, we had Nicks, Goodwin and Stinchcomb.

At running back, we had Bush, Bell and Hamilton as well as Thomas.

In the defensive line, we had a younger Will Smith, Ellis before he regressed, Ayodele, McCray and Hargrove.

At linebacker, we had a younger Vilma and Fujita.

At defensive back, we had Sharper and Porter as well as Greer and Harper.

And in the return game, we had Roby and Bush.

I will quickly note that we still have Brees and young players like Graham, Jorden and Hicks, and that 2012 was clearly an atypical season because of Payton's absence. But the gap in talent between then and now is glaring.
 
"unit"

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People were unprepared for what we brought in 09' Defenses play our offense totally differently now than in 2009 same thing for opposing offenses against our defense post-2009
 
'09 was simply a magical run. It seemed like through 12 games we had 26 pick sixes and the ball bounced our way every time it bounced. We had the mojo working.
 
We had a whole lotta luck in 2009 to say the very least. Siaint drago is right, the mojo was working. Our defense didn't even look that great when you go back and look at it but the balls bounced our way every single time.
 
I readily concede 2009 was a magical year when we got the bounces and 2012 was even more atypical. But there was plenty of talent on the 2009 team that has regressed, perhaps because of age, or that left and was not replaced by comparable talent.
 
I would argue that our 2010 team was pretty good too. The defense was ranked in the top 15 I believe, and we did make lots and lots of stops, but the turnovers we couldn't get. Darren Sharper was the Michael Jordan of the 2009 team, in the few games he played for us in 2010 they got game winning turnovers. The problem with 2010 was the same problem with 2012 on offense. No one wanted to run the ball. When we finally did get a run game going for us in 2010, Ivory got hurt and all year long we didn't have Pierre Thomas healthy or even Bush. It was tough.

I will always say this, if Hartley makes that kick in OT against Atlanta in week 3, and we finished 12-4, sweeping Atlanta and with a bye going into the playoffs in 2010, we probably would have beat Green Bay in those playoffs. Probably, no guarantee, but I felt we had a bigger chance in 2010 than we did in 2011.
 
Talent wise, we were at least as good in 2011. If we had home field advantage, we would have one another SB
 
I think the 2012 "unit" was better, and here's why. In 2009 we had a good (but not great) team that had luck go its way at almost every conceivable turn. The 2011 "unit" was vastly better than the 2009 one, in my opinion, almost frighteningly so. I think one could easily argue that that team was one of the best to ever take the field in the NFL. For this reason, the loss to the 49ers hurt so badly. The 2009 team was a good team that won the SB with a lot of luck. The 2011 team DESERVED the SB due to its overall domination. In the offseason this year we more or less offset our losses in FA and made gains through our new draft and FA pickups. On paper, at least, this team should have been the 2011 squad plus a few positive additions (LB and D line especially). Unfortunately, the perfect storm of Goodell, the coaching carousel, Spags, replacement refs, injuries, etc. made us into a far worse team than any of the years we're discussing. I strongly believe, however, that if the circumstances were anything approaching "normal" this season, we would be playing in the dome in a week and there would be no question which squad was better. If 2009 was the year of magical luck, 2012 was the year we repaid our debt to the devil. Bring on 2013...it should be an exciting ride!
 

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