Sept 19, 2022 17:06:51 GMT Baker said:

Getting caught up on this now. Good stuff. Love how NFL Films had the knack for turning something as simple as football into the most epic thing in the world through music and narration. And just to be a dick you mistakenly wrote Ken O'Brien in place of Ken Anderson in your last post.

They really were masters of their artform. Honestly I would rather watch the sport the way they present it than just regular games. If there was no Sabols and no NFL Films I really don't think I ever would have fallen in love with football the way I did when I was little. It's the reason why I'm just not as into college football or basketball or baseball(though the Astros got me into it) or Soccer or any other sport, they don't have their own version of NFL Films 

^That's a reasonable take

Sept 19, 2022 23:48:38 GMT Baker said:

All caught up and now I'm tempted to look up some real NFL stats and standings to compare with what Nobi did. I'm far from a rube when it comes to old school football, but I can't rattle off years, game results, and stats the way Nobi probably can. Football isn't wrestling!

Not a huge fan of the AFL catching all the breaks. I'd like to see the war be a little more competitive. But then the project is called "The Death of the National Football League" after all.

1970 Bengals- is that the Greg Cook year?

Sept 18, 2022 19:37:20 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Both defensive units dominate the game in a stand off that was tied at 5-5 at one point

Love this.

My inner pedant did find some more minor mistakes. Want me to point them out or nah?

I'd also like to see a list of Super Bowl/Vince Lombardi results at some point. Perhaps MVP's as well. Makes it easier for the person who comes by to browse.

For me in this universe since the AFL was raiding NFL rosters and taking all the top draft picks, I felt like the AFL was much more competitive than the normal merged NFL would have been(since there were half as many teams). Plus the AFL had something going on there in the last few years where the head coaches were really copying each other and countering each other to the point where they had a really unique style of football going on and the top teams like the Jets, Raiders, and Chiefs were just really fucking good in 1968-1969. Would have been wildly interesting to see where that all would have gone had the AFL stayed it's own league in the 1970's. 

On the other side I see a weaker NFL with some bad teams that would have been struggling. I actually really believe the NFL would have struggled in the 1970's had the merger not happened. They needed the AFL. They were stuck in their ways and needed to grow and they weren't willing to do that without the AFL pushing them to in the 1960's. 

To me momentum is the key here in any story like this be it Sega vs Nintendo or WCW vs WWF or Facebook vs Myspace, once one side catches a few breaks it's like it always works out like this for the loser. The big keys here would have been the NFL losing to the AFL in Super Bowl IV, then going head to head with the AFL "Super Bowl" with 2 stinker NFL Championship Games in Dallas vs Baltimore(the rematch being a game without a single touchdown scored, which is pretty probable for that era). Those games going against the Mad Bomber throwing for 400 yards and then the epic Miami vs KC double OT, it would have been crazy huge for the AFL and extremely bad for the NFL. Look at the real life game between Miami vs Kansas City in 1971 playoffs those were AFL teams, the best teams in the real life merged NFL in the 70's were AFL teams. Al Davis was right the AFL had a ton of momentum in the tail end of the 70's and just crazy to think what could have been had they kept it going. 

Yes if you see anything let me know bubba, I already know some of the standings are unrealistically out of balance with wins/losses haha

The 70's were before my time, and I realized that through writing this that everything really prior to 1988 was before my time. I didn't get into football until the 92 season(the Rypien Super Bowl that January really) but always got a lot of football cards and seemed pretty familiar with that era from 88 to 90 through NFL Films. Prior to that though there were a lot of guys that I hadn't heard of before this project, same with the 1970's. This whole fan fiction project has taken my NFL history nerdhood to the next level, it seems like every season I focus on I learn something new about that draft or a player or a team that I never realized before. This project evolves into my own personal pen and paper style Madden Franchise mode simulating through the years but controlling every team and seeing what happens in the end.

That's it for this thread, the NFL is dead, stay tuned for phase 2....

Sept 22, 2022 2:14:59 GMT Neo Zeed said:

I didn't get into football until the 92 season(the Rypien Super Bowl that January really)

1986 here. And I like to think I can hold my own against non-Nobi types when it comes to old school football knowledge simply because I read a ton of books on that stuff and watched a bunch of pregame NFL Films shows growing up. Plus you guys know that's the sort of thing that sticks with me. 
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I definitely got what you were going for with the momentum shift making everything come up AFL. If I get time I'll read over the whole project again and point out your minor mistakes. One I remember off the top of my head is you were off when adding up the Dolphins record over their dominant 3 year stretch.