Not sure if anyone has already done this, but it was striking to me striking how strong this year’s team was in even in comparison to the GSOT.
The 2025 edition is very different from the 99 team, obviously, yet equally high flying.
Stafford has more to offer as a qb than Warner, which is not a jab at Warner–so I should say even more to offer. But another key difference is this. Vermeil and Martz had a number of hall of fame level elite players–Faulk, Bruce, Holt, Warner, Pace. Martz took advantage of their elite abilities and designed a dazzling and great offense. Martz brilliantly took advantage of that high level of talent. With McVay, we have players who are not the same kind of superstars but the offense focuses in on and takes full advantage of the special skills they do have. So Nacua is not Holt or Bruce, he’s something different; Jackson is not Pace but is used to great advantage; Williams is not Faulk but the running game is set up to take good advantage of his best traits. The result is a team that is in some respects more lunchpail than the 99 GSOT, but it’s also super lunchpail–I think they’re all being used better in McVay’s offense than they would be in any other coach’s offense.
Leaving out the quarterbacks, the avg. draft round with Pace, Bruce, Holt, and Faulk was, basically, a 1st. With Williams, Nacua, and Jackson, it’s a low 5th. So the 99 GSOT was dazzling ballet, while the 2025 team has more direct collisions built into it. So it’s ballet v. demolition derby, but really great demolition derby.
To bring the qbs back in, though, that-s not entirely true because of Stafford, who regularly makes impossible “first pick in the draft” level elite throws.
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