FanNation - The Republic of Sport

G.O.A.T. said 01/21, 11:47 AM
I'm going to go with the old adage that defense wins championships. I believe it's time for a little history lesson.

2006- Colts- held Bears to 17 pts in SB- #1 postseason defense

2005- Steelers- held Seahawks to 10 pts in SB- #4 regular season defense

2004- Patriots- held Eagles to 21 pts in SB- #5 postseason defense

I'm pretty sure you're catching what I'm saying by now, huh? You can't have a weak defense and expect to win the Super Bowl. It won't happen. Let's take this season for example. The Giants, who nobody expected to get this far, have the fifth best postseason defense. The Patriots, who went a perfect 16-0 in the regular season, finished with the 4th best defense.

Look at all the Steelers teams in the 70s and 80s that were so successful. The common denominator? The famous Steel Curtain defense. In SB IX, they held the Vikings to six points. In SB X, they held the Cowboys to 17 points.

Here's a final stat for you: in all the 41 Super Bowls, the losing team has only scored more than 21 points five times. Of those five times, they have only reached 30 points once. EVERY SUPER BOWL CONTENDER NEEDS A GOOD DEFENSE. That's why it's the most important.

G.O.A.T. said 01/21, 07:05 PM
Before offering my rebuttal to your argument, I will hand over yet another stat for all you people who love them: every team that held their opponent to less than fourteen points in the Super Bowl is 17-0 in those games. How does that not directly support the belief that defense wins championships?

As for your saying that only 3 SB MVPs have played on the defensive side of the ball, I will say that defense truly is a collective effort. You have to have a good defense as a whole to win. One guy doesn't make all the tackles. But on offense one guy is making all the throws and one guy is getting all the carries.

If your defense can't hold a team and stop them you'll never win a game. But I'm confused with what you said. "If your offense can't eat up clock and score, eventually no matter how good the defense it will break down." I don't get what you're saying.

The Patriots had the 4th best defense this year! It wasn't only their offense winning them games.

ESPN ranked the top 10 defenses of all time (http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/bestNFLdefense.html). I decided to go and see how those teams fared in the postseason. Of those 10, seven won either the SB or NFL Championship.

G.O.A.T. said 01/22, 04:45 PM
Are you saying that good defense and good offense go hand in hand? I think that's what you were trying to conclude there are the end. Nonetheless, with your "but if your team can't score 3 or 6 you'll never win the game", I could just as easily say "but if your team doesn't hold the opponent to punts and field goals you'll never win the game".

Concerning what teams were known for: you know why they were known for their offenses? Because that's what people pay to say. Is it more fun to see a game won 42-38 or 3-0 (see Miami-Pittsburgh)? Most would probably pick the former. The 2003 Patriots had the 4th best postseason defense and won the Super Bowl that season. Their opponent, the Panthers, had the 5th best. HOWEVER, the Pats only had the 6th best offense. I know it's not a huge difference, but it's there.

You mentioned the Bears great defense last season and how the Colts picked them apart in the SB. How good really was their defense? Not very. They had the 10th best defense (out of 12) and the Colts had the best. The better defense did win, eh? But the Bears had a better ranked offense (7th) and the Colts had a worse ranked offense (2nd). Do you understand what I'm saying?