Does D Still Win Championships?

[packinpatland]

I still go by the saying...................'any given Sunday'.

[HarveyWallbangers]

You rarely see teams with an above average offense and a poor defense win the championship. The Colts would probably fall under that category--except their defense played lights out in the playoffs and carried them to the championship. That's rare in itself. You see more teams with great defenses and average or below average offenses (like Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and perhaps Chicago in 1985) win championships.

[Packnut]

Bears

clayton doesnt make sense once again..



yes, legendary offenses such as the colts can win u a ton of games... but can they win u the whole thing?... absolutely not!


Great defenses alone cannot either, you still need ur mix with O and ST. But great D's can take u a long way, just look at the bears...

The Bears are a different animal on D due to their knack for creating TO's and scoring points. That is what allowed Grossman to have those 100+ passer rated games. We saw what happened against Indy when those TO's did'nt happen.

[Patler]

You rarely see teams with an above average offense and a poor defense win the championship. The Colts would probably fall under that category--except their defense played lights out in the playoffs and carried them to the championship. That's rare in itself. You see more teams with great defenses and average or below average offenses (like Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and perhaps Chicago in 1985) win championships.

That's the point the article seemed to overlook. The Colts won because their defense played like a very good defense instead of like the mediocre defense they were during the season.

The Colts proved year after year that a great offense and a bad defense usually gets you sent home early in the playoffs. I suppose if you do it enough years, you might have your defense step up one year and play enough good games to get you through, as the Colts did this past season. I hardly think that can be a blueprint for future success.

[wist43]

The focus has to be on defense... field position and turnovers are far more determinant factors than most offensive considerations.

If a team happens to luck into a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, then of course, it makes sense to maximize their talent, but if you can't stop the other fella, the odds are against you.

Indy did, in fact, play very good defense down the stretch, but it's not their identity. If Manning comes out and has an MVP season, but the defense doesn't step up and play at a championship level, they won't repeat. It's that simple.

[Charles Woodson]

You rarely see teams with an above average offense and a poor defense win the championship. The Colts would probably fall under that category--except their defense played lights out in the playoffs and carried them to the championship. That's rare in itself. You see more teams with great defenses and average or below average offenses (like Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and perhaps Chicago in 1985) win championships.

Yea i was just about to bring up the Tampa Bay SB win. Their offense was horrible, i mean michael pitman at runningback and Brad Johnson at QB, but there defense was spectacular.

[KYPack]

KY, you honestly don't think Clayton brings quality stuff? He is one of my favorite as far as covering the NFL. He knows as much as anyone about what is going on around the NFL. It's rare that he says something that I just know is bullshit, which is saying something now-a-days.

No I don't think he is very consistent, to tell ya the truth.

These guys are awash in all kinds of information, but the sometimes just spoon out the crap.

Clayton is a strange lookin' little wimp who is kinda funny to look at. The fact that he did bring up points I agree with surprised me to some extent.