Captain Spaulding
Footballguy
I did some research on Superbowls where a top 3 offense played a top 3 defense and here are my findings:
TB vs OaklandTB has #1 defense with 253 ypg avg vs Oaklands #1 offense at 390 ypg avg....the over/under is 321 ypg.
Oakland generated only 269 yards of net offense and lost the game 48-21.
Advantage defense.
Buffalo Bills vs Dallas CowboysBills have #2 offense at 368 ypg vs Dallas's #1 Defense at 245 ypg...the over/under is 306 ypg
Buffalo generated 362 yards of offense to beat the over/under but lose decisively on the scoreboard....probably because Dallas also had a top 5 offense that year (dominate on both sides of the ball) Therefore this game is inconclusive and proved that Buffalo's offense outplayed Dallas's defense but it didn't reflect on scoreboard thus it should be thrown out.
No advantage.
Buffallo Bills vs Washington Redskins. Bills have #1 offense at 391 yds per game to Washington's #3 D at 268 ypg...the over/under is 329. Washington held Bills to 283 total net yards beating the over/under. Washington won decisively..again probably because they had #3 offense as well.
Advantage Defense.
San Fran vs Denver.... San Fran has #1 offense at 392 ypg to Denver's #3 Defense at 275 ypg. over/under is 333 ypg.
SF won 55-10 and had 461 net yards of offense.
Advantage Offense.
Conclusion....there in the last 15 years or so when a top 3 defense played a top 3 offense the defense only has a 2-1 advantage...thats not much track record to prove whether "defenses win championships" or not. I think its fairly inconclusive.
Not sure if you can draw any conclusions from this either....there were 11 times the #1 offensive team from each conference went to the Superbowl vs. only 6 times the #1 defense from each conference made it to the Superbowl since 1990. Does this mean that you have a better chance to get to the Superbowl with a great offense versus a great defense? I'm not sure if you can draw that conclusion either. Just glancing over the stats (til I got blurry eyed), I think it was just "dumb luck" over the years that it so happened more frequently the #1 offense also had a respectible defense as well...but there were alot of #1 defensive teams that had very lousy offenses....we all know the best chance to get the the Superbowl is balance on both sides of the ball so I think that is why the offense is greatly favored in this stat.
So for all the offense is more important vs. defense is more important discussions...I think its open for alot of debate, just looking at history, there isn't very conclusive stats to prove one way or the other.....and I didn't even look at the points per game comparisons which is a whole other way to look at offense/defense and probably more supportive measure than ypg measures.
TB vs OaklandTB has #1 defense with 253 ypg avg vs Oaklands #1 offense at 390 ypg avg....the over/under is 321 ypg.
Oakland generated only 269 yards of net offense and lost the game 48-21.
Advantage defense.
Buffalo Bills vs Dallas CowboysBills have #2 offense at 368 ypg vs Dallas's #1 Defense at 245 ypg...the over/under is 306 ypg
Buffalo generated 362 yards of offense to beat the over/under but lose decisively on the scoreboard....probably because Dallas also had a top 5 offense that year (dominate on both sides of the ball) Therefore this game is inconclusive and proved that Buffalo's offense outplayed Dallas's defense but it didn't reflect on scoreboard thus it should be thrown out.
No advantage.
Buffallo Bills vs Washington Redskins. Bills have #1 offense at 391 yds per game to Washington's #3 D at 268 ypg...the over/under is 329. Washington held Bills to 283 total net yards beating the over/under. Washington won decisively..again probably because they had #3 offense as well.
Advantage Defense.
San Fran vs Denver.... San Fran has #1 offense at 392 ypg to Denver's #3 Defense at 275 ypg. over/under is 333 ypg.
SF won 55-10 and had 461 net yards of offense.
Advantage Offense.
Conclusion....there in the last 15 years or so when a top 3 defense played a top 3 offense the defense only has a 2-1 advantage...thats not much track record to prove whether "defenses win championships" or not. I think its fairly inconclusive.
Not sure if you can draw any conclusions from this either....there were 11 times the #1 offensive team from each conference went to the Superbowl vs. only 6 times the #1 defense from each conference made it to the Superbowl since 1990. Does this mean that you have a better chance to get to the Superbowl with a great offense versus a great defense? I'm not sure if you can draw that conclusion either. Just glancing over the stats (til I got blurry eyed), I think it was just "dumb luck" over the years that it so happened more frequently the #1 offense also had a respectible defense as well...but there were alot of #1 defensive teams that had very lousy offenses....we all know the best chance to get the the Superbowl is balance on both sides of the ball so I think that is why the offense is greatly favored in this stat.
So for all the offense is more important vs. defense is more important discussions...I think its open for alot of debate, just looking at history, there isn't very conclusive stats to prove one way or the other.....and I didn't even look at the points per game comparisons which is a whole other way to look at offense/defense and probably more supportive measure than ypg measures.
