Soul_Survivor88
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2015
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An Offense Is Going to Win the Super Bowl
It’s a dream scenario for the NFL and the fans who just want to see beautifully crafted scoring plays: Four of the best quarterbacks in the league squaring off against four adequate-at-best defenses.
New England (ranked 16th in defensive DVOA at the end of the regular season) and Pittsburgh (11th) don’t have bad defenses, but Atlanta (27th) and Green Bay (20th) do. All four of the remaining squads finished the year outside the top 10 in defensive DVOA, in stark contrast to last season, when the Panthers (second) faced off with the Cardinals (third) and the Broncos (first) played the Patriots (12th). In fact, this is the first time in the history of Football Outsiders DVOA, which goes back to 1989, that zero top-10 regular-season defenses made it to the conference championship round. Hell, there’s been only one other season (2007) without at least one top-five defense in the final four.
Now, you might be saying, “But what about the Patriots? They had the best scoring defense in the league!” And allow us to stop you right there. They had that against the easiest schedule of offenses in the NFL this season. Sure, you can beat only who’s in front of you, but context is important. In a quarterback-driven league, the Patriots lucked into a schedule heavy on game managers, backups, and turnover machines. They got the bad, early-season versions of Carson Palmer and Ryan Tannehill, faced off against Brock Osweiler twice — and let’s stop here for a second. The Patriots played one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL in the divisional round of the playoffs! Oh, they also faced Tyrod Taylor twice, and his team doesn’t even seem to want him anymore. They beat Charlie Whitehurst, Cody Kessler, Andy Dalton, and Landry Jones (who played when Ben Roethlisberger was out with a meniscus injury in Week 7), and lost to the best quarterback on their schedule, Russell Wilson, at home. The rest of the group is a meditation on sub-average signal-calling: Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, Joe Flacco, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty, and Matt Moore.
We’ll finally get to see how the Patriots stack up against a top-tier quarterback next weekend. Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, and Co. have yet to stop a trio like Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown — partially because they’ve yet to play anyone nearly as good.
So tired of the disrespect. I've changed my mind. If we're fortunate enough to advance to the Super Bowl, I want the Pats to face the Falcons... so our "overrated, not-as-good-as-your-record" #1 scoring defense can shut down the #1 scoring offense - and shut these people up for good!!
For now... we're onto Pittsburgh. GO PATS!!!
It’s a dream scenario for the NFL and the fans who just want to see beautifully crafted scoring plays: Four of the best quarterbacks in the league squaring off against four adequate-at-best defenses.
New England (ranked 16th in defensive DVOA at the end of the regular season) and Pittsburgh (11th) don’t have bad defenses, but Atlanta (27th) and Green Bay (20th) do. All four of the remaining squads finished the year outside the top 10 in defensive DVOA, in stark contrast to last season, when the Panthers (second) faced off with the Cardinals (third) and the Broncos (first) played the Patriots (12th). In fact, this is the first time in the history of Football Outsiders DVOA, which goes back to 1989, that zero top-10 regular-season defenses made it to the conference championship round. Hell, there’s been only one other season (2007) without at least one top-five defense in the final four.
Now, you might be saying, “But what about the Patriots? They had the best scoring defense in the league!” And allow us to stop you right there. They had that against the easiest schedule of offenses in the NFL this season. Sure, you can beat only who’s in front of you, but context is important. In a quarterback-driven league, the Patriots lucked into a schedule heavy on game managers, backups, and turnover machines. They got the bad, early-season versions of Carson Palmer and Ryan Tannehill, faced off against Brock Osweiler twice — and let’s stop here for a second. The Patriots played one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL in the divisional round of the playoffs! Oh, they also faced Tyrod Taylor twice, and his team doesn’t even seem to want him anymore. They beat Charlie Whitehurst, Cody Kessler, Andy Dalton, and Landry Jones (who played when Ben Roethlisberger was out with a meniscus injury in Week 7), and lost to the best quarterback on their schedule, Russell Wilson, at home. The rest of the group is a meditation on sub-average signal-calling: Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, Joe Flacco, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty, and Matt Moore.
We’ll finally get to see how the Patriots stack up against a top-tier quarterback next weekend. Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, and Co. have yet to stop a trio like Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown — partially because they’ve yet to play anyone nearly as good.
So tired of the disrespect. I've changed my mind. If we're fortunate enough to advance to the Super Bowl, I want the Pats to face the Falcons... so our "overrated, not-as-good-as-your-record" #1 scoring defense can shut down the #1 scoring offense - and shut these people up for good!!
For now... we're onto Pittsburgh. GO PATS!!!
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