interesting article on running and defense

[Dpantherman]

Last year, the two SB teams-- Arizona and Pittsburgh, both had the 32nd and 23rd ranked rushing games respectively.

-Arizona's D was average, Pittsburgh's was #1.

-Arizona's passing game was 2nd. Pittsburgh's was 17th. (but they passed more than they ran of course)

[panthers55]

Not to get too technical or anything, but isn't that obvious? Passing + Rushing = Score Points. Defense = Don't Give Points. Scores Points + Don't Give Points = Point Differential.

I see your overall point, but it's an obvious one. The author is trying to find out why that is true and makes a proposition based on that.

But the point is that passing or running doesn't matter as much as you have a good offense and good defense. And scoring defense or not giving up many points is the most important issue. Offense and scoring points also helps the defense by making the opponent more one dimensional.

The reality is his premise of defense and rushing not being a winning formula is erroneous. He makes it sound as if the passing game is the formula for success and that is much too simplistic. If he had said having a great offense and stopping the other team, he would be correct. But that is pretty obvious as well. My point is simply that he took some selective stats to prove his point and made a simplistic overblown generalization. The truth is that the majority of great passing teams this year also have good running games and good defenses. It isn't very surprising they are winning. Nor is it all about the passing game. He went a long way to make a point easily debated with other stats.

[panthers55]

You're right on about NO's Run game and D. They have vastly improved their running attack (up to #5 right now from #28 last year), and moderately improved their D (#16 from #23)

But this year, somehow (read: #18), Indy is getting it done (barely) with the 31st best rushing offense in the league and the 15th best D. So they're proving your team can have success if your QB is one of the best the game has ever seen and a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame.

Indy is second on defense in points allowed which is the only defensive stat that matters. That is a big reason they are undefeated.

[panthers55]

Last year, the two SB teams-- Arizona and Pittsburgh, both had the 32nd and 23rd ranked rushing games respectively.

-Arizona's D was average, Pittsburgh's was #1.

-Arizona's passing game was 2nd. Pittsburgh's was 17th. (but they passed more than they ran of course)

And Arizona was 9-7 in the regular season. Their defense improved significantly in the playoffs which is why they went to the Superbowl.

[panthers55]

Top 5 passing teams per nfl.com in order

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

Houston Texans

New Orleans Saints

Arizona Cardinals

Teams rank rushing the football:

Indianapolis Colts 31st

New England Patriots 17th

Houston Texans 29th

New Orleans Saints 5th

Arizona Cardinals 27th

You are right. Substitute top 5 offenses for top five passing teams and my list is correct. Since Minnesota is 7th and Dallas is 10th in passing. My list included the five top offenses and they were all in the top 10 in passing. The point is still that 3 of the five have top 10 rushing offenses as well. The only 2 exceptions every year are NE and Indy. They were also top 10 in points allowed by the defense. So the point remains that passing alone without defense or rushing doesn't work for the majority of teams and is not a winning formula.