Sunday, August 12, 2018

Defense Wins Championships??

When I come up with a topic I want to write about I never know if I heard something similar to it in the last week??  Bear Bryants quote: "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships," may still hold sway in the collegiate ranks?.?.?.
However, the NFL being a business has dropped this quote many moons ago, certainly if they believe it!!
The '86 Bears, the Ravens teams were controlled by Ray, especially when Dilfer was the QB.  Maybe some of the Giants teams, the Buccaneers.  But if you look at the list of QB's along side their winning teams, you can see the change!!
In the first days of the merger that quote makes sense & holds true.  Bart Starr, starting QB for Green Bay was drafted in the.....(??) 12th-16th round out of..."Wait for it,".."Wait for it,".. Alabama!  Coached by Bryant.  Drafted that deep you probably are  looking for a game manager.  Just what Lombardi wanted to run his power sweep.  Powerful defense to stop the ball & a power running attack to control the pace of the game.
Reason I looked into this was to see if any of the teams(last year, 2017-18) made use of the 2-point conversion.  What I found out, going by TD's, FG's, XP's & 2-PTs for total points for the season, Teams 1 thru 8 were as follows:
1) Ram's - 476; 0-2 pointers
2) Pat's - 458; 2-2 pointers
3) Eagles - 457; 6-2 pointers
4) Saint's - 448; 1-2 pointer
5) Jag's. - 417; 3-2 pointers
6) Chief's - 415; 0-2 pointers
7) Lion's - 410; 2-2 pointers
8) Steeler's - 404; 2-2 pointers
Out of those 8 teams; Top 4 seeded in AFC; Top 3 seeds in NFC, minus Vikings.  Between them, they converted 16 2-point conversions.  Between the other 24 teams in the NFL, 20-2-pointers were converted.
Whether that means the top scoring teams had better offenses creating higher confidence after TD's; or the score precipitated going for 2 instead of 1?  It's hard not to notice the team that won the SB had more than three times 2-point conversions over 30 teams, and two times more than the Jag's.
The NFL is a business, and the business of the NFL is to sell tickets......odd??  Same as Bear's opinion of the Offensive Unit!! 
Any bet's on the number of points or 2-point conversions next year??  Or do you think status quo will reign supreme & coaches will only chance a 2-pointer when that strange numbers strategy=to time remaining projects that you go for 2??  Or will Jerry be calling down to his coach telling him to line-up & give Elliot the ball, "The Fan's are yelling for him to get in there!!"
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9 comments

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I did forget to add that one of the reasons I have been thinking about the 2-pointer is because it seems our kicking game may not be up to snuff this year? A long way a way & things hopefully will change, but right now, I'm working on my 2-pointer!!

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Two rookie kickers in camp. Stock up on the Pepto Bismol.

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No, you misunderstood. I'm talking about when we punt!!

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That's an issue too.

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Btw...the first time I heard the saying way back in the day about tix and winning it was...

Offense sells tickets
Defense wins games
Specialty teams win championships

The reason being, back in the day, with all the teams in the playoffs having good defenses and good running backs, field position was very important. And FGs were imperative.

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Rookie kickers are going to be scary stuff for us fans this year.
Team can easily lose a couple of games this year because of shaky kicking. That is a huge deal. Difference between 10-6 (which I think this team is capable of with RT back) and 8-8 and no playoffs.
Playoffs ?? Playoffs ??? Did someone say Playoffs ????

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So is it worth trying the 2-point conversions, or sticking with the status quo "#'s vs. time left" making the call on XP or 2-Point conversion??
That's hard to read. Giving your opinion on either or would be fine!!

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Never heard that one Carl? Take it not's Bear?
Special Teams win Championships? When you have a FG kicker with a quick release like Garo, your gonna win!!

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Seems the brain trust of the Phins have different ideas about Parker than you & I, Edwin. Unless they are pulling the Jarvis Landry play??
My biggest issue with Parker is his FIGHT & GO GET IT when the balls in the air. He seems to have neither??