One of the main storylines for Super Bowl XLVIII is that it's a matchup of the league's top offense, Denver, versus its top defense, Seattle. During the regular season the Broncos led the league in most yards gained, while the Seahawks led the league in fewest yards allowed.
What happened this year when the league's best offenses ran up against the top defenses? Including the postseason, teams with top-5 offenses faced teams with top-5 defenses on 10 occasions. Denver, interestingly, wasn't involved in any of those games -- they didn't face a top-5 defense all season. Seattle, in contrast, played two such games, matched up with New Orleans' top-5 offense in both the regular and postseasons.
Based on that sample set, it looks like the defense has the advantage. The top-5 offense won only 3 of the 10 meetings -- so, good news for Seattle. Best that can be said for those top-5 offenses is that they did a little better in scoring. They scored 27 or more points four times, and at least 20 points in six of the 10 games. In the other four, though, they were completely shut down, scoring 10, 7, 13 and 15 points.
Here's how those games turned out; the top-5 offense is in bold.
| TOP 5 OFFENSE VS. TOP 5 DEFENSE, 2013 |
|---|
| San Francisco 34, Green Bay 28 |
| Cincinnati 34, Green Bay 30 |
| Cincinnati 17, San Diego 10 |
| San Francisco 23, Green Bay 20 |
| New Orleans 23, San Francisco 20 |
| San Diego 27, Cincinnati 10 |
| Seattle 34, New Orleans 7 |
| New Orleans 31, Carolina 13 |
| Carolina 17, New Orleans 13 |
| Seattle 23, New Orleans 15 |
--Andy Richardson