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Offense vs. Defense (part 2)

Where do Broncos, Seahawks fit in all time

A look at how Denver and Seattle fit into the all-time landscape, not for points scored but in terms of yards. The Broncos offense and the Seahawks defense both rank in the top dozen ever. Not quite as high as when looking at scoring, but very good.

On Friday, I tossed around some numbers suggesting that this was maybe the ultimate offense versus defense Super Bowl. Denver ranked No. 1 in scoring, Seattle ranked No. 1 in scoring defense, and adjusting those numbers to account for the changes in the game, it looks like these are two of the top 10 units ever (well, since the league moved to 16 games in 1978).

All of that, however, was based on points – scoring. Some prefer to look at yards. So I decided to run the same study in the same way, only using yards rather than points.

So for all teams (again, among those who’ve played 16 games in a regular season), I looked at their average, versus what other teams did in that season.

The Broncos come out as the 8th-best offense (for yards) in the last 35 years. The Seahawks come out as the No. 11 defense. These are two great units. And no time since the move to 16 games in 1978 have two top-20 units squared off against each other.

As we saw with scoring, slightly more of the offensive teams made it to the Super Bowl. But the defenses groups have tended to do better. Of the four previous top-20 defenses to get their, they’ve all won – 4-0.

Of the six top-20 offenses to get their, they’ve gone only 1-5.

You may recall for scoring, that top-20 defenses went 6-1 in championship games, while top-20 offenses went only 4-5 (with all five of those losing teams scoring under 20 points).

Maybe there’s something to that old saying about defense winning championships.

On the chart below, a black dot (•) means the team lost in the Super Bowl. Two black dots (••) means the team won the Super Bowl.

TOP 20 OFFENSES (adjusted yards)
YearTeamYardsNFLPct
2000St. Louis Rams442319138%
2011New Orleans Saints467347135%
1998San Francisco 49ers425318134%
2001•St. Louis Rams418318132%
1984•Miami Dolphins434330131%
1992San Francisco 49ers387298130%
1993San Francisco 49ers402311129%
2013Denver Broncos449349129%
2000Denver Broncos410319128%
2004Kansas City Chiefs418327128%
1991•Buffalo Bills391307127%
2007•New England Patriots411325126%
1981San Diego Chargers422335126%
1990Houston Oilers389309126%
1999••St. Louis Rams401319126%
2008New Orleans Saints411327126%
1986Cincinnati Bengals406324125%
1978New England Patriots373301124%
1985San Diego Chargers408329124%
1978•Dallas Cowboys372301124%
TOP 20 DEFENSES (adjusted yards)
YearTeamYardsNFLPct
1991Philadelphia Eagles22230772%
2008••Pittsburgh Steelers23732772%
1984Chicago Bears24133073%
2000Tennessee Titans23831975%
2009New York Jets25233575%
2002••Tampa Bay Buccaneers25332877%
2000••Baltimore Ravens24831978%
1979Tampa Bay Buccaneers24731678%
2011Pittsburgh Steelers27234778%
1985••Chicago Bears25832978%
2013Seattle Seahawks27434879%
2004Pittsburgh Steelers25832779%
1980Buffalo Bills25632379%
1999Buffalo Bills25331979%
1988Minnesota Vikings25632279%
2012Pittsburgh Steelers27634779%
1986Chicago Bears25832579%
2003Dallas Cowboys25431880%
1997San Francisco 49ers25131580%
2008Baltimore Ravens26132780%

--Ian Allan

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