Early NFL Playoff Thoughts...

[Big Al]

Just a couple of things to keep in mind when looking at this weekends NFL playoff games. First, upsets tend to happen in the first round, favorites tend to win in the second round. Also, the old saying "defense wins championships" really comes into play during the NFL playoffs. The team with the best defense tends to win. Just a couple of things to remember when looking at the first round games. I will post later this week my take on each game.--Big Al--

[tek]

Vikings choke as usual. Film at 11. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Ozzzz]

[ QUOTE ]
Just a couple of things to keep in mind when looking at this weekends NFL playoff games. First, upsets tend to happen in the first round, favorites tend to win in the second round. Also, the old saying "defense wins championships" really comes into play during the NFL playoffs. The team with the best defense tends to win. Just a couple of things to remember when looking at the first round games. I will post later this week my take on each game.--Big Al--

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't buy the defense thing. Do Great Defenses Beat Great Offenses? (http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=145&cat=1)

[Big Al]

In the playoffs they do. Lets look at the past couple of Super Bowls and the playoffs last year. Carolina made it to the Super Bowl last year because of their defense. TB beat Oakland in the SB, Baltimore also won it strictly because of their defense. Playoff time, a good defense will beat a good offense most of the time.--Big Al--

[MCS]

Al, Ozzzz's point was that the conventional wisdom re: defense just doesn't stand up when you look at history. Check out the link he provided.

Of course, there are different ways to measure this type of claim, and maybe there is some metric where great defense really does beat great offense. Also, for 2002 and 2003, what you say is true. But to me (and some others), those years seem to be an aberration, not a representative sample.