What Went Down In Super Bowl LIII

In an NFL season defined by explosive offense, it’s no coincidence that the two teams left standing at the top of the heap were both among the league’s top four scoring teams. (The Rams ranked second, and the Pats were fourth.) As our Josh Hermsmeyer reports, one reason why offense wins championships these days is that it’s much easier to reliably build a great team on that side of the ball. For teams, the year-to-year correlation in offensive performance — particularly passing offense — is much higher than the same number on defense.

While the ability to pressure opposing QBs is relatively predictable, other high-impact defensive plays (interceptions, forced fumbles and even sacks) are almost completely random between seasons. By building around offense instead, teams like the Rams and Patriots have tapped into a more dependable formula for building a contender.

I’m very surprised they didn’t go for it. Patriots were coming off an un-Brady like INT and an un-Gostkowski-like missed FG. Need to take advantage of these chances.

I so agree with that, Josh, and coaches seem to do it on purpose so it can’t be researched later as a cowardly call.