In my football fandom lifetime, I have witnessed the single-season Touchdown pass record being broken four times; Marino in '84, Manning in '04, Brady in '07 and Manning again in '13. Each of those offenses were seemingly unstoppable, they absolutely mowed down teams. It could be argued that Marino's was even more impressive as he shattered the previous record of 36 passes that had been in place since 1963. Regardless, each of these accomplishments are massive achievements by these men.

 

Here's what I noticed though; none of those men won the Super Bowl in their respective seasons. I am in no way claiming that these men are "chokers", "over-rated", "shy away from the big game" or anything else of that nature. I just find it very curious that in each case, none of those teams won the title.

 

Could it be because since they were so good throughout the season that the rest of the team simply atrophied since they weren't as necessary to the team's success? Maybe their -- the Quarterbacks -- performance was at such a high level that it simply glossed over fatal flaws throughout the rest of the team.

 

And here I was taught that this is a Quarterback-driven League.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

In my football fandom lifetime, I have witnessed the single-season Touchdown pass record being broken four times; Marino in '84, Manning in '04, Brady in '07 and Manning again in '13. Each of those offenses were seemingly unstoppable, they absolutely mowed down teams. It could be argued that Marino's was even more impressive as he shattered the previous record of 36 passes that had been in place since 1963. Regardless, each of these accomplishments are massive achievements by these men.

 

Here's what I noticed though; none of those men won the Super Bowl in their respective seasons. I am in no way claiming that these men are "chokers", "over-rated", "shy away from the big game" or anything else of that nature. I just find it very curious that in each case, none of those teams won the title.

 

Could it be because since they were so good throughout the season that the rest of the team simply atrophied since they weren't as necessary to the team's success? Maybe their -- the Quarterbacks -- performance was at such a high level that it simply glossed over fatal flaws throughout the rest of the team.

 

And here I was taught that this is a Quarterback-driven League.

 

Good observation.

 

To continue on this theme, at least three of those teams-'84 Miami, '07 Patriots, and '13 Broncos did not have particularly strong running games or defenses.

 

Miami 1984 ranked 16th running the ball, 22nd stopping the run, and 19th in total defense and 7th in points allowed.

 

New England in '07 ranked 4th in defense-excellent-but only 13th rushing the ball.

 

Denver this year ranked 22nd in points allowed, 19th in overall defense, and 15th in rushing.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

Good observation.

 

To continue on this theme, at least three of those teams-'84 Miami, '07 Patriots, and '13 Broncos did not have particularly strong running games or defenses.

 

Miami 1984 ranked 16th running the ball, 22nd stopping the run, and 19th in total defense and 7th in points allowed.

 

New England in '07 ranked 4th in defense-excellent-but only 13th rushing the ball.

 

Denver this year ranked 22nd in points allowed, 19th in overall defense, and 15th in rushing.

 

And I've always felt like those Defensive numbers are somewhat skewed by the presence of such a prolific passing attack.

 

It does bring to light an interesting dilemma; anyone will tell you that if you were to not deploy your most effective weapon, you're a fool. But at what cost to the rest of the team? Sure, you can put up those video game numbers, but what will you fall back on if that weapon of yours draws blanks? Should Denver have spent more time developing a running attack? Should Miami have sacrificed some of Marino's statistics in order to develop their running game? To be honest, I don't know the answer to that question.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

They made it all the way to the superbowl, just because they lost a game doesn't make it not a good way to build a team.

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They made it all the way to the superbowl, just because they lost a game doesn't make it not a good way to build a team.

 

I don't understand your point. I wasn't critiquing the way that the teams were built, I was observing that those four teams did not win the title.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

It underscores the need for balance in the offense. I am Capt. Obvious here but a good running game opens up the passing game with play action and allows for ball control options when the game situation calls for clock management. It's part of what makes the NFL game so good, the change in approach dictated by so many variables from score to time remaining to personnel available, etc.

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

Elway did not win a championship until Terrell Davis showed up. Balance like others have said.

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Elway did not win a championship until Terrell Davis showed up. Balance like others have said.

 

Don't forget the head coach. You can't say it was just because of Terrell Davis.

 

That said, obviously it helped to have Davis on the roster because he was the MVP.

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