What Sells Tickets? Good Offense or Good Defense? You Be The Judge...

[TheOgre]

There are some great defenses that never won a Super Bowl either. The 80's-90's Saints, the 90's-00's Dolphins, and the Buddy Ryan Eagles to name a few.

[JustBonee]

Defense wins games, except for the times that offense does.
Lighting up the scoreboard excites fans more and it's more fun for the players, as long as they light it up more then the other guys. Defense is hard work and a defensive game wears on the fans.
Just my view.

[Mr Shush]

Defense.

Defense defense defense.

Smash mouth football the way it should be. Anyone see Jags-Steelers last year? That was a game. Play of the year 2004: Ray Lewis' "Welcome to the NFL, Carson" late hit. Simply beautiful.

And while historically offense may have done ok, look at the recent record. Last offense-lead team to win a Superbowl: Warner's '99 Rams. Last offense-lead team to go to a Superbowl: Warner's '01 Rams. Sure, you don't want to be like the Ravens last year, with precisely three offensive players, two of whom missed most of the season, but give me Ed Reed over Michael Vick any day.

The cap means overspending on any player is a bad move with regards to improving the team. Offensive superstars all require overpaying relative to their playing value, because of their financial value (bums on seats). Vick and Moss are the biggest examples of this, but there are plenty more. That said, despite my general preference for defense, I do love watching both those guys, Vick especially. That doesn't mean I want them on my team. My dream is that the Pats cut Bruschi because of the stroke, it turns out to be the wrong call, we pick him up and he turns out to have three more years of elite play in him. Won't happen - I'll be surprised if the guy ever plays another snap, which is a real shame - but it's nice to dream.

[Blake]

I think the Patriots have shown that a balanced attack is best.

In the playoffs, if you are an ofensive team like the colts, and you are off that day, or the defense shuts you down. You are done for the year.

Same thing with defense. If the other team just finds ways to put points up, you are going home.

But with a balanced team, you can lean on your offense, or you can lean on the defense. You have a better chance to stay alive. And that is the name of the game in the NFL playoffs.

[Mr Shush]

Well of course if you can be great on both sides of the ball it's better than only one, but that's only possible with really outstanding coaching. And while the NE offense isn't at all bad, it's still not as good as their D. I also think that they almost certainly, over the past four years, have spent more money than most teams on D and less on O. With Law leaving and Brady getting a new contract, that may now change, but then I don't think they're going to be that great a team this year - they might not even win their division.

[Vinny]

Since the playoffs are in December and January, I think having a good running game and a solid defense is the best way to go. Many of the NFL teams are in the North East so a good deal of the playoff games are in bad weather. Finesse teams just don't do as well when the weather gets bad in the Winter.

[Mr Shush]

Yeah, especially in the AFC at the moment, with all the top teams except Indy and San Diego being either up north or up a mountain - Buffalo, NE, NYJ, Baltimore, Cincy and Pittsburgh.

[TexanFanInCC]

tough....i think more people want to see offense, but i like defense. i think an offense would sell more tix...but then again, baltimore puts fans in the stands bc of their defense, not offense. their offense (other than jamal lewis) is not that good.

[HomeBred_Texan]

Originally Posted by BornOrange

Some lady in the row behind me said that it was the most boring game she had ever seen, that nothing happened until the very end.
Homebred Texan must be related to that lady.

Don't be a jerk.. I pay my money like everyone else does and have my own opinion. If you don't agree with my "opinion" that is perfectly fine. My point is last year we addressed defense, this year we need to address offense. Plain and simple. Another killer WR like Johnson couldn't hurt a thing. Then draft all linemen and cut them in camp if they can't cut the mustard...

[TheOgre]

Originally Posted by Mr Shush

And while historically offense may have done ok, look at the recent record. Last offense-lead team to win a Superbowl: Warner's '99 Rams. Last offense-lead team to go to a Superbowl: Warner's '01 Rams.

Actually the '02 Raiders were the last offense led team to go to a Super Bowl.

The 49ers didn't win those championships with trademark defenses. They were more offense oriented than defense. They won 5 championships in the span of 15 years.

Don't get me wrong, I like defense. The difference is that I like balance. The Don Coryell Chargers never won with all offense. The same is true of the Denny Green Vikes (which is the lesson he allegedly learned from that tenure). Jim Mora couldn't win a playoff game with one of the best defenses even (the late 80's Saints), and at the same time he couldn't win with the offensive heavy Colts.

The name of the game is balance. I'd rather be top 10 in both than top 5 in one and 15-20 in the other. Someone needs to tell that to the Colts.

[thegr8fan]

Someone needs to tell that to the Colts.

shhh, don't tell them anything. Course the fact that they went and got Tony Dungy as their head coach might be an indication that the 'cat is already out of the bag'.