Offense Wins Fantasy Leagues; Defense Wins Reality Trophies

By: Jason Sarney

In an age where the almighty statistic has moved into the forefront, it made me think about the history of this great game of football, and how Super Bowl winning teams may be able to lift that precious Vince Lombardi trophy.

Waking up on a Sunday with no Miami Dolphins football is pretty agonizing, so what I needed to do was replace that with statistical research and coffee. It seems so many people on social media are going to stats only, and that has gotten me a little agitated because I was raised with the mindset that offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

Let alone the fact that for my entire football life within statistics and NFL passing specifically, has only Dan Marino at the top of my mind. As great as that man was at throwing the football, we all know what was missing in his illustrious career.

Now we get to the statistical study:

I went back & looked at all the quarterback seasonal stats of every Super Bowl Year they won one.
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Did you know: In 55 Super Bowl seasons, only one quarterback has ever led the league in yards the same year they won the Super Bowl...so who?

That would be Peyton Manning when he was with the Indianapolis Colts, winning Super Bowl XLI. Only 6 quarterbacks in league history have led the NFL in passing touchdowns their winning year.

They are, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, and Ken Stabler. Additionally…

The average seasonal ranking of QBs in the YEAR THEY WON A SUPER BOWL:

Passing Yards: 12th (11.9, rounding up)
Passing TDs: 9th (rounding down, 9.3)

Here is a look at the multiple Super Bowl-Winning quarterbacks and their Rankings across their SB Victory Seasons
QB/Yards Rank/TD Rank (average in SB Winning Years)

Bart Starr 9th/10th
Ben Roethlisberger 17th/15th
Bob Griese 24th/18th
Eli Manning 8/8
Plunkett 17th/13th
Montana 8th/7th
Elway 9th/6th
Peyton Manning 14th/5th
Staubach 8th/6th
Bradshaw 14th/9th
Brady 11th/8th
Aikman 9th/11th

No Quarterback in NFL history has won a Super Bowl while leading the league that season in BOTH passing yards and touchdowns. 

A Super Bowl/Stat/QB Thread

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I went back & looked at all the Quarterback Seasonal Stats of EVERY Super Bowl Year they won one.

Some EYE-POPPING Stats

Did you know:

In 55 SB seasons, only 1 QB has EVER led the league in yards the same year they won the Super Bowl...so who?

— Jason Sarney (@Jason_Sarney) January 16, 2022

Now, the average seasonal TEAM DEF rank the season of a SB Win is 5th while the number of times a #1 NFL Yearly defense WON the SB is 15.

A Top 3 defensive unit over a full season has won the Big Game 27 times. Nearly half of the Winning Super Bowl Teams had a Top 3 defense that year.

The Dolphins and Marino lost the Super Bowl to the Niners in January of 1985. Miami had the league's top offense, with Marino leading the NFL in both yards and touchdowns that season. If Miami won that game, Marino would have been the only man in NFL history to win a Super Bowl while finishing that same season Number 1 in TDs and passing yards.

No man has ever done it to this day.

That same season, San Francisco was led by Joe Montana. He finished 6th in passing yards that season and 4th in TDs. His team defense finished the year ranked 1st, and Miami’s 7th.

If you are wondering, in 1972 and 1973, Miami’s Super Bowl victories, it will come to no shock, that both years, their defense was ranked Number 1.

While this screams the situation in Miami, this does not absolve Tua Tagovailoa of the fact he needs to progress and improve his game, and yes, get fully physically capable following those injuries.

No one can convince me he is at 100% full strength in terms of hip-torque and power, and that can be results of multiple injuries.

We all know the work ethic he possesses, so the hope is, along with newfound organization faith in him, year three is the boom-year.

There are other pieces of the puzzle, like offensive line help, and retaining key free agents while luring them, and then of course the draft.

Yet – with the defense set, and hopefully in place to only improve, the formula can very well be in place for Miami to get things right.
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They just need a person to bring it all together. Apparently, as good a defensive mind as Brian Flores was, the issues that we have been seeing floating around do in fact hold weight. The next person in must make the task of winning seem closer to lifting a feather, and not the bolder Miami has been under since the once-All-Time-Leader in All Things Passing...retired. 

There will never be another 13...we have to stop trying to find one.