A lot has been made about these two high powered offenses led by spectacular QBs butting heads in the Super Bowl.  There hasn’t been too much detail on the defenses.

So there is a lot stirring up about the New Orleans Defense.  Some saying their passing defense is terrible, some saying it is very good.  No one really cares or mentions the run defense since Indy is so bad between the tackles.  Lets take a look at just the basic stats of the New Orleans defense.

Total Defense: 25th/32 (357 yds/gm)

Pass Defense: 26th/32 (235.6 yds/gm)

Rush Defense: 21st/32 (122.2 yds/gm)

Now 25th in the league overall might sound bad, the glass half fullers might say, “Well, there’s still 7 teams worse than them”.  Well, yeah, sure.  But the teams worse than them are some of the worst teams in NFL history.  I mean it was just crazy how bad the worst teams were this year.  26th  through 32nd in overall defense go like this: OAK, TB, TEN, STL, KC, CLE, DET.  Wow.  Now, had Tennessee had any motivation at all the first 6 games of the season, I can guarantee they would have been better than the Saints by a mile.

So the ‘Who Dats’ have the BEST defense, among some of the worst NFL teams in history that played this season.  But it gets worse.  Obviously they are last of all the playoff teams in passing and rushing defense (except Colts in rush defense).  They allow 20% more total yards than the Ravens and a whopping 45% more than the New York Jets.   In passing yards over the regular season they allow 55% more passing yards than the New York Jets that Peyton conservatively put up 360.

Now, obviously we cant just project those stats with those percentages and have any accuracy determining what Peyton Manning will put up in the Super Bowl.  But lets just try it anyways.  The Colts put up 461 yards versus the Jets.  That projects out to a Super Bowl record (602 yds – SB ‘88) 668 yards of total offense in the Super Bowl.  Now lets just take a gander at the passing stats.  Peyton put up 360 yards in a conservative pass game against the stingy Jets.  This would project out to a modest 558 (!?!?!) yards passing.  Easily beating Kurt Warner’s 407 yard record Super Bowl game.

Now, Peyton isn’t going to throw 558 yards.  I doubt he could put up even 400 unless the team is fighting from behind the entire game and throws a couple picks.  BUT, if Peyton in 7 days can dissect the incredible Jets defense and find the holes to put up 360 yards.  What do you think he can do with 11-14 days against a pretty poor team against the pass.

Now, the Saints were great at creating turnovers.  They were 2nd in the NFL behind only the Packers in takeaways.  Last week we saw this rampant in the Vikings game.  It seems like everyone on the team fumbled at some point.  Well, Peyton Manning had 6 fumbles this season, the same # as Adrian Peterson.  Oh wait, he has 6 lost fumbles since 2002 and zero, yes zero fumbles, in the last 2 seasons (36 games).  Manning will take a sack or throw it away long before a defender can get close enough to force a fumble.  Trust that the wide receivers and running backs will see some film that will cause them to hold on to the ball pretty tight on Sunday.

So from a defensive standpoint it looks pretty grim for the New Orleans Saints.  Drew Brees and that explosive offense are going to have to come up big in this one if they want a chance to win.

Related posts:

1. Super Bowl Props & Odds
2. The Tampa Bay Curse
3. Super Bowl Music Video Faceoff

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