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.

On Sunday December 27, 2009, in the 15th game for the New Orleans Saints they faced of against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The game was at the Superdome in New Orleans.

After driving down the field with ease against the New Orleans Saints, Kicker Connor Barth of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates after kicking the winning field goal to defeat the New Orleans Saints 20-17 in overtime.

Well, who cares right?  Wrong.  Destiny cares.  The Saints still locked up the #1 seed in the NFC and the bye in the playoffs but the TB at NO game might have been destiny giving us a look into the future.  NEVER has a team that lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the regular season gone on to win the Super bowl.  This is known as the Tampa Bay curse.  Sound far fetched and stupid?  Well the Buccaneers are the only team in NFL history this is true for.  And it’s not like the Buccaneers were anything special this year, and by our rankings system they were one of the worst.

So New Orleans not only has to overcome their own curse of no Super bowls, they also have to destroy the Tampa Bay curse along the way.  Oh yeah, they also have to beat one of the best QBs of all time in Peyton Manning.

Saints go into the game 13-0 this season looking to keep their perfection and keep up with the Colts. And if you aren’t living in a small secluded box somewhere in Guatemala, you’ve probably noticed its December. Well that means awful, just terrible things for the Cowboys as they are 4-8 since 2007 in December. Its worse than that though. They blow their playoffs seeding nearly every year and then go into the playoffs and wrap up the playoff game in a nice little bow and hand it over to their opponent for Christmas.

Well this time it may be different. Although the Cowboys lost another December game last week, this week they have a chance. The Cowboys clearly aren’t driven by playoff depth and success since they’ve had none. But maybe spoiling 65 guy’s lives by ruining their perfect season is just the thing to motivate Romo and the ‘Boys. By this point, the undefeated season is within reach for the Saints and starting to hit home just how important this feat could be. This could leave them looking ahead to week 17 and the Superbowl already.

I like the Saints to win still, but they are going to have to scrap for this one too. Trust the game will be within a TD at the end, and the Cowboys cover the 8 point spread and potential win a spoiler.