The one thing I worry about with the Tigers this year is the fact that they score so quickly. I am not complaining since it is obviously a good thing to be able to score points. This does not sound like a problem but from the 1.23 million hours I have spent watching football at all levels it does stick out as a potential problem.
I have seen very good offensive teams over the years wilt in big games. They do great during most of their games but when they face a decent team they fade. I don’t know the exact reason for this but I have a few theories. When an offense scores on 3 play “drives” their defense gets no rest so it has trouble stopping the other team. While this is happening, the opponent’s defense gets plenty of rest because they are getting scored on in 3 plays. So one defense is dead tired in the fourth quarter and the other is fresh despite being scored on early and often.
I can name several examples of great offenses that did not win championships. But obviously there have been great offenses that did win championships too. The meltdowns just standout. My list of great offenses that failed in the end are below. These teams are not a comparison to the Tigers … they will go as far as they go on their own merit. Their quick strike offense just got me to thinking.
- Vikings with Randy Moss getting beat by the Falcons in the NFC Title game in 1998.
- Patriots losing to the Giants year before last in the Super Bowl.
- Rams losing to the Pats in 2001 Super Bowl.
- USC loss to Texas in BCS “so called Championship”
- Giants beat Bills in 1991 Super Bowl.
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[...] I get tired of cliches especially from the talking heads on TV sports. But one that rings true most of the time is “defense wins championships”. It is absolutely the truth. It is fun to watch great offenses but they can can be stopped once they reach a championship game where they are likely up against a very good defense. Some team examples are in this earlier post. [...]