#1 Defense vs. # Offense Narrative

[t96]

I've been seeing this thrown around a lot, especially by Broncos fans... That defense wins championships and historically the #1 defense dominates the #1 offense. They quickly point to their own heartbreak just 2 years ago, and think it'll be the same thing against us just with them being the ones to dominate. But the difference between then and now is that Broncos offense was a finesse passing offense. They walked into a game against the (2nd) toughest defense in the league and got absolutely stomped because the physicality on the Seahawks D was unmatched by the Broncos offense. The Seahawks had guys who could do it all and would knock your ass out of the game at every level of their D. The Denver offense was a complete joke (though it was "historically good). WRs were all complete pansies and the second they got jammed at the line they'd quit on their routes. Peyton was way better than but folded on the big stage. They had no real running game.

 

This game is the complete opposite. The Carolina Panthers offense is far and away the most physical and tough offense in the league, and it's not even close. The Broncos D dominated the Patriots' finesse offense and their crap o-line, so they must dominate us as well right? I don't think so. Just look at Andrew Norwell. That man will fug anybody on that Broncos D up. He's not extremely athletically gifted or physically gifted, but that man will punch them right in the mouth and take 3 or 4 of their guys out of the play. He did it against the Seahawks who still have one of the toughest Ds in the league. The Broncos D is great without a doubt. But they're nothing like the Seahawks have been. The Seahawks' secondary is called the Legion of Boom for a reason--and not because it was a conveniently thought up "cool" nickname. Those guys wreck havoc. They can cover as well as anybody but more than anything else they can come in and knock guys out routinely. The Broncos secondary couldn't be more opposite. Led by Aqib Talib, maybe the biggeest bitch CB since Deion Sanders, that secondary would be afraid to hit the kid taking their lunch money let alone the baddest motherfugers on the planet on the Panthers offense. Talib is an amazing cover corner, no doubt. So is Chris Harris. They have a solid pair of safeties as well. But they are no Legion of Boom. They have an amazing pass rush and I'll give them that. Von Miller is great, as is Ware and the DTs on the interior. Marshall is a tremendous player as well. But this is a group of talented players who were all heralded from day one of their NFL careers. There was no adversity for them. This group was put together by John Elway by paying guys a lot of money and drafting guys early when they were bad. These guys don't have the fight in them like those Seahawks did and it's clear in their play.

 

This isn't even taking into account how good our D is and how poor their O is. Even if they win the matchup between our O and their D by a slight margin we shouldn't have any problems with our D against their O, but I honestly expect our offense to stomp on their D right from the start.

[cabello]

How do both special teams units stack vs each other?

[X-Clown on 1]

The #1 yards allowed defense to me, doesn't mean nearly as much as the #1 points allowed defense (Seattle).  After all, it's the score that determines the winners and losers, even though yards play in to that.  My point being, we hung 31 points in one half on the #1 points allowed defense, and the #1 rushing defense.  I think Denver should be worried.......real worried.

[t96]

3 minutes ago, cabello said:

How do both special teams units stack vs each other?

Both pretty solid units (both hovering around 10 I believe by PFF--not the end all be all but decent indicator). I do believe Ginn could break one. Not super worried about the Broncos breaking one but a little bit worried about a blocker FG. Gonna need to get the 6 consistently in the red zone, which I think we can do. We're not the Patriots and Cam isn't Brady. Cam's the best red zone weapon in league history.

[csx]

In the postseason their defense is 10 of 12 in both points and yards.

 

While our offense is #1 in both and our defense is outplaying their defense in both as well.

[TheRumGone]

They are just trying to hype the game.

2013 Seahawks D may have been the best ever. And their O with lynch was ground and pound much like ours except we have three guys who can do it with stew Tolbert and cam.

Defense does win championships. Good thing we have a great defense too

[JawnyBlaze]

Yea the #1 offense vs #1 defense rhetoric is annoying. We're #1 in offensive points (the stat that matters) they're #1 in defensive yards (the stat that doesn't).  If you're gonna compare ranks like that you gotta use the same scale. It's the #1 offense vs the #3 or 4 or something like that defense. 

[Montsta]

They make it like we are some namby pamby defense and have gotten by on offensive finesse. 

All year long the most hyped offense in the league was the vaunted Arizona Cardinals. Our defense stomped a mud hole in them and took the ball from Palmer 6 times. How is a noodle armed Manning gonna fair? Not well. 

Our offense puts up over 20 points and it is over. And given some of the field position we are sure to get, I don't see that being too tall of a task. 

[Riverboat Ron]

Broncos fans and players are scared sh*tless by this team, no different than the Seahawks fan that pulled the fire alarm.

[Toker Smurf]

My DUDE!! I'm fugging pumped!!! Let's get this party started!!

[CRA]

#1 scoring offenses are generally overly heavy pass attacks.  Which makes it comical that Denver fans are trying to paint themselves as Seattle and Carolina Denver of a few seasons ago.

Carolina is an anomaly.  When is the last time a rushing team lead the NFL in scoring? 

[tondi]

A drowning person will grab hold of anything they can find to keep them afloat.

[FootballMaestro]

24 minutes ago, CRA said:

#1 scoring offenses are generally overly heavy pass attacks.  Which makes it comical that Denver fans are trying to paint themselves as Seattle and Carolina Denver of a few seasons ago.

Carolina is an anomaly.  When is the last time a rushing team lead the NFL in scoring? 

Well we gotta remember, the only reason why the Panthers slightly rush more than they pass, is because when the Panthers have 2TD+ leads (no matter when) they usually start rushing the ball 2-3 downs on each possession.

If the Panther would play the way they did before they got their big lead, the passing #'s would be about 53-55%.

The last Cardinal game was a perfect example of this. The Panthers got tired of hearing about "2nd half collapses", so they kept the pressure on, and Cam ended up with 335 passing yards. If the Panthers did their usual, Cam would have ended up with about 170+ yards or so, as he did vs Seattle the preceding game.

Nonetheless, your points not lost that the Panthers have Stew, Tolbert, [even] Cam, and an OL that can maul defenders.

[tondi]

The Panthers are the only offense in the league thats just as comfortable throwing for 300 yards as it is running for 200 yards.  Thats why the narrative of us being compared with the Denver offense of two years ago is silly.