by Davey, Blown Coverage
I was bored and I went looking for some Pete Prisco stupidity over at CBS, and wouldn't you know it, he came through again.
He was asked if the Packers could win a Super Bowl while their rushing game is last in the league and his answer was odd to say the least...
Yes. There's an old adage that you have to run in December and January to win. That's not true. You have to be able to throw to score and run to win. By that, I mean throw it early and get a lead and then run it with the lead.
Pete Prisco, telling us that you have to be a pass first team to win a Super Bowl. Without really researching this, I already started to disagree with him so I decided to go look at some numbers. I went back and looked at the last 10 Super Bowls and how the participating teams had faired that season in the run game.
Now, I know you might think that a sample size of 20 teams and 10 games is a bit small, but I though it would be relevant for the era we're in right now.
The Packers were pretty balanced in '97. Favre had a good year but so did Dorsey Levens as he also made the Pro Bowl that season. Levens finished the season with 1435 rushing yards and 7 Td's.
Team rushing ranks : 10th in attempts, 12th in yardage and 25th in touchdowns.
The Broncos ranked higher in the rush game than the pass game that season and even though Elway had a great year, it was Terrell Davis who was just going crazy.
Davis finished with 1750 rushing yards and 15 Td's.
Team rushing ranks : 6th in attempts, 4th in yardage and 5th in touchdowns.
It's no coincidence that Elway finally got a ring after Davis burst on to the scene. Elway would get his second ring in '98 and once again, it was Davis leading the way with an absolutely amazing season.
Bonus Fact : Davis' Super Bowl line : 30 carries, 157 yards, 3 Td's and the MVP award.
The Falcons got a monstrous rushing season from Jamal Anderson as he finished with 1846 rushing yards and 14 Td's. Anderson carried the ball a whopping 410 times during the regular season and sadly, he wasn't the same runner after that anymore.
Team rushing ranks : 4th in attempts, 6th in yardage and 7th in touchdowns.
As for Denver, Terrell Davis had one of the all-time great rushing seasons in '98. 2008 yards, 21 touchdowns and a 5.1 average per rush
Team rushing ranks : 2nd in attempts, 2nd in yardage and 1st overall in touchdowns.
Bonus fact : Davis surpassed 100 yards rushing in the Super Bowl for the second year in a row and as a team, the Broncos had 3 rushing Td's in that game.
The Titans were led in '99 by Eddie George and his 1304 rushing yards and 9 Td's. Steve McNair also added 8 rushing touchdowns in the 11 games in which he played.
Team rushing ranks : 12th in attempts, 13th in yardage and 3rd in touchdowns.
The '99 Rams were one of the great offenses of all-time and even though they loved to pass, to could run it a little as well. Marshall Faulk was setting records and had 1381 rushing yards to go along with 7 Td's on the ground that season.
Team rushing ranks : 17th in attempts, 5th in yardage and 14th in touchdowns.
The Giants had Kerry Collins under center and could throw the ball a little, but Tiki Barber and Ron Dayne combined for over 1700 rushing yards and 13 Td's.
Team rushing ranks : 6th in attempts, 11th in yardage and 8th in touchdowns
Should I even tell you about this Ravens team? They had one of the best defenses of all time and they ran the ball. Trent Dilfer and Tony Banks were taking snaps under center for this team so they needed everything that the defense and that running game could give them.
Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes combined for over 1900 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Team rushing ranks : 5th in attempts, 5th in yardage and 25th in touchdowns.
Bonus fact : Jamal Lewis went for 100 yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl. Tiki Barber was held t0 49 yards and 0 scores.
The 2001 Rams fall into that category of pass first, but just like the '99 team, they had a pretty decent rushing attack. Faulk and Trung Candidate combined for over 1800 yards and 18 touchdowns but sadly, Mike Martz seemed to be allergic to the run at times.
Team rushing ranks : 22nd in attempts, 5th in yards and 1st in touchdowns.
Yes, I know the Pats took of with the arrival of Tom Brady, but the main receivers were Troy Brown and David Patten. The rushing game for its part was pretty effective.
Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk, J.R. Redmond and Marc Edwards combined for 1600 yards and 14 Td's on the ground.
Team rushing ranks : 8th in attempts, 13th in yards and 7th in touchdwons.
As for the Super Bowl itself, the Pats had more rushing yards than the Rams and had a more balanced attack. Kurt Warner threw 44 passes while Faulk only got 17 carries and a lot of people will still argue that the Rams would have won if Martz ran the ball more than he did.
Here we finally get a team that ranked a lot higher in the passing game than in the running game. Rich Gannon threw for a ton of yards but the running game did put up some yardage.
Charlie Garner, Tyronne Wheatly and Zack Crockett combined for over 1500 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.
Team rushing ranks : 24th in attempts, 19th in yardage and 5th in touchdowns.
The 2002 Bucs had a great defense but their passing game was surprisingly good as well. Brad Johnson had a solid season and the pass offense ranked a lot higher than the rushing offense.
Mike Alstott, Aaron Stecker and Michael Pittman combined for about 1400 yards and only 5 touchdowns on the ground.
Team rushing ranks : 25th in attempts, 27th in yardage and 32nd in touchdowns.
The Bucs won behind their great defense, but they had a big edge in the rushing department in the Super Bowl. Tampa finished with 150 yards rushing and 1 Td, while Oakland finished with only 19 yards and 0 scores.
The Panthers were a run first team this season. Their passing game was solid but they relied on defense and rushing to win.
Stephen Davis and Deshaun Foster combined for almost 1900 yards on the ground and 8 Td's.
Team rushing ranks : 3rd in attempts, 7th in yardage and 24th in touchdowns.
The Patriots did really more on the passing game in this season than their previous Super Bowl winning year. The passing offense was one of the league's best and the run game ranked more towards the bottom.
Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk and Mike Cloud combined for about 1400 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Team rushing ranks : 12th in attempts, 27th in yardage and 25th in touchdowns.
Just like the 2002 Bucs, New England ranked better during the regular season in the pass game, but they won the rushing match-up while winning that Super Bowl. The Pats rushed 35 times for 127 yards while Carolina only ran 16 times for 92 yards.
The Eagles loved to throw the ball in 2004. The passing attack ranked way higher than the rushing attack as Donovan McNabb had a phenomenal season.
Brian Westbrook and Dorsey Levens combined for about 1200 yards and 7 Td's rushing.
Team rushing ranks : 31st in attempts, 24th in yardage and 23rd in touchdowns.
As for the Pats, this was the season they brought in Corey Dillon and the shift went from pass, to run.
Tom Brady had a good year but Dillon exploded for 1635 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
Team rushing ranks : 5th in attempts, 7th in yardage and 8th in touchdowns.
The Pats won the Super Bowl and it should be no surprise that they won the rushing match-up as well. They ran the ball more than the Eagles, went over the 100 yard mark on the ground while Philly was held to just 45 yards.
Seattle was a very good rushing team in 2005 and relied more on the rush than the pass. Shaun Alexander had that huge year with 1880 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Team rushing ranks : 7th in attempts, 3rd in yardage and 1st in touchdowns.
The Steelers were almost just as good at rushing the ball and relied on it even more than the Seahawks in '05.
Willie Parker, Jerome Bettis, Verron Haynes and Deuce Staley combined for over 2000 yards and 17 Td's.
Team rushing ranks : 1st in attempts, 5th in yardage and 5th in touchdowns.
Bonus fact : The Steelers rushed more, had more yardage and scored 2 rushing Td's on way to their victory over the 'Hawks.
The 2006 Chicago Bears can be summed up like this. Dominate on defese, run the ball and hope that Rex Grossman doesn't mess it up.
Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson combined for over 1800 yards and 12 Td's as the Bears heavily relied on that running game.
Team rushing stats : 5th in attempts, 15th in yardage and 12th in touchdowns.
The Colts are also one of those teams that relied more on the pass, but the running game was no slouch for sure. Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes combined for over 1700 yards and 12 Td's and served as a nice complement to that potent Indy pass attack.
Even though Indy is one of those "pass first" teams, they still won the Super Bowl thanks to that rushing game. 42 rushes, 191 yards and 1 Td on the ground as Manning finally lifted that trophy.
Conclusion.
The '99 Rams, the '02 Bucs, the '03 Pats and the '06 Colts all won while having stronger passing games but the rushing game was at least decent or middle of the pack. The Bucs, Colts and Pats all won while also winning the Super Bowl rushing match-up.
As for other "pass first" teams. The Eagles lost in '03, the Raiders got crushed in '02, the Rams could have won in '01 had they rushed more while the '98 Vikings, '03 Colts and '04 Colts didn't even make it there.
Point is, you have to have some sort of running game to compliment that passing attack. John Elway finally won when he had Terrell David to hand off to. Manning finally won with the help of that monstrous rushing effort against Chicago. Even the Rams had Marshall Faulk who made that offense go...
The Packers are one of the best teams so far, but I can't imagine them winning a Super Bowl when their rushing attack is dead last. And for those of you that are going to argue that the other top teams also rely more on the pass, then consider the following..
Who would you rather have right now in your backfield? Maroney, Julius Jones/Marion Barber, Joseph Addai, Willie Parker, Brandon Jacobs, L.T/Michael Turner or Ryan Grant???
It's going to tough for the Pack to overcome that mister Prisco...
(Originally published 11/15)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
GOOD OBSERVATION, PETE
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