NFL Playoff Games Review

The lesson kicked in for this blogger-to-be during the NFL’s 1999 playoffs.

The St. Louis Rams, who had scored more than 30 points 12 times in the regular season and won their first playoff game 49-37, got stifled thereafter.

They won, but not with outrageous numbers. They beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11-6 for the NFC’s Super Bowl berth and the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in the Super Bowl. Good defense had the answer for an offense that called itself The Greatest Show on Turf.

This Sunday’s AFC and NFC conference championship games set up in similar fashion. If the Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints (NFC) and the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the New England Patriots (AFC), the league’s two highest-scoring teams will meet in the Super Bowl.

This is Super Bowl LIII (53). The last time the two top scorers played in the Super Bowl was 1997. It has happened only four times.

Odds are good that no matter which teams make it to Atlanta next month, the potential for scoring will be good. The Philadelphia Eagles hung 43 on the Patriots last year and the Patriots notched 34 in the Super Bowl prior (in overtime) against the Atlanta Falcons. None of the last 10 Super Bowls saw combined scoring below 34 points.

All of that said, remember defense and the running game. Gauge an NFL defense by how many stops it gets, turnovers it forces, times it truly alters field position and sets up scoring in a league with rules skewed toward offense.

Don’t pay so much attention to yardage allowed. Yards and points don’t always correlate.

High-scoring games provide a thrill a minute. Defensive battles offer a study in strategy through taut minutes.
Funny thing. You never really know quite what you’re going to get.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman