What really makes a Superbowl team?

I am reminded of what the great football philosopher, Michael Irvin, said years ago. Offense, not defense, wins championships. Huh? For as long as I've watched the game it's always been defense wins championships. The Steel Curtain, Doomsday, Purple People Eaters are a few that come to mind. I don't know the names of many great offenses. The Greatest Show on Turf....not sure after that. Let me explain what I think Mike meant by his statement. Unless you have the 2000 Ravens defense, you need a strong offense to win the Superbowl. I also think that teams that base their play around good offense are good year after year. The Colts are a perfect example. They've had a strong offense for 12 years now and they are consistently in the playoffs. The Steelers on the other hand base it all on strong defense and ball control offense. They have won two Superbowls this decade but also missed the playoffs the following year each time. Why is that? Much like a bullpen in baseball you never know what you'll get on defense from year to year. You can have the exact same players and coach but it doesn't come together they way it did the previous year. My formula for a Superbowl team: a great offense and an opportunistic defense.

I believe this philosophy was followed perfectly in 2006 by the Colts. Let me explain. The Colts had their usual unbelievable offense again in 2006. Manning's qb rating for the year was 101. The Colts were third in total offense. But this was the same Colts team that we had seen for years. The difference this year is that their defense started to play well toward the end of the season. Bob Sanders returned and gave this team a swagger that it had not had in the Manning era. While they outlasted the Patriots 38-34 in the AFC championship, their defense played good enough in the rest of the playoff games and Superbowl to allow the offense to win games.

The following year the Giants followed the same philosophy. The Giants point differential in 2007 was a plus 22 points. It was a nice offensive year but a very shaky defensive year in New York. But the defense came together at playoff time. Strahan and Umenyiora played as well in that stretch than any point in their careers. They eventually held down the highest scoring offense in NFL history in the Patriots to just 14 points. The following year had the Cardinals playoff run highlighted by a defense that played well enough to land them a Superbowl appearance.

This years Superbowl features two top ten offenses but two less than average defenses. The Saints rank 1/25 on offense and defense, respectively. The Colts rank 9/18. I expect this game to go over (56) but it just might come down to which defense rises up and plays above themselves at crunch time.