What does it take to be a NFL Champion Team?

With so much focus on the Prima Donnas of the NFL I wanted to find out what it truly takes to be a NFL Champion.  The Media is so concerned with the Brett Favres(1 SB win in 18 seasons) and Terrell Owens(0 SB wins in 13 seasons) (a combined 1 SB win in 31 seasons) , I wanted to see if we stood a chance to win the "Big Game" without our two Prima Donnas, Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall.

I started my focus the year our head coach began his NFL coaching career with the 2001 SB Champion Patriots and went through every SB winner thereafter to include  the current 2008 SB Champion Steelers.   I did an extensive stat comparison and then analyzed the stats to come up with some of kind of answer or key for  what it takes to be a Champion in the NFL. 

I needed to know if we were truly doomed without Jay Cutler and potentially without Brandon Marshall (until he inks a new contract or steps onto the grass at Paul Brown Stadium Sept. 13 with a Bronco Jersey on I won't be sure if he will be part of the 2009 Denver Broncos), so here it is....

Before I looked at the individual players I wanted to look at the teams overall performances.  Below are the stats and to the right is a brief description of how they compared to the rest of the league.

2008                               Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

Pittsburgh Steelers     311.9 (22)      105.6 (23)    206.3 (17)     347 (20)               Less than average offense

Opponents                     237.2 (1)        80.3 (2)        156.9 (1)      223 (1)                     Great defense

2007                               Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

New York Giants          331.4 (16)     134.3 (4)      197.1 (21)     373 (14)                  Great running game

Opponents                    305.0 (7)        97.7 (8)       207.3 (11)      351 (17)                 Above average defense

2006                              Yds  (Rank)     Rush            Pass              Pts

Indianapolis Colts      379.4 (3)        110.1 (18)      269.3 (2)      427 (2)                   Great offense

Opponents                   332.3 (21)      173.0 (32)     159.3 (2)      360 (23)                  Less than average defense

2005                              Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

Pittsburgh Steelers   321.8 (15)       138.9 (5)      182.9 (24)      389 (9)                      Average offense

 Opponents                 284.0 (4)         86.0 (3)        198.0 (16)      258 (3)                        Great Defense

2004                              Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

New England Pats    357.6 (7)        133.4 (7)       224.3 (11)     437 (4)                      Above average offense

 Opponents                 310.8 (9)         98.3 (6)       212.5 (17)      260 (2)                        Above average defense

2003                              Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

New England Pats     314.9 (17)      100.4 (27)     214.5 (9)     348 (12)                  Average offense

 Opponents                  291.6 (7)        89.6 (4)        202.0 (15)     238 (1)                       Great Defense

2002                              Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

Tampa Bay Bucs        312.6 (24)      97.3 (27)     215.3 (15)    346 (18)                  Below average offense

 Opponents                  252.8 (1)         97.1 (0)        155.6 (1)      196 (1)                      Great Defense

2001                              Yds  (Rank)    Rush            Pass              Pts

New England Pats      305.1 (19)      112.1 (13)   193.1 (22)   371 (6)                     Good at scoring points

 Opponents                  334.5 (24)       15.9 (19)     218.6 (24)   272 (6)                    Good at not allowing points

My analysis is that if you don't have a great offense you better have a great defense and vice versa.  However, only one team (Indy) won without a less than average defense.  The more preferable scenario is an average offense that is above average at scoring points with a better than average defense.  If your defense is only average they better be above average at points allowed. 

Nothing here that made me go ah ha, but a good foundation to go forward with.

To continue the overall team theme, I wanted to look at the all important turnover ratio, OR IS IT.....?

GIVEAWAY/TAKEAWAY

2008                              Giveaway     Takeaway

Pittsburgh Steelers          25                   29                               +4

2007                              Giveaway     Takeaway

NY Giants                           34                    25                             -9

2006                              Giveaway     Takeaway

Indianapolis Colts            18                   25                               +7

2005                              Giveaway     Takeaway

Pittsburgh Steelers       21                      28                               +7

2004                              Giveaway     Takeaway

New England Pats         27                     36                                +9

2003                              Giveaway     Takeaway

New England Pats         24                     41                                 +17

2002                              Giveaway     Takeaway

Tampa Bay Bucs            21                38                                     +17

2001                              Giveaway     Takeaway

New England Pats         28                    35                                  +7

Only the 07 Giants won the SB with a negative season turnover ratio and I would be willing to bet they were positive throughout the playoffs,  just a guess.  The average ratio was just over +7 and the mean was around +8.5. 

This is an ah ha moment and if a team wants to be celebrating in February they better be positive in their turnover ratio.  If not, chances are slim to say the least..

Now, moving into the individual numbers we'll start with the player that touches the ball on every offensive snap, no, not the center and yes, except for the Miami Dolphins...:-). 

QUARTERBACKS

2008                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Ben Roethlisberger    16     281       469         59.9     3301       7.0        17       65         15       80.1         46                                                          

2007                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Eli Manning                16      297       529        56.1     3336       6.3        23       60         20       73.9           27

 2006                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Peyton Manning         16      362       557       65.0       4397     7.9       31      68          9         101.0       14

2005                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Ben Roethlisberger    12    168        268      62.7      2385     8.9        17      85          9         98.6         23

2004                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Tom Brady                  16      288        474      60.8       3692     7.8       28      50         14       92.6          26

2003                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Tom Brady                   16     317        527      60.2      3620       6.9      23      82          12       85.9         32

2002                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Brad Johnson              13    281        451      62.3     3049        6.8      22      76         6         92.9          21     

2001                              G      CMP      ATT      PCT      YDS      AVG      TD      LNG      INT      RAT          Sack

Tom Brady                 15       264       413       63.9      2843       6.9     18      91          12        86.5         41

Brett Favre sightings...., zero.  Smart, game manager type player sightings....., seven or eight (my verdict is out on kid brother of boy wonder :-).  Your quarterback needs to complete around 61-62% of his passes, throw for about 3200 yards, 22 TDs, around 12 ints., have close to a 90 QB rating and pull himself off the turf 25 to 30 times.

This is another ah ha moment.  No gun slinging,  rope throwing, triple coverage testing rocket arms..  Only smart, game managing, leaders.  WOW, MSM how this fact would shatter your paradigm of thinking and cause many hours of fetal position, corner of the room crying from self doubt .  That is if they got past their 9 or so stages of denial. 

Next, I wanted to look at the position where Prima Donnas are more ramped than cockroaches in Southern Alabama.   There has to be at least one on every team......, right?

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

2008                              Rec              YDS            AVG                LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Hines Ward                  81                1043          12.9                   49                7              1              0

Santonio Holmes        55                821            14.9                   48                5              2              1

Nate Washington        40                631            15.8                   65                3              0              0

Heath Miller                 48                514            10.7                    22                3              1              1

2007                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Plaxico Burress           70                1025          14.6                   60                12           0              0

Amani Toomer            59                760            12.9                    40               3              0               0

Jeremy Shockey         57                 619             10.9                  29                3              0              0

Sinorice Moss              21                 225           10.7                   20               0              1            1

2006                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Marvin Harrison           95                1366            14.4                68                12             1             1

Reggie Wayne             86                 1310          15.2                  51                9                1            0

Ben Utecht                    37                 377             10.2                26                0                1             1

Dallas Clark                 30                  367             12.2               40                  4              0              0

2005                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Hines Ward                  69                975             14.1                  85                11            0             0

Antwaan Randle El     35                558                 5.9                63               1               2             1

Heath Miller                  39                459               11.8               50                6               0             0

Cedrick Wilson            26                451               17.3               46                0               1             0

2004                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

David Givens               56                  874               15.6               50                3               0              0

David Patten                 44                 800               18.2               48                7               0              0

Deion Branch               35                  454               13.0               26                4               0              0

Daniel Graham            30                  364               12.1               48                7               0              0

2003                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Deion Branch               57                  803             14.1               66                3               0             0

David Givens               34                  510              15.0               57                6               0              0

Troy Brown                   40                  472              11.8               82                4               0              0

Kevin Faulk                  48                  440               9.2                 27                0               1              1

2002                              Rec              YDS            AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Keyshawn Johnson    76                  1088           14.3               76                5               0              0

Keenan McCardell      61                  670              11.0              65                 6               1              1

Michael Pittman          59                  477              8.1                 64                0               0              0

Joe Jurevicius              37                 423              11.4               26                4               1              0

2001                              Rec              YDS             AVG                 LNG             TD           FUM       LST

Troy Brown                   101               1199            11.9               60                 5              2              1

David Patten                51                  749            14.7                  91                4             1                0

Kevin Faulk                  30                  189               6.3                 28                 2              2             1

Marc Edwards              25                 166               6.6                17                2              3              1

Terrell WHO?   Well, what about Keyshawn and Dirty Harry, I mean John Wayne, oops again, I mean Plaxico, there we go..  I think Gruden did a good job humbling Keyshawn that year, so that leaves 1 out of 8 top receivers and 32 total pass catchers that was a prima donna. 

Another ah ha moment.   I guess a team just needs talented, unselfish, crafty route runners and pass catchers and good down field blockers.  Who would have thought? The way the MSM destines every team that picks up T.O. as the off season winner, I would have never guessed.   They're so far off most of the time I feel like literally hurling sometimes when I think about it. 

Last, but not least is the running back.  My favorite position because there is nothing more I love in football then when the defense knows you're running the ball and you still stuff it down their throat.  Oh, how I miss T.D. and Mike, Orlandis, and Reuben and how I'm going to love Peyton and Knowshon for hopefully many, many years to come.   I digress.. 

Continued on What does it take to be a NFL Champion Team cont...?