Didn't Eli win two super bowls?

[johneric8]

Of course he didn't! His defense did....

Just a gentle reminder to the DDS crowd.....

Critically speaking, the defense has been absolutely frightful. If it could just become middle of the pack, our fortunes would drastically change.

This defense is nearly last in every category, I can't see any qb being able to consistently overcome being let down knowing that everything is always 100% on their shoulders. There is virtually no help and especially no timely defensive stops.

I'm not sure nolan makes it through the season if the defense doesn't show some life.

 

[Future]

Defense doesn't win championships anymore, but the point that QBs don't win in a vacuum is still true.

 

[OmerV]

Defense doesn't win championships anymore, but the point that QBs don't win in a vacuum is still true.

The Giants, Seattle and Baltimore all won Super Bowls largely on their defense. Ultimately though, there is no one formula for winning other than just being better than the opponent.

 

[CorpusChristiCowboy]

The niners bad *** defense lost to chiefs and their meh D so yeah.

Defense doesn't win championships anymore, but the point that QBs don't win in a vacuum is still true.

I mean you could say in 2019 the Pats won with their D?

 

[Future]

The Giants, Seattle and Baltimore all won Super Bowls largely on their defense. Ultimately though, there is no one formula for winning other than just being better than the opponent.

The league isn't the same as it was in 2015.

 

[John813]

Eli did win two superbowls.

The guy is so-so in the regular season but he stepped up in the playoffs when needed. The Giants didn't need him to be like Rodgers or Mahomes. They needed him to make plays when needed and avoid turnovers. He did that.

 

[Future]

The niners bad *** defense lost to chiefs and their meh D so yeah.

I mean you could say in 2019 the Pats won with their D?

You could - but that's the anomaly in the last 4 years. I'd also say that if you score fewer than 20 points in an NFL game, today, it's because the offense played bad. Defenses just aren't allowed to be that good.

 

[johneric8]

Defense doesn't win championships anymore, but the point that QBs don't win in a vacuum is still true.

Wrong... The Patriots won with strictly defense a couple of seasons ago. Brady and the offense did nothing, it was mostly field goals.

 

[Blackspider214]

Defense doesn't win championships anymore, but the point that QBs don't win in a vacuum is still true.

You definitely need a defense that can make plays and hold their own. That will never not be true. How many times did Peyton Manning have the best offense in football? And they didn't win it all because their defense could not stop Tom Brady. The 2 years Peyton did win it all? Those were his defense. The Colts beat the Ravens in his first Super Bowl run by not even scoring a TD. He won the Super Bowl by playing very meh. The Colts defense locked down the Bears. And in 2015, Peyton was god awful and leaned on one of the best defenses in modern football to win it all.

Mahomes even leaned on his defense all playoffs to make plays.

Our defense is beyond pathetic and can't make a play to save their lives when we need it.

 

[johneric8]

Eli did win two superbowls.

The guy is so-so in the regular season but he stepped up in the playoffs when needed. The Giants didn't need him to be like Rodgers or Mahomes. They needed him to make plays when needed and avoid turnovers. He did that.

I'm quite sure dak could do the same, but how would we know?

 

[Future]

Wrong... The Patriots won with strictly defense a couple of seasons ago. Brady and the offense did nothing, it was mostly field goals.

The won b/c the Rams couldn't play offense.

 

[Future]

You definitely need a defense that can make plays and hold their own. That will never not be true. How many times did Peyton Manning have the best offense in football? And they didn't win it all because their defense could not stop Tom Brady. The 2 years Peyton did win it all? Those were his defense. The Colts beat the Ravens in his first Super Bowl run by not even scoring a TD. He won the Super Bowl by playing very meh. The Colts defense locked down the Bears. And in 2015, Peyton was god awful and leaned on one of the best defenses in modern football to win it all.

Mahomes even leaned on his defense all playoffs to make plays.

Our defense is beyond pathetic and can't make a play to save their lives when we need it.

I just honestly don't believe anything before 2016 is relevant to the modern NFL.

Manning-era stuff is totally meaningless.

 

[John813]

I'm quite sure dak could do the same, but how would we know?

He could.

Hard to tell when the FO here is run by guys who can't fail in the owners eye. Especially when one of the largest voices in the FO is the owner and his son.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Eli made some big time throws and the Giants defense wasn't that good its as their pass rush that was good.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

On his resume it says "2 time SB Champs". Yes the D was the key but he was the starting QB.

 

[jsb357]

He stepped up BIG in both SB wins

Or lucked out BIG either way you want to look at it

defense got him there but he made BIG throws on the BIG stage
and the Miami faithful will love him forever.

 

[OmerV]

The league isn't the same as it was in 2015.

It's still the same in that the goal is to score more than your opponent, and keeping your opponent from scoring is easily part of that.

 

[John813]

The 2011 Giants had the 27th ranked defense in yards and 25th ranked defense for points against.
Their PPG was lower than their PAPG. (points against per game)

Eli Manning threw for over 4,900 yards in the regular season(29-16) and in the postseason he threw for over 1,200 yards(9-1).

 

[Future]

It's still the same in that the goal is to score more than your opponent, and keeping your opponent from scoring is easily part of that.

Scoring quickly and playing with a lead is a better tool for stopping an opposing offense than a good defense is.

 

[tyke1doe]

Eli made critical throws in both games. So, yes, he did win it.

Furthermore, are you saying that the Giants offense in either of those Super Bowls was better than the Cowboys offense of today?

Look, the stronger unit usually is going to win the Super Bowl for a team - or get them there. But it's not an absolute certainty that if your defense is better than your offense, you're going to win the Super Bowl.

In fact, since 1993, 12 of the 25 Super Bowl winners had better offenses than defenses (https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/9r7q6x/the_last_25_super_bowl_champions_and_their/). Two of the 25 winners were equally balanced offensively and defensively. That mean the Super Bowl winners over the past 25 years had better offenses than defenses.

In the case of both Giants Super Bowl winners, the offenses were ranked HIGHER than their defensive units. In 2011, when the Giants won, there offense was ranked 9th and their defense was ranked 24th.

My conclusion: We have the ability on offense to get to the Super Bowl, theoretically speaking. And our offense is better than our defense. So this doesn't provide an excuse for Dak. In both of Eli's wins, his offense (and he was the focal point of their offense) was better than his defense.

Eli may have gone out on a whimper, but he was not merely a bus driver for his Super Bowl teams. Statistics prove otherwise. He stepped up when it counted. And if the name of the game is winning Super Bowls, who cares if he was pedestrian in the regular season. I don't care if you can swim when I'm in shallow water. I need to know if you can rescue me when I'm drowning. That's when I care if you can swim.

More to the point, I don't care if Dak is great in the regular season, just like Giants fans didn't care if Eli wasn't John Elway. When he got to the post-season, he turned into John Elway even as the defense stepped up its game.

We need Dak to do the same thing, especially since he has the talent on offense. That's the standard we have as Cowboys fans. Unfair? Maybe. But he can always go somewhere else if he doesn't like the standard.