Attributes Of A Super Bowl Team (2000-2020)

kskboys

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I took each SB champion's regular season rankings in key areas and found their average scores. I wanted to determine the areas in which the averages were the highest.

Although it seems rather obvious that the teams would average very high scores in offense and defense, both in points and yards, the reality may surprise you.

Here are some interesting averages for the Super Bowl champions from 2000 to 2020: Again, this is the average of their numerical rank compared to all other teams that season.

Offense:

PF 8.1
Yds 11.2
TO 9.9
FL 12.7
1stD 10.9
Pass Att 15.8
Pass Yds 11.5
Pass TD 9.0
Int 10.0
NY/A 10.3
Rush Att 12.0
Rush Yds 14.2
Rush TD 12.0
Y/A 17.6
Sc% 9.2

Defense:

PF 7.3
Yds 10.5
TO 8.0
FL 11.9
1stD 12.4
Pass Att 20.1
Pass Yds 12.9
Pass TD 8.2
Int 8.3
NY/A 8.5
Rush Att 10.3
Rush Yds 10.4
Rush TD 9.1
Y/A 12.5
Sc% 24.9


Offensively, their best scores are in points. Super Bowl teams are generally prolific scorers. They are especially good in the passing game. They are also good at keeping turnovers to a minimum. Not much of a surprise there.

Defensively, SB championship teams are very good at preventing points....obviously. However, they don't necessarily have a dominating defense in terms of preventing teams from advancing. They excel in takeaways. One important formula for Super Bowl teams is getting the takeaways, thus preventing opponent scoring but also giving their offense an extra drive with excellent field position.

You will notice that SB defenses are passed on a great deal. Yet, their opponents are generally unsuccessful in their passing game. Of course, this is most likely due to their need to pass because they are behind. On the other hand, the number of offensive passing plays are average compared to opponents. most likely this is true because they run the ball more late in the game to eat clock.

Notice that Super Bowl championship teams aren't particularly dominant in recent history, rather they are typically efficient in most areas, with very few weak areas. Again, I am profiling the "average" SB team. there are exceptions of course.

What does this mean as far as the Cowboys are concerned?

The offense is a SB quality offense. However, the greatest change that the defense must make in order to be a SB quality defense isn't really stopping their opponents from gaining yardage. The key to a successful Cowboys playoff run has been their Achilles heal for a quarter of a century. The defense must learn to produce takeaways.
No, it's both. If you can't stop the other team in the 4th, there's a good chance you lose. Key stops.

Often teams pass against super bowl teams because they can't run against them.
 

kskboys

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these super bowl winners had a safety who made the pro bowl/All-Pro either that year or conjoining years

2000 Rod Woodson
2001 Lawyer Milloy
2002 John Lynch
2003 Rodney Harrison made All-Pro, PB snub
2004 Rodney Harrison again
2005 Troy Polamalu All-Pro
2006 Bob Sanders all-pro 2005+2007

2008 Troy Polamalu All-Pro
2009 Roman Harper, Darren Sharper All-Pro
2010 Nick Collins (Charles Woodson played some)
2011 Antrel Rolle made it previous 2 years
2012 Ed Reed
2013 Earl Thomas All-Pro, Cam Chancellor

2015 TJ Ward 2014, Darian Stewart 2016
2016 Devin Mccourty
2017 Malcolm Jenkins

2019 Tyrann Mathieu All-Pro

—————-

there’s an oddly specific stat for you. So unless you’ve got Tom Brady, you’re going to need one of these guys
Thank you for posting this, maybe Jerry will see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Jake

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Looks like defense has a slight advantage over offense, but my guess is every Super Bowl champ has good balance. I imagine it is hard to win a Super Bowl with a great offense and a lousy defense, or with a great defense and an offense that cannot score points. But, I bet it is more likely a great defense and lousy offense wins than the other way around.

There is an old expression in baseball, "great pitching beats good hitting". I think it applies to football too, where defense is the equivalent of pitching.

To your point the 2000 Ravens barely averaged 300 yards and 20 points per game, offensively. But their defense was insane - 10 points per game allowed. They gave up less than 1,000 rushing yards in the entire season.

Classic example of why I roll my eyes when I hear "Yeah, but so and so QB has a ring," as if he won it himself. Trent Dilfer has a ring. Mark Rypien has a ring. Brad Johnson has a ring. Dan Marino does not. Obviously, the first three QBs were better than Marino. :rolleyes:
 

LACowboysFan1

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You can win a SB with a great offense. You can win a SB with a great defense. Been done both ways.

And it's easy to over emphasize parts of the team and miss the fact that other parts helped win the title. The 1985 Bears were all about defense, right? That dominating defense won the SB!

But you will also note the 1985 Bears averaged over 172 yards a game rushing. 15 yards a game more than the second place team. More than 30 yards a game ahead of 20 other teams. Think that didn't have a measurable impact on their season? And that with an 32 year old Walter Payton.

Just don't fall into the trap of "Cowboys have to have the top offense/top defense, without either of those they have no chance at a SB win"...
 

Jake

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You can win a SB with a great offense. You can win a SB with a great defense. Been done both ways.

And it's easy to over emphasize parts of the team and miss the fact that other parts helped win the title. The 1985 Bears were all about defense, right? That dominating defense won the SB!

But you will also note the 1985 Bears averaged over 172 yards a game rushing. 15 yards a game more than the second place team. More than 30 yards a game ahead of 20 other teams. Think that didn't have a measurable impact on their season? And that with an 32 year old Walter Payton.

Just don't fall into the trap of "Cowboys have to have the top offense/top defense, without either of those they have no chance at a SB win"...

It has been done, but it's less likely when you're a one-sided team. As you noted, even the '85 Bears had an offense.

The last 9 SB champs were top 10 in scoring offense AND scoring defense. So were all 5 Cowboys SB championship teams.
 

Maxmadden

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You can win a SB with a great offense. You can win a SB with a great defense. Been done both ways.

And it's easy to over emphasize parts of the team and miss the fact that other parts helped win the title. The 1985 Bears were all about defense, right? That dominating defense won the SB!

But you will also note the 1985 Bears averaged over 172 yards a game rushing. 15 yards a game more than the second place team. More than 30 yards a game ahead of 20 other teams. Think that didn't have a measurable impact on their season? And that with an 32 year old Walter Payton.

Just don't fall into the trap of "Cowboys have to have the top offense/top defense, without either of those they have no chance at a SB win"...
Not disagreeing with anything you said but if you have the 85 Bears defense that is going give you the ball back in 4 plays, or get takeaways and score points, all your offense has to do is give it to HOF Payton and not turn it over. You better lead the league in rushing.
 

75boyz

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I shook up chicken bones in a Yahtzee cup and tossed them on my tabletop so I could read what they have to say about the thread topic. The bones do not lie! They agree with @Oz-of-Cowboy-Country. Super Bowl worthy teams play complementary football. :thumbup:

So true but I believe CZ poster Hadenough sums it up even more simple. And in a way that I could at least feel a little more optimistic about. Just beat a few good teams consistently. And then, maybe, just maybe all the impressive full season complimentary team numbers stats combine to produce "some" postseason success.
The team's last wins over above .500 teams were in Oct(Philly) and Dec(Rams) of 2019. Both 9-7.
Philly was a one and done East pretender and Rams missed the post season.

Just beat a couple of contenders for a change.
That's not asking much, lol

jmo
 
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JoeKing

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So true but I believe CZ poster Hadenough sums it up even more simple. And in a way that I could at least feel a little more optimistic about. Just beat a few good teams consistently. And then, maybe, just maybe all the impressive full season complimentary team numbers stats combine to produce "some" postseason success.
The team's last wins over above .500 teams were in Oct(Philly) and Dec(Rams) of 2019. Both 9-7.
Philly was a one and done East pretender and Rams missed the post season.

Just beat a couple of contenders for a change.
That's not asking much, lol

jmo
I have higher expectations for this group of Cowboys than that.
 

Future

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So true but I believe CZ poster Hadenough sums it up even more simple. And in a way that I could at least feel a little more optimistic about. Just beat a few good teams consistently. And then, maybe, just maybe all the impressive full season complimentary team numbers stats combine to produce "some" postseason success.
The team's last wins over above .500 teams were in Oct(Philly) and Dec(Rams) of 2019. Both 9-7.
Philly was a one and done East pretender and Rams missed the post season.

Just beat a couple of contenders for a change.
That's not asking much, lol

jmo
Nobody beats contenders consistently. The number of teams who have multiple wins against teams who win a playoff game is pretty much 0.
 

Qcard

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I took each SB champion's regular season rankings in key areas and found their average scores. I wanted to determine the areas in which the averages were the highest.

Although it seems rather obvious that the teams would average very high scores in offense and defense, both in points and yards, the reality may surprise you.

Here are some interesting averages for the Super Bowl champions from 2000 to 2020: Again, this is the average of their numerical rank compared to all other teams that season.

Offense:

PF 8.1
Yds 11.2
TO 9.9
FL 12.7
1stD 10.9
Pass Att 15.8
Pass Yds 11.5
Pass TD 9.0
Int 10.0
NY/A 10.3
Rush Att 12.0
Rush Yds 14.2
Rush TD 12.0
Y/A 17.6
Sc% 9.2

Defense:

PF 7.3
Yds 10.5
TO 8.0
FL 11.9
1stD 12.4
Pass Att 20.1
Pass Yds 12.9
Pass TD 8.2
Int 8.3
NY/A 8.5
Rush Att 10.3
Rush Yds 10.4
Rush TD 9.1
Y/A 12.5
Sc% 24.9


Offensively, their best scores are in points. Super Bowl teams are generally prolific scorers. They are especially good in the passing game. They are also good at keeping turnovers to a minimum. Not much of a surprise there.

Defensively, SB championship teams are very good at preventing points....obviously. However, they don't necessarily have a dominating defense in terms of preventing teams from advancing. They excel in takeaways. One important formula for Super Bowl teams is getting the takeaways, thus preventing opponent scoring but also giving their offense an extra drive with excellent field position.

You will notice that SB defenses are passed on a great deal. Yet, their opponents are generally unsuccessful in their passing game. Of course, this is most likely due to their need to pass because they are behind. On the other hand, the number of offensive passing plays are average compared to opponents. most likely this is true because they run the ball more late in the game to eat clock.

Notice that Super Bowl championship teams aren't particularly dominant in recent history, rather they are typically efficient in most areas, with very few weak areas. Again, I am profiling the "average" SB team. there are exceptions of course.

What does this mean as far as the Cowboys are concerned?

The offense is a SB quality offense. However, the greatest change that the defense must make in order to be a SB quality defense isn't really stopping their opponents from gaining yardage. The key to a successful Cowboys playoff run has been their Achilles heal for a quarter of a century. The defense must learn to produce takeaways.
Thorough Post. Great Content!
 

75boyz

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Nobody beats contenders consistently. The number of teams who have multiple wins against teams who win a playoff game is pretty much 0.

So for the last decade or so playoff teams like New England, Seattle, Baltimore, Green Bay and Pittsburgh consistently beat cup cakes in the regular season to make the playoffs and then once reaching the playoffs they don't beat contenders.?

Uh....No.

They beat their share of both bad AND good(contending) teams or they wouldn't be a contender themselves.

Dallas doesn't.
 
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Future

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So for the last decade or so playoff teams like New England, Seattle, Baltimore, Green Bay and Pittsburgh consistently beat cup cakes in the regular season to make the playoffs and then once reaching the playoffs they don't beat contenders.l?

Uh....No.

They beat their share of both bad AND good(contending) teams or they wouldn't be a contender themselves.

Dallas doesn't.
Go ahead and do the work and show it then.

Because in the modern NFL, something like 20 teams a year are cupcakes. Beating multiple playoff-winning teams in the regular season does not happen outside of the rare anomaly.
 

JoeKing

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Thorough Post. Great Content!
Bullcrap! It's a bunch of stats that don't add up to anything relevant. I'd even go so far as to call it statistical witchcraft. It's no better than the chicken bones I suggested be tossed and read to decipher the secret sauce to a championship. If you like the taste of that word salad then good for you.
 

Jarv

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1971 Cornell Green Pro Bowl
1977 Cliff Harris All Pro, Charlie Waters Pro Bowl
1993 Thomas Everett Pro Bowl
1995 Darren Woodsen All Pro
That 1992 defense was ranked number 1, but had no pro-bowlers.
 
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