07-08-2021, 04:21 PM
(07-06-2021, 08:39 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: ..
2021 Tampa Bay 7 6
2020 Kansas City 6 17
2019 New England 5 21
2018 Philadelphia 7 4
2017 New England 4 8
2016 Denver 16 1
2015 New England 11 13
2014 Seattle 17 1
2013 Baltimore 16 17
2012 New York Giants 8 27
2011 Green Bay 9 5
2010 New Orleans 1 25
2009 Pittsburgh 22 1
2008 New York Giants 16 7
2007 Indianapolis 3 21
The numbers next to each team's name represent their offensive and defensive rank for those given seasons. As you can see, it's pretty mixed as to whichever approach works best. The only deductions that I can surmise is that being good on both sides of the ball is good, and having the top defense wins the championship 3X as many times as the top offense.
I'm struggling to put a marker on when exactly but my perception is that in recent years the league is moving more and more to being an offensive league with rule changes and interpretations favoring offense (and passing offense in particular). I'm therefore not sure how instructive rankings from 15 years ago are in judging the modern NFL which I think is only going to continue to move in the direction of passing offenses and skill players.
(The Bengals are surprisingly well set for this with a highly marketable QB and an abundance of young skill guys like Chase, Higgins and Mixon. A big season from Burrow and the Bengaldom will find itself in the unusual situation of being a fashionable franchise)
I'd say my hierarchy is as follows:
1. BPA - I'd take a great D player over a good O player and a great O player over a good D player.
2. Make a virtue of existing strengths - if D and O players are of equal ability I'd rather an elite unit and an average unit over two good units. So if I already had a good D but an average O, I'd prioritizing build on my strengths to get one unit to elite and go with the great D player over the great O player
3. O over D - this is the direction the League is travelling in, so if the two units were of similar standards and the two players of the same caliber I'd prioritize improving the O over the D
