NFL’s Year for Offense

I don’t want to sound like a party pooper, because today’s conference championship matchups between the Vikings and Falcons, Broncos and Jets could be high-scoring, high-drama, score-at-the-gun games that could be sheer delight.

But when did the NFL make it illegal to play defense?

You know the piece of conventional wisdom in the NFL is “defense wins championships.”

Not this season. Defense took a holiday on Labor Day and hasn’t been seen since. For defense to win the championship this year, the Chargers and Buccaneers would have to play today, because they finished 1-2 in total defense. Instead, what we have on the best football day of the season is four teams that can score at will but seem to play defense only because the rules require it.

The NFL ranks offensive production in 17 categories. The Denver ranks among the league’s top 10 in 15. The Jets rank in the top 10 in 10. Atlanta is in the top 10 in eight. Minnesota is among the league’s top 10 in 13 catagories, and among the top five in 11. The Vikings rank No. 1 in the league in seven catagories, including passing yards, third-down efficiency and, of course, scoring.

In total offense, the Vikings are No. 2 in the NFL (the 49ers were first), the Broncos No. 3, the Jets No. 4 and the Falcons No. 7. This is the first time in NFL history that two teams scored more than 500 points in the same season (the Vikings and Broncos). It’s all offense, all the time. After the Vikings made like Carl Lewis against the Arizona Cardinals last week, Randall Cunningham said Minnesota’s offense didn’t bring its A-game, and then offered plenty of reasons to back up his assertion.

But turn it around, and look at the defensive performance of these four teams and it’s far less than impressive. Defensively, they are average at best. The defending champion Broncos rank 11th in the league or lower in 12 of the 17 defensive categories; the Broncos are 26th in passing yards allowed. The Jets are 21st in yards allowed per rushing play, which is usually an excellent indicator of success in the NFL. The Vikings, even at 16-1, rank in the league’s top 10 in only two defensive categories, and 20th or worse in six.

The good news for each of Sunday’s semifinalists is that their opponents Sunday can’t stop anybody either. The stingiest of the four is the Jets, and they’ve allowed 266 points. When the Packers won the Super Bowl two years ago, they allowed 210. The 1993 Cowboys allowed 229, the ’92 Cowboys 243, the ’91 Redskins 224, the ’90 Giants 211. This season, the Broncos have allowed 309 points. If they win the Super Bowl they will be the first team since the 1983 Raiders to give up 300 points and win the championship (the Raiders allowed 338).

What we’re looking at, some league coaches and personnel people believe, is a transition period. The teams with the best defenses--Tampa Bay, San Diego, Miami--have inadequate offenses. Also, it takes time to replenish an aging, departing generation of defensive superstars that has included Reggie White, Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith, Chris Doleman, Richard Dent and Charles Haley. One of the teams that has the personnel to become a dominant defense--Arizona--is the NFL’s youngest and could begin shutting down the league’s best offenses as soon as next season.

In the meantime, the final three games of the NFL season figure to be scoreathons. The best of the four remaining teams, defensively, is Atlanta, which finished No. 8 in total defense and No. 4 in points allowed. Still, those rankings are only relative to this season. The Falcons don’t have a Lawrence Taylor or Mike Singletary. They have two great players in the secondary, Eugene Robinson and Ray Buchanan. And Cornelius Bennett, the former Bills all-pro linebacker, probably has had his best season in a half-dozen years. But stopping the Vikings is something maybe only the 1985 Bears or ’86 Giants would be up to. If anybody.

The Vikings, having scored a league-record 556 points, are now in the conversation for greatest offense of all-time. Probably no team in history has had as many excellent players as these Vikings. “I think the scoring record speaks for itself,” said one of those excellent players, running back Robert Smith. “We can go to the tight ends, the running backs, the receivers, the slot back. I’m glad I’m not a defensive coordinator who has to figure out how to stop it.”

Last Sunday, Minnesota left tackle Todd Steussie was the first Vikings player introduced at the Metrodome. He recalled watching the next few teammates introduced and thinking, “All-pro, all-pro, ought-to-be-all-pro, all-pro, all-pro.”

Ironically in this season of offense, an offense beat the Vikings. Tampa Bay, with running backs Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn controlling the ball and the clock, kept Cunningham, Randy Moss and Cris Carter off the field, which is the only way they can be stopped. The Falcons figure running back Jamal Anderson can have the same kind of effect.

In Denver, the Jets have to face not only a runaway Terrell Davis, but a fired up team that doesn’t want John Elway’s possible final home game to be a loss. The defenses don’t particularly like that this game is being billed as Elway, Davis and Shannon Sharpe vs. Vinny Testaverde, Curtis Martin, Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet. But defensive players haven’t had very much to say about this season, so why should they now?