SI Ranks Offensive Backfields

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

Exactly, I can name 3 things off the top of my head that were season killers:
1. Leigh Torrence getting beat deep with less than 2:00 to go on a 3rd and long vs. the Rams to set up the game winning FG.

2. Giving up an 87 yard screen pass against the Bengals to Cedric Benson. Every defender should have been docked $25,000 for that play.

3. Blowing a 10 point halftime lead against SF and then after we tied it, allowing yet another long completion under 2 mins to set up the game winning FG.

As "bad" as people want to say the offense was (and they were maddening at times) and as much as people want to tout our 4th ranked (most fraudulent ranking metric in the NFL) defense, we were a few plays away from being a playoff team.

Like I said, if the defense was who we thought they were, we go 11-5 last year. And if we had won 11 games last year, no one would be saying we had a bad offense, and the games they totally forgot to show up would have been forgotten. Ergo, both units were duly responsible for failure.

Ergo, the Campbell detractors are officially revisionists

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

And if we had won 11 games last year, no one would be saying we had a bad offense,

My sarcasm meter is on the fritz. Are you serious or joking?

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Brian Orakpo

My sarcasm meter is on the fritz. Are you serious or joking?

Tounge in cheek, but serious. Think about it: if we had made the playoffs, people would be treating our defense as top five, but they'd be treating our offense as average because there would be no need to justify having only won 8 games with a great defense. It's must easier to justfy unspectacular performance if the overall product doesn't ultimately disappoint.

That's all I was pointing out.