NFL championship weekend: Why offense is king as Saints, Rams, Chiefs and Patriots eye Super Bowl place
Exclusive interview: Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanu helps explain why there has been an avalanche of yards and points this season
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Your support makes all the difference.“Defence wins championships” has been one of the foremost principals of success in the NFL for decades but perhaps not for much longer as the Super Bowls nears following an all-time record of 1,371 touchdowns during the regular season.
The final four of championship weekend include four titans of the game, who all possess formidable offences.
The explosion on that side of the ball has been trending throughout the season with the Rams’ 54-51 win vs the Chiefs in November heralding the beginning of a new era in the league.
It was the first time two teams have posted more than 50 points in the same regulation game in the league’s 99-year history.
That scorching start to the season, which also saw 12 400-yard passing games through four weeks compared to eight in total in 2017, has cooled slightly as the temperatures have dropped heading into the play-offs.
The Rams woke up from their late season snooze last weekend, slashing a Cowboys defence, who had given up a measly 19.8 points against play-off teams all season, for 30 points and 459 total yards.
Sean McVay, the 32-year-old golden coach and just over seven years younger than Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who he faces this weekend, is shaking up the NFL like a snow globe with his imagination. His contemporaries this weekend are all also firmly established amongst the elite play callers around: Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and Sean Payton.
That desire to obliterate opponents, rather than eek out victories appears to resonate with players too. The Falcons’ wide receiver Mohamed Sanu’s eyes light up when recalling former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, now head coach of the Niners, and his box of tricks.
“The play calling that those guys (Shanahan and McVay) use makes it so much fun for receivers,” Sanu told Independent Sport. “It’s catered to help receivers make a tonne of plays.
“I love running across the middle, go routes, those routes where I have a choice: I can break in, break out or sit down. Routes where I get to paint a picture, be creative.
“For me, those routes are predicated on me to make plays, the amount of separation I create is the amount of yards I’m able to gain after the catch.”
Perhaps that imagination has always been there for some coaches, but now, particularly after Doug Pederson’s aggressive approach to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl, there is a pressure to conjure up something different. Offseason hires have centred around landing ‘the next McVay,’ which may arguably be easier than finding an elite quarterback, such as Tom Brady or Brees, which was always previously seen as a requisite to contend.
The competition committee have certainly aided this revolution too, perhaps prompted by growing dissent from the outside on helmet-to-helmet hits. Now pass catchers and runners are protected from a hit initiated with the helmet, which can only aid players like Sanu and their commitment to executing routes which would have exposed them to dangerous hits in seasons past.
Referees are now siding with the offence too and ruling catches without the previous need to control the ball through the ground.
With the margins so fine at this stage of the season, teams are also more intelligent than ever; from the Rams observing and memorising the Cowboys’ defensive line set up last week to arduous video sessions in the days preceding games.
“There’s an increase in film (study),” Sanu adds. “Study ways to attack defences, if you figure out those ways, you can put up a tonne of points if you execute properly.”
Belichick’s Pats defence bends but does not break, ranking 21st in total yards allowed, but seventh in points per game allowed, but the theme of the season appears set to who reaches Super Bowl.
Defensive players will still impact games with one-off moments, but this weekend and a ticket to the big dance now looks to be decided by offence.
Super Bowl LIII will be live on BBC One and Sky Sports USA on 3rd February from 23:30pm.
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