Kerry Byrne On Felger & Mazz: Seahawks-Broncos A 'Statistically Perfect' Super Bowl
BOSTON (CBS) - Sure, Patriots fans would have liked to have seen their team in this game over the Broncos, but statistically speaking these two teams present the perfect matchup.
Kerry Byrne of ColdHardFootballFacts.com joined Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti on Radio Row Friday afternoon and explained why that's the case.
"We have 23 quality stats on Cold Hard Football Facts, and what makes it a quality stat is its high correlation to victory. We look at the stats that win or lose football games and the mother of all stats is passer rating differential. 36% of all NFL champions since 1940 ranked #1 in that indicator. Seattle is ranked #1 and Denver is #2 in that category and they're the best teams in football."
"Russell Wilson's passing efficiency through his first two seasons is the second best in NFL history behind only Dan Marino, who is a Babe Ruthian figure in the NFL - that's where Russell Wilson is in his passing efficiency. Even though the Seahawks run the ball very well, they won because they passed better than the other team week after week after week."
READ: The Pros And Cons Of Broncos Winning Super Bowl, From A Patriots Perspective
Another great stat from Kerry Byrne: Of the 7 teams in NFL history to score 540 points or more, all of them lost the Super Bowl. And of the 56 teams (Denver being #56) to average 30 points per game or more in the regular season, only 5 of them won championships.
The age old cliché is that "defense wins championships" - but Kerry Byrne doesn't necessarily believe that to be true.
"This is not a cliché: balance wins championships. It's balanced teams that historically win. We know the cliché is that defense wins championships, but that's not always true. They may be more likely to win than a great offense. Great offenses usually die in the postseason. You want the team with the fewest weak links, and that's what wins championships."
Listen below for the full discussion:
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