NFL Playoffs Preview: Offense (Not Defense) Will Win Championship

Offense is "in." There's no denying that fact any more. The old cliche' of "defense wins championships" has been thrown out the window, and fallen 50 stories to it's bereavement in this NFL season.

After Matt Flynn (who?) threw for six touchdowns Sunday against a playoff-bound Detroit Lions team, one considerably good on defense, it's as clear as water that whoever holds up Lombardi's trophy this season will indeed have a powerful offense.

Sure, there's the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers, and their fearsome defenses. But who wants Joe Flacco or Alex Smith with the game on the line, when they can't stuff the ball down people's throats with Ray Rice or Frank Gore?

On the other end of the spectrum is Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Pats are the No. 1 seed, with the best quarterback in the AFC (or perhaps the entire league), a top-tier wide receiver, and the best tight end in the NFL.

Yet they're ranked dead last in defense, with many ESPN "talking heads" saying that this could very well be the worst defense in the history of the NFL. But they are 13-3. Let it sink in, there's a lot more where that came from.

Say hello to the New Orleans Saints, proud owner of the single-season yard-passing record, Drew Brees. They also have Jimmy Graham, the tight end with the most yards in the league. On top of that, they have the player (Darren Sproles) with the most all-purpose yards in the NFL. Oh, and they are all record-setting numbers.

So surely the Saints are front-runners for the Super Bowl, right? Well, that wonderful feast of offensive performance may just turn into a massive regurgitation of your lunch when you see them without the ball.

In 2011, New Orleans was 26th in yards allowed, and 30th in passing yardage given up, going into their final regular season contest this past Sunday.

Yet the Saints find themselves at 13-3, thanks to the likes of Brees, Graham, Marques Colston, Sproles, Pierre Thomas, Robert Meachum, and Devery Henderson.

Think that's a lot of names? Consider I didn't add a Heisman winner (Mark Ingram) nor one of their top receivers of 2010 (Lance Moore) to that list.

For heaven's sake, a hungover guy from a New Year's Eve party on Bourbon Street could have found his way on the field, and Brees would have given him 100 yards receiving.

It just goes to show how dynamic some of these offenses are in today's NFL. Teams aren't winning because of defense. Heck, they aren't even winning in part to their defense: they're winning in spite of it.

Just ask the Green Bay Packers. Last year, they finished as a Wild Card team, with one of the more stingy defenses in the league.

This year, with Aaron Rodgers firing on all cylinders, they lost one game. One.

And they won the other 15 games with the next-to-worst defense in the league: a defense that, going into Sunday, had given up just as many first downs as the Green Bay offense had.

Still, Green Bay's turnover ratio has helped them not completely fall into despair defensively, and the Saints have managed to not shatter on defense in their own way, by being only 15th in the league in points allowed.

So maybe that's the motto for these defenses moving into the playoffs: bend all you'd like, but just don't break.

Meanwhile, the Patriots may not have the same fate. They do nothing, and I mean nothing, as a defensive unit. But somehow, Brady makes up for it, by placing every single fragment of broken glass that is the Patriots defense, right back together, by pulling-off another victory in the end.

It doesn't end there. Even the New York Giants, who showed much more defensive fight this past week against the Cowboys, have been rather weak on that side of the pigskin.

You would think a team that was 28th in points allowed entering Week 17, along with giving up more touchdowns, field goals, and first downs than they have converted on offense, would be squandering in a division cellar right now.

But instead, we find these four teams in the playoffs, all division winners no less. Forget the "Year of the Quarterback:" we're looking at a colossal transition, if not an evolution of the game itself.

Which leaves me wondering: If Matt Flynn (who, again?) threw for six touchdowns versus the Lions, is it even fair to guesstimate the projections for Brees this week against them?

Forget "defense wins championships." In Green Bay, New Orleans, and especially New England, they're saying to their defenses:"don't blow it for us."