NFL: And Now, "SUPER BOWL XLVIII"---Part One // NBA: Season Half Over

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL: And Now, “SUPER BOWL XLVIII”—Part One // NBA: Season Half Over. . . // THE outcome of NFL-2013’s post-season has made sense, in that the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks are now the Super Bowl match-up, that is, the two deserved to be Super Bowl-afield from what each accomplished during the regular 2013 season, and not only from the wins crowning them respective conference leaders on Sunday. The Broncos and the Seahawks were leading the league when NFL-2013’s playoffs commenced and they had led their respective divisions and conferences throughout much of NFL-2013 regulation. There are only two questions now, “Which is best, the Broncos or the Seahawks?” And, “Could, and will the best team win on February 2, 2014?” Yes, one way to answer these questions is to add up number of points allowed by a team’s defense and also points gained by the team’s offense during the regular season and the playoffs, for example, the Broncos allowed more than 300 points to opposing teams in its 18 games, but its offense accrued more than 450 points during the same events, offsetting the damage. The Seahawks defense gave up less than 150 points in its 18 contests, while its offense gained fewer than 350 points from the 18 matches, signaling that at Super Bowl XLVIII the Seahawks might rely more heavily on defense tactics than its offense for pushing the balance of power in its favor, while the Broncos will be optimizing the many values of its better offense. The friction here can provide a very close game, maybe gridlock and OT. Is there another way to choose which among the two teams has the lead in what it takes to prevail? A proper argument is that the last six regular season games and the two played in the post-season probably reflect the current liabilities and strengths of the two teams more accurately than a look at all previous games played, and in those more recent games the Broncos defense began dropping fewer points and obtained more than 30 from opponents in all but one of the matches. Revealed is that in the six games, the Broncos defense, which had allowed 20 and more points to opponents in most of its regular season matches, showed more signs of improvement than had the Seahawks defense, for instance, though 16 points were dropped by the Broncos defense on Sunday against the New England Patriots, the Broncos defense had held the Patriots to but three points during the first three quarters of the game, while by endgame the Broncos offense, led by QB Peyton Manning, netted more yards than the Patriots could, 400 versus 277, and achieved more first downs, more touchdowns, more field goals, final score: 26-16. For every point lost by the Broncos defense, the Manning-led offense had put up close to two. The Seahawks points-gone/points-obtained record isn’t as wide a spread, e.g., the Seahawk’s Sunday win vs. the San Francisco 49ers, 23-17. This factor suggests a slight Broncos advantage even should its defense falter at Super Bowl XLVIII, until noted that in six of the Seahawks NFL-2013 games, its defense allowed 10 and fewer points per, and in three of those it allowed just 3, 3 and zero. Too, comparing offense performance data can advise which of the two offense squads can do the most within ball possession minutes, e.g., Manning’s receivers have caught for more than 5,600 yards since September 5, 2013, when NFL-2013 began, the Seahawks receivers for less than 4,000, and while the Broncos backs rushed for just under 2,000 yards and the Seahawks for more than 2,000, the Broncos demonstrated that “less can be more,” achieving more TD’s from their rushing tactics. As for the QB comparison, well, that’s looking at hornet and fly, lion and domestic cat, Manning having thrown for more than 6,000 yards and more than 60 TD’s during NFL-2013 and the playoffs, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for less than 4,000 yards and around half the TD’s that Manning put up. If Manning has the pass protection that he had during the Broncos last four matches and his receivers are “on game” as they were vs. the Patriots on Sunday, the Broncos will have the edge at MetLife Stadium and could win Super Bowl XVLIII by seven, maybe 10, even if its defense allows as many as 20 points to the Seahawks. True, the Seahawks defense that spoiled matters for the 49ers and the New Orleans Saints during the 2013 playoffs is capable of undoing the Broncos pass protection unit and of interfering with the Broncos WR and RB crossovers and down-the-line smash-throughs, therefore the Seahawks defense can keep Manning-led drives from always getting to end-zone efficiency, but as for this being a constant, no way! Manning’s blockers have become, as a unit, best within the NFL, and WR’s Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker and RB’s Knowshon Moreno and Monte Ball are far too canny and skillful to be outmaneuvered play after play. // . . . NBA---WE are about to see the halfway mark of another NBA season for most of the league’s 30 teams, 41 games gone, 41 to go, and three NBA franchises that began atop their respective divisions are still there---the West’s Pacific Division 29-14 L.A. Clippers, the East’s Southeast 29-12 Miami Heat and the East’s Central 32-7 Indiana Pacers, while two franchises that began the season as division leaders have fallen steeply, the West’s Northwest 19-21 Minnesota Timberwolves and the East’s Atlantic 13-28 Philadelphia 76ers, fourth and last place teams today. The 28-15 Houston Rockets, which led the West’s Southwest Division in early November, they are second behind the 32-9 San Antonio Spurs. Of the six franchises that lost consecutive games in early November and held last place within their divisions at that time, only two are still at the very bottom---the West’s Northwest 14-28 Utah Jazz and the West’s Pacific 14-25 Sacramento Kings. Also, of the West’s top five franchises of the previous regular season, three are first and second place teams today, the West’s Northwest 31-10 Oklahoma City Thunder, the West’s Southwest 32-9 San Antonio Spurs and the West’s Pacific 29-14 Los Angeles Clippers, and two are at .500, the West’s Northwest 20-20 Denver Nuggets and the West’s Southwest 20-20 Memphis Grizzlies. Last season’s top five of the East includes today’s division leaders the Heat and the Indiana Pacers, and the East’s Atlantic 15-26 New York Knicks, the East’s Southwest 21-19 Atlanta Hawks, and the East’s Atlantic 17-22 Brooklyn Nets, they are second and third place teams now, though the Knicks and the Nets are still below .500, along with 12 other franchises in that loser more than winner condition. So, unpredictability is tipping the NBA win/los scales this year, though not by much. END/ml