Everybody loves high scoring football.  In a world where patience is falling by the wayside, quick scores and offensive-heavy football is king.  The New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers exemplify this concept better than nearly any team in the history of the NFL.  I thought it would be interesting to break down these two offenses to see how they compare on a statistical level.

Quarterback:

Drew Brees – 440-662, 5087 yards, 41 tds, 13 ints

Aaron Rodgers – 343-502, 4643 yards, 45 tds, 6 ints

This particular comparison comes down to volume.  Sean Payton’s offense is about as pass-heavy as you can get, with Brees attempting a whopping 160 more passes than Rodgers.  The Packers have been more efficient and quick-strike in their passing game, with 9.2 y/a compared to 8.2 y/a for the Saints.  Both of these quarterbacks have had historical seasons;  Brees just broke Dan Marino’s 27 year old record for passing yards in a season, and Rodgers posting a staggering 45/6 td/int ratio.  One thing that sets Rodgers apart from Brees is his scrambling ability.  Rodgers has 257 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns compared to 81 yards and 1 touchdown for Brees.

Offensive Line:

This is one area of weakness for the Packers.  Rodgers has been sacked 36 times, 3rd most in the NFC.  This statistic often gets forgotten because the Packers’ offense is so otherwise dangerous.  Rodgers has such great pocket awareness and quick of a release that his ability makes up for the deficiencies on the line.  In contrast, Brees has been sacked 24 times, a stat made more impressive considering he leads in NFL in passing attempts.  Some of this can be contributed to the nature of the Saints’ offense.  Payton utilizes a multitude of screen passes, check downs and short slants/hooks to the receivers.  Instead of using the run to set up the pass, Payton often uses the short passing game instead.  This obviously greatly reduces the number of sacks/passing attempt.

Running Backs:

Big advantage to the Saints in this category.  New Orleans is 6th in the NFC in rushing, averaging 127.9 yards per game.  Green Bay is 4th to last in the NFC, averaging a measly 98.5 yards per game.  The Saints have rushed 396 times compared to 371 for the Packers.  This brings us back to an earlier point:  looking at both the passing and rushing attempts, the Saints have 1058 total offensive plays compared to 873 for the Packers.  Oddly enough, time of possession is very close at 31:48-30:24 in favor of the Saints.  So what is to be made of this?  It seems to me that the Packers like to use as much of the play clock as possible, which attributes to their time of possession, but also scores in far fewer plays/possession than the Saints.  Back to the rushing game, the Saints have three backs with over 400 yards rushing (Sproles-563, Thomas-532 and Ingram-474).  The Packers have two 500 yards backs in Starks (578) and Grant (511).  As I mentioned earlier, the Saints love to get their backs involved in the passing game and run the screen pass with Sproles and Thomas better than anyone in the league.

Wide Receivers: 

Both offenses love to spread the ball around.  Jordy Nelson, Marques Colston, and Greg Jennings are all in the top 10 in the NFC in receiving yards.  Nelson has been a revelation for Green Bay, catching 12 touchdowns and averaging 18.7 yards per catch.  Colston has had a bounce-back year and is back to being a top-tier NFL wideout.  The two teams have very solid secondary receivers in Robert Meachem and James Jones, both of whom might be #1 wide receivers on weaker teams. 

Tight Ends: 

Jimmy Graham and JerMichael Finley both came into the season with a ton of hype and expectations.  Graham has thrown those expectations out the window this season, posting a ridiculous line of 91 catches for 1213 yards and 10 touchdowns.  He has established himself as an elite tight end and Drew Brees’ #1 target.  He’s a matchup nightmare both in the red zone and in the middle of the field.  On the other side, Finley has been a bit of a disappointment.  His line of 48 catches for 703 yards and 7 touchdowns isn’t horrible, but for a guy as talented and dangerous Green Bay probably expected a little more.  Drops have been a major problem with Finley this season.  Defenses are keying on him when he lines up out wide, greatly reducing his targets.  That being said, if I’m a defensive coach I’m still terrified of his potential, especially in the red zone.  These are two great tight ends that factor in huge for the passing game.

So there’s a little breakdown of the offenses.  I, for one, hope and expect to see these two teams in Lambeau for the NFC Championship game.  A rematch (hate that word now) would be fitting, especially considering how great these offenses have been all season long and how close the game in September turned out.