Breakdown of some of those games coming. Long post and I will cliff notes it at the end. A quality defense and running game makes a huge difference. The saints only scored 24 on offense, but the game was played at a fairly slow pace if I recall right. I don't think brees even threw 30 passes. Hard to win when you force no turnovers and the opposing quarterback completes 75% of his passes. Against Seattle, how Peyton played was irrelevant for several reasons. The defense entirely no showed and let the Seattle offense score 27 on its own. There was the bad snap on the first play that resulted in a safety, which was indicative of how bad the line would play all game, both in run blocking and in pass protection. Then there is also the kick return in the second half. Seattle scored 36 points off their offense, special teams, and a bad snap by Denver. They didn't give up 25 in a single game that year. Peyton would've had to lead Denver to at least 37 in order to win. With the way nobody showed up on offense and the way the Seahawks played that night, I don't think anyone was gonna beat them. The loss to the jets was bad. It was 17-0 jets before he even threw a pass. I can't recall much else about that game. The loss to Miami yeah the defense was ass cheeks and the kicker missed the game winner too. Against the steelers in 2005, again he missed with the season on the line and it cost the kicker his job. 2007 against the chargers, with LT, Rivers, and gates out, the colts defense folded with the season on the line, allowing more points than they had all year by letting Billy Volek lead the game winning drive. Then his receivers dropped their passes on third and fourth down. A year later his defense folded and let the chargers tie the game to force overtime and then gave up a touchdown to start overtime. Peyton left the field with a lead and never got a chance to get it back. Then I'm 2010 against he jets he lead them down to kick the go ahead field goal for a 15-14 lead with 50 seconds left and the defense blew it again, allowing Sanchez to put the jets in position to kick the game winner at the buzzer. 2012 his defense gave up I think 31 points, including that Hail Mary where the safety entirely blew it on his coverage with 40 seconds left to cost the broncos the win against the ravens. Ironically his defense and running game pulled through for him a year ago when his arm was completely shot and he couldn't hold his end up anymore.
Cliff notes is it's better to have solid receivers and a good running game to pair with a good defense because you always play better defenses in the playoffs and can't expect every game to be a shootout. Some games will be low scoring and you gotta be able to play defense.
