Despite a Low Scoring Game, 2019 Super Bowl Still Provided Excitement
Photo provided by: Graphic by Sabrina Bonadio
Despite the Super Bowl being the pinnacle of the football season, it was met with much criticism this year due to the lack of points scored. Fans had grown accustomed to high scoring battles, so a game that only had 16 combined points was not what fans wanted.
February 11, 2019
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As the final whistle of this years super bowl was sounded, and the New England Patriots returned to their familiar spot on top on the world, plenty of onlookers from around America were left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Was it due to the so-called “Patriots-fatigue”, and everyone had grown tired of seeing Tom Brady add another ring to his collection? Or perhaps it was due to frustration with the halftime show, which featured a shaky-at-best performance from Maroon Five, a mediocre rendition of “Sicko Mode” courtesy of Travis Scott, and an unnecessary, bizarre appearance of Big Boi? It was not any of these factors that left a bad taste in the mouth of Americans. It was the lack of points, and the growing resentment towards defense-heavy games of football which is concerning to say the least.
The 2019 Super Bowl was a low scoring affair. Three total points were scored through the first half, and six through three quarters. The game would end with 16 total points on the board, and would go down in the record books as the lowest scoring Super Bowl to date. Despite being a historically significant moment fans will be able to say they witnessed live for years to come, the Super Bowl was met with plenty of criticism; the NFL had one of its best years ever in terms of offensive production, so a defensive slugfest in the pinnacle game of the season felt uncharacteristic. However, games like this should not be criticized, but instead praised. Defense-heavy games can produce just as much excitement as offense-heavy ones do, so long as the viewer knows where to look.
When a casual fan watches the game, their first instinct is to follow the ball; it is where the main action of the game will take place, and it is an easy way to keep up with the game. However, by only following the actions of a small leather ball, the viewers rob themselves of the chance to view the part of the field that can produce the most exciting moments: the trenches. Here, in between the two main lines at the line of scrimmage, the fan can find roughly 10 individual 400 pound men crashing directly into each other, one team trying to protect their own quarterback, and the other trying to take him to the ground. The raw, physical brutality that these bouts can produce is, albeit a tad barbaric and primal, simply mesmerizing. The common fan occasionally does see the product of these face offs when the defense succeeds and the quarterback comes crashing down with the defenseman on top of him, but these gargantuan clashes go unnoticed in most other plays. Watching the lineman in football can not only provide interest in low scoring affairs, but can produce better entertainment value than any excitement touchdowns could provide.
Powerful passes, rampant runs and crazy catches are all still very exciting; exciting defense does not take away the fun of a great offense. However, appreciating how defenses can be fun to watch in their own right can not only improve the public opinion on defense-heavy games, but also improve the overall viewing experience of the fan.
