Our local sports pundit said the defense was "in the zone - the twilight zone".
And he's right; it's like Dungy just flipped a switch or something, but who cares. If they play with the intensity they've played with so far in the playoffs; it's gonna be one hell of a game. And if Payton comes out of his post season slump and kicks the offense back into gear...
One HELL of a game
Without a doubt.
It's all annecdotal of course but there's an interesting article on Football Outsiders about bad defenses that turned good in the playoffs. In all 5 of the teams they they looked at (teams that allowed over 20 in the regular season but less than 10 for two games in the playoffs) in the third game the defenses "reverted to form". As I said it's no kind of proof of what will happen Sunday, but it make the picture less clear since previous "flipped swith" turn around only lasted two games.