The viral superhero football matchup gets a serious breakdown from our writers

We've all heard the phrase, “It's not the X's and O's that make the difference, it's the Jimmy's and Joe's.” Words attributed to legendary Texas Longhorn coach Darrell K. Royal. He said the players he puts on the field are more important than the strategy he plans. However, if all talents are relatively equal, you should take advantage of every schematic advantage available to you.

This was the case with the first version of Whiteboard Wars. There, we ask a group of writers who would win in a matchup and how they would win. Our matchup was born out of a viral tweet that rocked social media this week. When you have superheroes on both sides of the ball, who has the advantage?

That means both sides of the roster are loaded. A backfield of Superman, Flash, and Sonic is giving defenses nightmares, but a defensive line of Abomination, Thanos, and Broly could give opponents an edge.

Here are our thoughts on this matchup and who will win.

JP Acosta: Offensive team wins hard-fought victory

So I thought about this too much and drew a schematic way for both sides to win.

Offensively, there are clear strengths and weaknesses. The biggest weakness is the front line, with Baymax in the center. I love Baymax, but when he goes into sport mode his agility and durability are second to none, but he might be physically overwhelmed by Thanos and Abomination. However, Edge of an offensive line with Hulk and Venom could have some power here, especially with a backfield as fast as Supes, Flash, and Sonic.

My first thought is simple. “Run options”. EDGE's Droideka has a clear weakness in defense. There is no lateral quickness at all and he is stiff there. Goku is an incredible athlete, but he may get distracted by the eye candy. Right tackle Hulk provides the ultimate ace in the hole, so that's how I see it. Pull Colossus to the right and have Hulk take on the Abomination. You read Droideka and push that he is wrong. If he goes too wide, Sonic will be given a concession and he will rush into the end zone. If the Droideka closes that gap, Superman will keep it and execute the option with Goku as his target. If you want to beat a defender who moves incredibly fast, make him think and make mistakes.

In the passing game, the obvious target here is Batman. Batman is great, but he's not at his best in this area. I can't stress enough how much Batman is just a guy in a suit and basically doesn't have the foot speed to keep up with anyone in the backfield. I run angle routes and wheel routes until Bruce Wayne cries.

From a defensive standpoint (I've been thinking too much about this), the obvious weakness offensively is Baymax, but we want to be able to limit his speed in the backfield. . What this means is to set strong edges and use your power to push them back inside. Goku isn't necessarily quick-witted, but even in his Super Saiyan form he can travel faster than the speed of light. I want that guy to come down the hill and destroy everything. Droideka will be used to steal space and I'll tilt the line back diagonally towards the weak side to create a one-on-one matchup up front if possible. This allows Batman to do what he does best: make better use of his prep time. He can read, react and clean everything up. What's really interesting is getting the corners involved in the run fit. Majin Vegeta wants to mix it up on the backside, so I'm going to have him and Gojo play flat. My safeties have a very wide range, so I have no problem deferring to the deep half of the field.

First, I said defense wins, but offense brings close games. But after going through the X's and O's and each team's potential game plan; I think the attacker will win. Superman has so much power multiplier on the offensive end that the only person who can match him on the other side is Goku, whom you can control. Add in his speed in the backfield and his ability to isolate batsmen, and it creates a challenge for defenses. It's possible for the defense to completely dominate the line of scrimmage and turn this game around, but the Kryptonians are hard to contain, and Kal-El is the best of them all.

James Deiter: “Heroes win, but they don't measure up.''

I don't think whoever created this hypothetical situation stopped for a second to realize how fast The Flash was. It destroys the entire concept of this game. Let's put aside for a moment why they played him at fullback and just focus on the obvious game-breaking elements.

Running Wildcat with Flash!

If we accept the Flash at modern accepted speeds, he can run at 13 trillion times the speed of light. This is incomprehensibly fast, allowing the hero team to cheat as soon as they feel like it. When he snaps the ball directly to Flash, he runs backwards out of his end zone and out of the stadium, circles the globe a few times, runs back into the stadium, re-enters the other side of the field, stops in the end zone — boom, Touchdown. Then run it again with a 2-point transformation.

No referee, even a fictional one, can prove that the Flash did this. He scores a TD before the defender moves an inch. Just 100 yards to the flash is like your eye moving one nanometer in the process of blinking.

But let's assume he doesn't intend to cheat. You could call it a hero's code of ethics. So here's the problem. DC Comics has overpowered the Flash, his speed is incomprehensible, and he can rewind time by changing the laws of physics. This means that even if they run at 1/1 trillionth of their potential speed, their movement will behave more like a crawl since they are much faster than any of the defenders. All he has to do is take a relative stroll around the field, avoid any moves that might catch him, and walk to the end zone.

Also, before you come at me, let me be clear: No, I'm not a Saiyan. dragon ball z Remote is not as fast as flash. Don't get me wrong, Goku is ridiculously fast, but he's 33,314 times the speed of light. Once again, the flash is 13 trillion times faster than the speed of light.

I loved this little thought experiment, but The Flash beats all of that. Putting Sonic in the same backfield makes this even more ridiculous.

Mark Schofield: How defenses steal wins

First, there's something you need to understand, dear reader.

When this was posted on social media on Wednesday, almost every job in the company was brought up. SB Nation Your corporate office or even your Slack channel will be down. We all spent way too much time sketching out play designs on both sides of the ball, including my dear friend JP who was hit by a hurricane in Florida.

So you know we took this mission very seriously.

For some strange reason, my mind immediately focused on the defensive side of soccer. As you can see, the defensive front seven has some weaknesses. I'm worried about Edge's droideka, but as I've read from JP, he'll be running with it for the entire match.

There are other concerns as well.

Batman.

Look, we all love Batman, but he's an absolute liability as a middle linebacker. The offense will do everything they can to isolate him to either Sonic or Flash in the passing game – as an aside, it feels like cheating to have Flash here as a fullback, but… That's fine–and as much as we need to help him as well.

So we're building this defense structure around these safeties and bringing back the Legion of Boom a little bit.

We throw Martin Manhunter into the box in the role of Chancellor Cam. His list of abilities is as long as the Waffle House menu. He will clog the bottom passing lanes and give you a +1 in the box against the run. And his speed also allows him to move from sideline to sideline as needed on passes, taking away options from Superman when he wants to throw. Below that. Simply put, he would be my first line of defense against the Sonic and Flash tandem in the backfield.

This scheme may ask a lot from our corners, but Silver Surfer could also help from sideline to sideline by playing deep in Earl Thomas' role.

As for Batman, try to get him into the gap between the Thing and Baymax in a passing situation, slide protection that way on Superman, and create a one-on-one situation against Droidekka and the Hulk. Masu. Because let's be honest, for a moment or two you might see him as Bruce Banner.

That's a tough job because the offense is loaded, but I think relying on that safe tandem will give this defense a chance to get it out.