The NFL's Best and Worst Defenses Of The Century?

[RANGA+ 1,210]

Just a little something I've been working on...an overall analysis of defensive team stats of every season since 2000. Found the result interesting, so thought I would share them with you all

 

I based the analysis on 5 categories:

 

Pts/G - average points per game scored against the defense

 

Yds/G - average yards per game given up by the defense

Yds/P - average yards per play given up by the defense

 

3rd Pct - total third down conversion percentage of offenses against the defense

Pen Yds/G - average penalty yards per game surrendered by the defense

 

 

 

Most Top 5 Appearances:

Eagles - 4

Bucs - 4

Ravens - 4

Steelers - 3

 

Most Bottom 10 Appearances:

Lions - 5

Cardinals - 4

Falcons - 4

Vikings - 4

Texans - 4

Bengals -3

Saints - 3

Chiefs - 3

Raiders - 3

Rams -

 

P.S. If you want a link to the master Excel file let me know and I'll upload it lol

Edited May 20, 2012 by RANGA

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Steelers and Lions get my votes.

 

The Steelers D has been consistently good for the past 10 or so years and it is what they are known for. Their great D has also gotten them a few rings.

 

The Lions as a team have just been horrendous, and a big part of that has been their awful defense and them not addressing it in the draft. Obviously, they are improving now.

[seanbrock 1,684]

As historically great as our defense has been it's been tough the past couple years watching us get lit up in the redzone and in the 4th quarter. Hopefully we can turn this around.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

As cool as it is to see the Eagles in this poll for best defense, they never had one season of an all-time great defense like the '00 Ravens, '02 Bucs, and '08 Steelers, so the vote comes down to those three, IMO.

 

For worst defense, I went with the Lolions just because...Lolions.

[Vin+ 3,121]

Top 10 in ppg, ypg, and pypg. I'll take it.

[56AceInDaPlace 110]

Steelers / Lions. Steelers win by a little bit over Bmore. Steelers run D never slips up ever.

 

The Liont went 0-16 and normally were a bad defensive team every year, so its a easy pick. Texans D has gone up, The Cards were up there with the Lions years back. Saints D from 02-04 was pretty bad too.

[Bucman 891]

As cool as it is to see the Eagles in this poll for best defense, they never had one season of an all-time great defense like the '00 Ravens, '02 Bucs, and '08 Steelers, so the vote comes down to those three, IMO.

 

For worst defense, I went with the Lolions just because...Lolions.

Funny thing is, the 99 Bucs D was better than the 02 D. We should've won that game against the Rams and destroyed the Titans in the SB. But this is for this century and I vote for the Steelers.

[baltimoreravens 19]

Ravens.

[housemd 338]

Best: Steelers

 

Worst: Lions

[BigBen07 285]

Best IMO: Steelers

 

Worst IMO: Lions

[RANGA+ 1,210]

Top 10 in ppg, ypg, and pypg. I'll take it.

 

Yeah the Jags had a really good defense for a while in the mid 2000s...what happened?

[KiLaSix9+ 398]

Yeah the Jags had a really good defense for a while in the mid 2000s...what happened?

That Stroud/Henderson combo was sick. I wonder if they had a lot to do with their stats.

[Vin+ 3,121]

Yeah the Jags had a really good defense for a while in the mid 2000s...what happened?

 

 

That Stroud/Henderson combo was sick. I wonder if they had a lot to do with their stats.

 

Lack of pass rush is what killed us. 05 was alright, but by the time 06 rolled around, that part was in decline and has sucked ever since, with the exception of a small part of 07.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

Single season or historically.

 

Single season good luck with any team beating the 2000 Ravens. over a century has to be the steelers for the 70's and the last decade. In the last decade every major category is split. thanks to reed turnovers are the Ravens, Passing yards steelers, and so on and so on.

 

The Texans were pretty shitty for a long time but now it has been turned around.

[seanbrock 1,684]

As cool as it is to see the Eagles in this poll for best defense, they never had one season of an all-time great defense like the '00 Ravens, '02 Bucs, and '08 Steelers, so the vote comes down to those three, IMO.

 

For worst defense, I went with the Lolions just because...Lolions.

idk man. Our 2002 defense was DAMN good. We didn't win the Super Bowl, but that defense was awesome.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

Single season or historically.

 

This century has seen twelve NFL seasons. The best defense by a team from 2000-2012 is what we are debating.

 

Single season good luck with any team beating the 2000 Ravens.

 

The 2000 Ravens played a cake schedule. Their defense was great, but the statistics explained in the following article show that their defense was aided by being at the tail end of an offensive slump coming out of the 90's and the fact that they played only 5 top half offenses in points, 6 top half in yards, and only 2 top 10 in points or yards with none of those being in the top 5 in either category.

 

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2009/3/10/775679/a-statistical-analysis-on

 

Read that article, in its entirety, and tell me the 2000 Ravens were the best single season defense of all time.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

This century has seen twelve NFL seasons. The best defense by a team from 2000-2012 is what we are debating.

 

 

 

The 2000 Ravens played a cake schedule. Their defense was great, but the statistics explained in the following article show that their defense was aided by being at the tail end of an offensive slump coming out of the 90's and the fact that they played only 5 top half offenses in points, 6 top half in yards, and only 2 top 10 in points or yards with none of those being in the top 5 in either category.

 

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2009/3/10/775679/a-statistical-analysis-on

 

Read that article, in its entirety, and tell me the 2000 Ravens were the best single season defense of all time.

 

Ok I read it in its entirety two things come into play.

 

At the very end he says IMO two sentences before eliminating the Ravens. Bias much...yeah I think so.

 

And two 33 points less than the 85 bears which is the next closest in temrs of points. WE are the top run defense, 3rd in turnovers, and top 4 in every statisitcal category if not more.

 

I appreciate the work he put into it but it was biased and nothing real evident considering he made up his own conclusions to support his argument. It was an interesting read though.

 

As to your question yes I think they are still the greatest. And we all know you like statistics and they say that too.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

Ok I read it in its entirety two things come into play.

 

At the very end he says IMO two sentences before eliminating the Ravens. Bias much...yeah I think so.

 

And two 33 points less than the 85 bears which is the next closest in temrs of points. WE are the top run defense, 3rd in turnovers, and top 4 in every statisitcal category if not more.

 

I appreciate the work he put into it but it was biased and nothing real evident considering he made up his own conclusions to support his argument. It was an interesting read though.

 

As to your question yes I think they are still the greatest. And we all know you like statistics and they say that too.

 

You obviously either didn't read the article or you have horrendous reading comprehension...

 

The entire premise of the article was to debunk the thought that the best defenses ever are completely reliant on their ending statistics (the ones I bolded in your post). Ignorant/shortsighted people are the ones that look at those statistics and completely disregard strength of schedule, strength of offenses faced, and league-wide offensive trends.

 

The Ravens played a cakewalk of a schedule that included 0 top 5 and only 2 top 10 offenses. That is a fact. They also were playing in a down period for offenses, so even the best offenses were putting up less yards and points. The league changes and goes through periods of flux.

 

I don't think anyone would sit here and tell you that Matthew Stafford is better than Johnny Unitas because Stafford threw for 5,038 yards and 41 TDs last year and Unitas's career bests being 3,481 and 32 respectively. In the same way, you can't look at the 2000 Ravens' defense and say that their low numbers are the best ever because, in reality, those numbers were much closer to average for their time period than the numbers in '85, '91, or '08.

 

If the new standard for an NFL offense in 2012 is 800 yards per game with 1,000 yards being exceptional, wouldn't you say that a team that is allowing 400 yards per game on defense is an amazing defense? Would you still say that Baltimore allowing 248 yards per game in 2000 when the average was 319.43 is the best defense ever simply because 248 is less than 400? The hypothetical 2012 defense allowed 50% of what the league-wide average was while the Ravens allowed 77.63% of the league average.

 

The average YPG in 2000 was 319.43. The Ravens allowed 248 against a schedule of weak offenses in a historically weaker offensive time period or 77.63% of the average. The average in 2008 was 327.24 and the Steelers allowed only 237 or 72.42% of what the league average was. In yards, the 2008 Steelers have the 2000 Ravens beat.

 

I could sit here and re-explain that article all day to prove you wrong, but I fear that it would be wasted because you either wouldn't understand it, chalk it up to "bias" despite the fact that you're a Ravens fan debating for the 2000 Ravens, or completely ignore the analysis like you've done as of late.

[RANGA+ 1,210]

That Stroud/Henderson combo was sick. I wonder if they had a lot to do with their stats.

 

Yeah that combo in it's prime was probably the best interior of any defensive line in the league.

 

 

Lack of pass rush is what killed us. 05 was alright, but by the time 06 rolled around, that part was in decline and has sucked ever since, with the exception of a small part of 07.

 

Hmm true. I remember the days when Mathis used to be a Top 10 CB

[Omerta+ 1,206]

You obviously either didn't read the article or you have horrendous reading comprehension...

 

The entire premise of the article was to debunk the thought that the best defenses ever are completely reliant on their ending statistics (the ones I bolded in your post). Ignorant/shortsighted people are the ones that look at those statistics and completely disregard strength of schedule, strength of offenses faced, and league-wide offensive trends.

 

The Ravens played a cakewalk of a schedule that included 0 top 5 and only 2 top 10 offenses. That is a fact. They also were playing in a down period for offenses, so even the best offenses were putting up less yards and points. The league changes and goes through periods of flux.

 

I don't think anyone would sit here and tell you that Matthew Stafford is better than Johnny Unitas because Stafford threw for 5,038 yards and 41 TDs last year and Unitas's career bests being 3,481 and 32 respectively. In the same way, you can't look at the 2000 Ravens' defense and say that their low numbers are the best ever because, in reality, those numbers were much closer to average for their time period than the numbers in '85, '91, or '08.

 

If the new standard for an NFL offense in 2012 is 800 yards per game with 1,000 yards being exceptional, wouldn't you say that a team that is allowing 400 yards per game on defense is an amazing defense? Would you still say that Baltimore allowing 248 yards per game in 2000 when the average was 319.43 is the best defense ever simply because 248 is less than 400? The hypothetical 2012 defense allowed 50% of what the league-wide average was while the Ravens allowed 77.63% of the league average.

 

The average YPG in 2000 was 319.43. The Ravens allowed 248 against a schedule of weak offenses in a historically weaker offensive time period or 77.63% of the average. The average in 2008 was 327.24 and the Steelers allowed only 237 or 72.42% of what the league average was. In yards, the 2008 Steelers have the 2000 Ravens beat.

 

I could sit here and re-explain that article all day to prove you wrong, but I fear that it would be wasted because you either wouldn't understand it, chalk it up to "bias" despite the fact that you're a Ravens fan debating for the 2000 Ravens, or completely ignore the analysis like you've done as of late.

 

You want to talk about me being biased huh ?

 

Lets look at this a moment you send me to an article at a website called "behind the steel curtain" to read an article written by a steelers fan that is trying to disprove the validity of the Ravens defense by his own admission in the first paragraph because a Ravens fan was "arguing" with him about the best defense ever.

 

So he comes up with his own mathematical formula that supports a conclusion he wants in the beginning. He does not have them weighted for how they performed against the top offenses they did face, he did not come up with a satisfactory way of explaining how the schedule effects the numbers or any adjusted scale of what they should be. Did not take into account that in the 2000's that was when a RB was the centerpiece of an offense more often then a QB which is not conducive to high numbers.

 

In the article he says IMO that is why you have to rule out the 2000 Ravens, so after he admits it is his own opinion that he is going by he rules out that defense. That entire article is his opinion and his alone and as previously stated by the websites own name admission he is a steeler's fan. I can find a link to a Raven website where staff writers have said the 2000 Ravens was the greatest defense of all time. Would you take this link from me and accept it as fact? Of course you would not.

 

So this guy who has never played or done anything spectacular to make him any sort of an expert in football or mathematics makes up this article and I am supposed to accept it as truth or my reading comprehension is terrible? That makes no sense. Explain to me how that every me this subject comes up the defense is mentioned in the same breath as the 85 bears as the greatest of all time ? Is that analysts and players just amking assuptions without facts just like this fellow who is less qualified than those?

 

Sorry but I am not biting. And yes you are wasting your time if that is your proof as to why (a writer for a steelers website who makes up his own mathematical equations who does not even give us a reason why his math should be trusted with no logic provided or weighted categories) the Ravens defense should be excluded.

 

As to the Yards thing they do have us beat but the cool thing is that how many yards you allow has dick all to do with how the game turns out. It is about points.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Ngata_Chance

[Turry 755]

2006 Bears are very underrated when you talk defence from 2000-2012. But mind you People often list then 2000 Ravens the 02 Bucs and the Steelers

[Shotgun 442]

The Steelers have been the most consistent, best defense, even through injury. For the decade, I don't think there's any comparison. The Lions were the worst of the decade and there's no close second. The numbers speak for themselves.