"Except takeaways and getting to the QB"?
Did you actually realize what you are typing here. I'm not sure what your definition of "better" is but mine is different.
Yards allowed, no doubt, last years D at 315 yds per game, 2009 - 357 per game.....
IMO yards allowed is really the least important stat, the more important stats are.....
Scoring defense - 2022 we gave up 20.3 points per game, 2009 we gave up 21.3 points per game......1 point difference, a difference but not staggering......by any means....
Takeaways is what puts the 2009 D over the top and IMO better than the 2022 defense.
The 2009 D led us to a +11 turnover ratio (which should have been higher, I didn't realize we turned it over so much on offense - 16 fumbles, 28 total). The 39 total turnovers led the NFL, at almost 3 per game.
Those turnovers directly led to multiple victories, in 9 games we had 3 or more defensive turnovers....all wins, the only games we didn't get turnovers were both losses (the Dallas game that broke the 13 game streak and the Carolina game where we rested a ton of starters).
The 2022 D led us to a -11 turnover ratio (the offense turned it over 25 times, actually less than 2009) and generated an anemic 14 total turnovers less than 1 per game....
You can argue, to some extent, that the game has changed but the 2009 team defense clearly was a ball hawking D that changed many games and gave the offense more opportunities.....the 2022 D, while very stingy giving up yards, gave up 20.3 points a game (a total of 1 less than the 2009) without really generating any meaningful turnovers for most of the season.....
2022 Defense better than the 2009? Not a chance.....IMO.....