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I was on the Saints team page at SI.com and was surprised when I saw that they had the Saints defense ranked 7th through week 4. I clicked on the link to see if there was a mistake, and no, that's where we were.
I then realized how they did their rankings. Unlike NFL.com who uses total yards allowed as their benchmark for defense rankings, SI uses total points allowed. I guess, SI has a point.
Interestingly, when you look at the top 10 defenses on SI's board, all of them have a winning record except the Redskins (2-2), but their offense can't score, so that helps explain the 2-2.
Even more interesting to me, Minny, a 4-0 team, is ranked 15th giving up 20 ppg, the Ravens are 16th also allowing 20 ppg, and the Eagles are 23rd, giving up 24 ppg - we did that to the Eagles.
Of course, all of the other teams in the bottom half of points allowed, don't have a winning record.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/stats/2009/team_defense/0_byPTS_PER_GAME.html
I then realized how they did their rankings. Unlike NFL.com who uses total yards allowed as their benchmark for defense rankings, SI uses total points allowed. I guess, SI has a point.
Interestingly, when you look at the top 10 defenses on SI's board, all of them have a winning record except the Redskins (2-2), but their offense can't score, so that helps explain the 2-2.
Even more interesting to me, Minny, a 4-0 team, is ranked 15th giving up 20 ppg, the Ravens are 16th also allowing 20 ppg, and the Eagles are 23rd, giving up 24 ppg - we did that to the Eagles.
Of course, all of the other teams in the bottom half of points allowed, don't have a winning record.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/stats/2009/team_defense/0_byPTS_PER_GAME.html