The View of Our Defense (1 Viewer)

BBLewisIV

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I have noticed that some on ESPN has chosen our defense to criticize. I guess they cannot find anything else to whine about when it comes to our dominance. They are obviously not watching the games and just looking at the final scores.

I would not trade our defense for another defense in the world right now. I honestly mean that. I may be a bit biased, but so what.

Do any of you feel as though the naysayers from ESPN have a valid argument about our D, or do you agree that our defense is just fine?
 
We are scoring points on defense every game, somtimes 2 scores...plus we are making the big plays when they are needed to win the game/keep the other team from getting a chance to win the game...I say they are awesome!!!
 
When they need to make a play, the play is made. A lot of the points they have given up are garbage type points also. No need to empty the playbook every game.
 
I've heard just as much praise as criticism.

Anyone who has actually watched the games knows that the defense has done some great things this season.
 
I've heard just as much praise as criticism.

Anyone who has actually watched the games knows that the defense has done some great things this season.
I've also heard the praises, but what I am attempting to get from this thread is valid reasoning for why some perceive our defense as not being "elite". They look like an elite defense to me.
 
football outsiders had our D ranked as #2 in the league coming into the game.

http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2009/opp.htm'

Passing D (the most important type of D)

1st - Completion %
4th - TD %
3rd - Int %
4th - YPA
1st - Defensive Passer Rating
2nd - adjusted net yards per passing attempt

Rushing D

13th - YPC

Other D Stats

1st - Turn Overs per play
4th (Tied) - 1st Downs per Game
5th - 3rd Down Conversion %
4th - ToP

=====================

Outside an average looking rushing defense we are solid. Points are one thing, but our other defensive stats suggest we should be holding teams to 16 - 18 points per game not 21.2 pts per game. Total yardage isn't a great stat as it depends, among other things, on the ratio of passing plays to rushing plays and the number of plays a team is allowed to run.
 
football outsiders had our D ranked as #2 in the league coming into the game.

http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2009/opp.htm'

Passing D (the most important type of D)

1st - Completion %
4th - TD %
3rd - Int %
4th - YPA
1st - Defensive Passer Rating
2nd - adjusted net yards per passing attempt

Rushing D

13th - YPC

Other D Stats

1st - Turn Overs per play
4th (Tied) - 1st Downs per Game
5th - 3rd Down Conversion %
4th - ToP

=====================

Outside an average looking rushing defense we are solid. Points are one thing, but our other defensive stats suggest we should be holding teams to 16 - 18 points per game not 21.2 pts per game.
That is an awesome post. Thanks for sharing that!
 
I've also heard the praises, but what I am attempting to get from this thread is valid reasoning for why some perceive our defense as not being "elite". They look like an elite defense to me.

Hmm... I'd say its a mix of things. Partly its based on past performance... the Saints reputation of all offense/no defense is a hard one to shake. Secondly, point totals and yard totals... by those simple measures the saints defense is not elite. I'd say some folks make faulty assumptions based on those two things.
 
That is an awesome post. Thanks for sharing that!

I think, as mentioned before, they're looking at the final score and not dissecting the numbers. Two of Miami's TD's came from a 4 yard drive and a 19 yard drive. Its hard to keep a team from scoring with a short field. They're also not seeing the turnovers. Our Offense only scored 32 points yesterday. Our Defense scored 14. But if you don't look at the numbers, you don't know that. Our D has scored 5 TD's this year. 3 by sharper, 1 by Porter and whomever got credtic for the fumble recovery against the Jets.
 
Hmm... I'd say its a mix of things. Partly its based on past performance... the Saints reputation of all offense/no defense is a hard one to shake. Secondly, point totals and yard totals... by those simple measures the saints defense is not elite. I'd say some folks make faulty assumptions based on those two things.

Yep kind of hard to keep both of those down when ppl have to pass on you to keep up. Other teams pass against us 62% of the time (3d highest in the league) not because we can't stop it, but because they are trying to keep up.
 
Could someone do a quick and dirty comparison between our D and the D of the 2007 Pats? I'm not saying it's meaningful (because I want to win the Super Bowl, not go undefeated only to lose THE game), I'm just curious. We've seen comparison between the Os but I've never seen one for the Ds.
 
Anybody that actually watches the games knows that this defense is good. They make lotsa plays and have greatly reduced the number of big plays given up.

The problem is that the Cowboys played at the same time and the media was too busy watching that game.
 
Just like no one will mention that our defense held the wildcat to 30 yards....the only stat that will be talked about is the 2-3 td's they scored out of it...
 

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