Better D This year but...

[Lifer]

All signs point to a better defense this year but they may not get the statistical credit they deserve (again). Yards-per-game or points-per-game are the usual yardsticks but with the offense looking so iffy, the D is probably going to be on the field quite a bit. I've always thought the best statistical measures of a defense would be yards (or points) given up per minute on the field. Has anyone ever seen those stats?

 

[kerouac9]

Football Outsiders publishes a "points per drive" Stat that I think you might like. That's probably a better measurement for your purposes, since if you have a ball-control offense and a bad defense, then you'd get an inflated result if you have +5 mins time of possession every game or something.

I think that yards per play is a measuring stick that you might like, as well.

For me, it's hard to say that this year's offense is going to be worse than last year's. Even if Kolb starts, he has another year in the system. If Ryan Williams can stay healthy, we have an explosive runner teams have to account for. We've added weapons in the passing game like Floyd and Rob Housler (who I don't really count because it takes some time for rookie TEs to adjust to the NFL). Skelton, if he starts, has the attention that a 1B QB gets from the coaching staff, as well as his first real offseason.

There are a lot of reasons to think that even with the issue on the offensive line, this offense could at least grow into mediocrity.

 

[52brandon]

Football Outsiders publishes a "points per drive" Stat that I think you might like. That's probably a better measurement for your purposes, since if you have a ball-control offense and a bad defense, then you'd get an inflated result if you have +5 mins time of possession every game or something.

I think that yards per play is a measuring stick that you might like, as well.

For me, it's hard to say that this year's offense is going to be worse than last year's. Even if Kolb starts, he has another year in the system. If Ryan Williams can stay healthy, we have an explosive runner teams have to account for. We've added weapons in the passing game like Floyd and Rob Housler (who I don't really count because it takes some time for rookie TEs to adjust to the NFL). Skelton, if he starts, has the attention that a 1B QB gets from the coaching staff, as well as his first real offseason.

There are a lot of reasons to think that even with the issue on the offensive line, this offense could at least grow into mediocrity.

great points. I do think our line situation is worse than last year. Which is something I would have said was impossible to accomplish last year. But if Williams can stay healthy, Housler gets some time and looks by the QBs, I think our offense still has plenty of capacity to improve over last year. Plus, assuming we do run the ball more, we will control the clock better this year as well, which will help the D look better...

 

[JeffGollin]

I think points allowed per opposing red zone possession would be a telling indicator also.

 

[BigRedFan]

I think yards per play is a good stat to use which is a stat more independent of the offense; the Cardinals had an average of 5.2. I cant find rankings of this anywhere and I am too lazy to do them all individually, but for comparison, Pittsburgh had a 4.5 yard per play avg. and Green Bay had a 6.3 yards per play avg. The best average I could find was the 77 Cowboys at 3.7 which is far better than any other I could think of including 2000 Ravens, mid 80s Bears and late 70s Steelers. And though I didn't look very long, I couldn't find any worse than Green Bay's and New England's averages of 6.3 and 6.2 this year. I wonder if any team in history has had worse than a 6.3 yards per play on defense, would be ironic given their record in 2011.

 

[Darkside]

All signs point to a better defense this year but they may not get the statistical credit they deserve (again). Yards-per-game or points-per-game are the usual yardsticks but with the offense looking so iffy, the D is probably going to be on the field quite a bit. I've always thought the best statistical measures of a defense would be yards (or points) given up per minute on the field. Has anyone ever seen those stats?

I agree mostly, but last year we were bottom fodder in turnovers. I think this year we get a lot more turnovers. A lot more. That changes everything for us. I'm hoping it makes up for our lack of Oline and QB. Run a lot and play good D with turnovers and we'll be okay.

Maybe. Then again, I always think we'll be okay. LOL.

 

[crisper57]

Our D is gonna light it up in the first quarter or two each game. Then, depending on how many 3-and-outs our Offense compiles, they are going to start to wear down.

That's my worry at least.