Defensive Rankings for the Past Decade (2001-2010)

by Pantology on Jan 28, 2011 6:08 PM MST

So I've always loved to watch strong defensive teams. Hence the reason I can't help but love watching the Ravens and Steelers play in addition to my home-team; the Arizona Cardinals.
I also happen to love charts and statistics, so when I saw this post over at "Behind the Steel Curtain" attempting to analyze the defenses of 2010, I couldn't resist the urge to at least make an attempt at analyzing it over the course of the past decade.

For my statistics I relied solely upon those available from NFL.com. I acknowledge I did not analyze the numbers nearly as well as John Stephens did (he took the time to take opponent drop backs and look at some other items, I really recommend going and seeing his original post).

Never-the-less, it is a start and it can definitely be built-upon. I'm open to your comments/suggestions/improvements. I will start with the "conclusions" and follow with the charts for each item I looked at (Points allowed per game, Yards allowed per game, Sacks, Interceptions, and Fumbles forced).

While not necessary for understanding my chart, take note that the weird numbers before my ranking of the teams, I wanted to find a way to account for the fact that Points allowed and Yards allowed are much more important than sacks/interceptions/forced fumbles. So all I did was calculate PA, YA, Sacks, Ints, and FF as single numbers, then I took the YA/PA average rank and multiplied that by 3. For example, the Cardinals would be (30+27+27+14+21)+(28.5*3))/6 Not the best method, but it's what I settled on.

Also for those that would prefer, here is the same chart in alphabetical order.

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From here on I only color-coded the actual ranks, and the Top 5 (more if tied for 5th) for each year in each category.

Points Allowed, by rank

Points Allowed, alphabetically

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Yards Allowed, by rank

Yards Allowed, alphabetically

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Sacks, by rank

Sacks, alphabetically

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Interceptions by rank

Interceptions, Alphabetically

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Fumbles Forced, Rank

Fumbles Forced, Alphabetically

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So there you have it, based on current numbers and methodologies, I'd rank the NFL'stop 10 defenses for the past decade as:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Green Bay Packers
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6. New England Patriots
7. Chicago Bears
8. Miami Dolphins
9. Carolina Panthers
10. New York Giants

As I stated, it is not perfect methodology, but it is a start. Open to comments/suggestions/improvements.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.

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Rec'd

Cause this must have taken a ton of time.

by Skii on Jan 28, 2011 8:35 PM MST reply actions

It was pretty much an addiction.
It was a thought I couldn’t get out of my head, I took a very weak attempt at it a couple months back just by looking at yards allowed and what teams were in the top 5 most and weighted them each by ranking (Steelers/Ravens were tops there as well).
Then I saw that post I talked about and decided to go a little more in depth, ended up working on it before and after work and at work on breaks.. devoted far too much time and attention to it, but pretty quick considering I started it yesterday and today all I did to it was the color coding and converting the excel charts to jpegs so I could post them more easily (I also put them on my facebook community “Protect the Nest”)
But yeah, it was kind of fun.. if not weirdly obsessive and definitely nerdy.
Thanks.

Tom Coniam
Devoted Fan of Arizona Cardinals and ASU Sun Devils
But also a general Arizona sports fan

Maintainer of the "Protect The Nest" Facebook community.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-the-Nest/157471224301129

by Pantology on Jan 28, 2011 8:53 PM MST up reply actions

It's only a problem when you admit it's one.

Great stuff man, its really well done.

by Jesse Reynolds on Jan 29, 2011 10:51 PM MST up reply actions

Funny it’s generated more discussion over at Baltimore Beatdown and Behind the Steel Curtain.

Tom Coniam
Devoted Fan of Arizona Cardinals and ASU Sun Devils
But also a general Arizona sports fan

Maintainer of the "Protect The Nest" Facebook community.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-the-Nest/157471224301129

by Pantology on Jan 30, 2011 6:56 PM MST reply actions

Steelers loves their defense

Thanks for the work put into this.

by tkired on Jan 31, 2011 1:49 AM MST up reply actions

Are you surprised?

They are both in the top 3 ranked defenses for the decade. We are in the bottom three.

by hadrarius on Feb 2, 2011 6:44 PM MST up reply actions

correction

bottom five, still… bottom

by hadrarius on Feb 2, 2011 6:46 PM MST up reply actions

Great work

One observation is that all the top 10 play outdoors and most have a lot of cold weather games in their division.
This really helps defensive teams as everything slows down and makes it more difficult for the skill players!

by CardsIrish on Feb 1, 2011 12:23 PM MST reply actions

+111111111111111111111111

by az78true on Feb 2, 2011 7:19 PM MST up reply actions

Wow, good point.

by Jesse Reynolds on Feb 2, 2011 9:14 PM MST up reply actions

You should show this to Sando on ESPN.

Get some prime time respect.

by Jesse Reynolds on Feb 2, 2011 9:15 PM MST up reply actions

That does follow

If indoor QBs get criticized for having inflated stats due to not having weather concerns then it follows that defenses must statistically benefit from bad weather. The two are inversely proportional. Excellent observation.

by hadrarius on Feb 3, 2011 2:29 PM MST up reply actions