warren sapp surprised me when he claimed that the 2011 texans have better cover corners and better linebackers than his super bowl winning 2002 bucs D. i really liked that defense with him, rice, brooks, barber, lynch, dexter jackson, etc. i can't wait til we can look back at this group of young defensive playmakers with the same reverence and pride. names like cushing, barwin, watt, ryans, joseph, etc should be NFL lore one day. so how do yall think we stack up against the NFL's most legendary defenses like the 2002 bucs, the 2001 ravens, the 1985 bears, the 1975 steelers, etc
Lets see on a rudimentary overview: RAW DATA OF BEST SINGLE SEASON DEFENSES YDS PTS TOTAL TOTAL PASS PASS PASS RUSH RUSH TOTAL TEAM Rank Rank G Points Yards Yds TD Int Yds TD FR 1973 Los Angeles Rams 1 4 14 178 2951 1681 10 20 1270 5 18 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers 1 1 14 138 3323 1866 9 22 1457 5 24 1977 Atlanta Falcons 2 1 14 129 3242 1384 9 26 1858 5 22 1985 Chicago Bears 1 1 16 198 4135 2816 16 34 1319 6 20 1991 Philadelphia Eagles 1 5 16 244 3549 2413 16 26 1136 4 22 2000 Baltimore Ravens 2 1 16 165 3967 2997 11 23 970 5 26 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers 1 1 16 223 3795 2511 12 20 1284 7 9 PER GAME AND PER PLAY DATA WITH TEAMS' OFFENSIVE RANKS ADDED TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL PASS PASS RUSH RUSH O_Rank O_Rank O_Rank O_Rank TEAM Pts/G Yds/G Yds/Play INT/G TD/G Yds/Rush TD/G Points Total Pass Rush 1973 Los Angeles Rams 12.7 211 4 1.43 0.71 3.5 0.36 1 1 13 2 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers 9.8 237.4 3.8 1.57 0.64 3.2 0.36 5 9 22 1 1977 Atlanta Falcons 9.2 231.5 3.7 1.86 0.64 3.7 0.36 25 25 27 17 1985 Chicago Bears 12.4 258 4.4 2.13 1 3.7 0.38 2 7 20 1 1991 Philadelphia Eagles 15.25 222 3.9 1.63 1 3.0 0.25 18 26 22 21 2000 Baltimore Ravens 10.3 248 4.3 1.44 0.69 2.7 0.31 14 16 22 5 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers 13.9 237 3.9 1.25 0.75 3.3 0.44 20 22 17 23 It's easier to read that chart from here: http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2009/3/10/775679/a-statistical-analysis-on Now lets look at the current Texans defense: RK TEAM YDS YDS/G PASS P YDS/G RUSH R YDS/G PTS PTS/G 1 Houston 3574 274.9 2385 183.5 1189 91.5 208 16.0 http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense Probably not up there with all time best, but it's pretty d*mn good.
Hopefully they can reach that level but that Tampa defense was pretty amazing... Brooks will be in the HOF... I bet Sapp Barber Rice Lynch could be considered as well.. Texans really nobody right now but they're all around 27ish?....
Anyone have the stats on the quality of offenses the Texans have played this year? Seems like the defensive numbers could be a bit skewed by playing poor offenses like the colts, titans, jags, raiders, dolphins, browns, bucs etc.. We haven't exactly been playing the patriots every week.
Football Outsiders weighs their rankings based on quality of opponent, among other things. They have us ranked #6. This puts a team like the Bears, who haven't performed as well but have had a much tougher schedule, ahead of us. I think it is very fair though.
Yeah I was just looking at the Texans schedule. They have had a pretty easy schedule this year with 4 of their 10 wins being against teams over .500 (pitt, ten, cin, atl).
Strength of Schedule from weeks 10-17. Texans at #29 out of 32. http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/51017/2011-nfl-strength-of-schedule-weeks-10-17
No team does. If you consider a 10-win pace "elite," then the NFL only has 11 "elite" teams, or 34% of its league. It's highly likely, that on any given Sunday, the "elite" teams are not going to be playing other "elite" teams.
Good point, but do you have the offensive numbers of the teams the Texans have played this year? What is their overall strength of schedule? The one I found was only from weeks 10-17.
Like any statistical analysis, there is margin for error. The Pats (#1) probably play in a lot of tighter situations and convert more 3rd downs and red zone opportunities (while the Packers hit big plays outside of the red zone), and they may have a tougher schedule which gives them the nod in the rankings (this probably has more to do with it). It's not flawless but it's far better than looking at stats alone, IMO. There is no way the Texans are really the best defense in the league even though stats say they are. They absolutely have benefited from the schedule. They may be the most opportunistic defense though, and that is something the last two SB champions had in common.
Like I said, the Texans haven't really played many high powered offenses. The Panthers suck, but they do have a high powered offense with many offensive weapons and the Texans D are who I thought they were.
