GB vs NE Defensively

[SteelerEmpire]

Borrowed this from a Pats forum. Anyway. Something to kill some time on. Enjoy.

Post:

On the way into work this morning I heard a national analyst talking about every fanboy's favorite subject...power rankings!

He asked how the Pats could be in the Top 5 with that putrid defense and that some power rankings had them as high as #2 behind the Packers. His next statement is what got me thinking and ultimately led to this thread.

He stated that Green Bay is clearly #1 and then went on to list several other teams in order; before returning his attention back to the Pats, once again putting the low ranking on the Pats defensive play.

Now, I don't particularly give two ****s about power rankings. But I do know that most people consider Green Bay to be the best team in the league, which is well deserved coming off a Super Bowl win and opening the season 7-0.

But, I have watched everyone of Green Bay's games, and without stats to prove it, I didn't think the Packers defense was any better than ours. I thought everything that is said about the Pats defense could easily be said about the Packers defense (can't get off the field on 3rd down, terrible against the pass, decent against the run, hold teams to FG's in the red zone etc...).

So, I decided to go through the stats just to see if my observations were accurate. Come to find out, I couldn't have been closer to the truth....

Because of the formatting here is how to read the info below:

1. I listed the team's defensive averages and league rankings at the top
2. Then I listed each teams opponents offensive ranking in four categories (total passing, total rushing, Total offense and Points Per Game scored)
3. Then I listed each opponents offensive average for the season in parenthesis followed by the total season average of the opponents and where that average would rank league wide.
4. Opponent record for each team (includes games played against GB and NE)

Here is the raw data:

Green Bay
Passing: 290 (31st)
Rushing: 102 (10th)
Total: 391 (28th)
3rd down: 43% (22nd)
PPG 20 (9th)

NO : Pass: 1st Rush: 11th Total: 2nd PPG: 2nd
CAR: Pass: 5th Rush: 7th Total: 5th PPG: 14th
CHI: Pass: 17th Rush: 15th Total: 16th PPG: 13th
DEN: Pass: 30th Rush: 8th Total: 27th PPG: 23rd
ATL: Pass: 18th Rush: 17th Total: 17th PPG: 17th
STL: Pass: 26th Rush: 20th Total: 28th PPG: 31st
MIN: Pass: 29th Rush: 3rd Total: 18th PPG: 20th

(Opp season Averages) (Total Avg/would be league rank)
PPG (32.5;23.4;24.3;19;22.6;12.4;21.5) (22.2 / 19th)
Total (441.1;415.1;421;305.4;335;304.3;332.6) (364.9 / 13th)
Rush (117.4;129.6;114.7;125.9;112.7;105.9;150.4) (122.3 / 10th)
Pass (326.8;285.5;222.7;179.6;222.3;198.4;182.2) (202.5 / 24th)
Opp Record: 20-32

New England
Passing: 323 (32nd)
Rushing: 101 (9th)
Total: 424 (32nd)
3rd down: 46% (30th)
PPG: 23 (17th)

MIA: Pass: 25th Rush: 12th Total: 21st PPG: 28th
SD : Pass: 6th Rush: 13th Total: 6th PPG: 15th
BUF: Pass: 13th Rush: 5th Total: 10th PPG: 3rd
OAK: Pass: 23rd Rush: 2nd Total: 12th PPG: 16th
NYJ: Pass: 22nd Rush: 28th Total: 29th PPG: 11th
DAL: Pass: 7th Rush: 15th Total: 8th PPG: 18th
PIT: Pass: 8th Rush: 14th Total: 9th PPG: 19th

(Opp season Averages) (Total Avg/would be league rank)
PPG (15.3; 23; 30.1; 22.9; 24.6; 22.3; 22) (22.8 17th)
Total (318.9; 399.4;380.1;365.6;300.1; 394.3;388.8) (363.9 13th)
Rush (116.9; 116; 140.6; 159.3;92.4;114.7; 115.4) (122.1 10th)
Pass (202;283.4;239.6;206.3;207.7;279.6;273.4) (241.7 12th)
Opp Record: 26-24

My point here for those wondering, is that the "best team in the league" has the exact same flaw that we have. Every team in the league is hurting somewhere. The Eagles O-line is garbage, LB's suck. The Ravens have Flacco and a mind numbing reluctance to run the football. The Steelers O-line leaves a lot to be desired and have LB's dropping like flies due to injury, not mention Big Ben's love affair with turnovers in big games. The Packers defense is a liability. New England's Defense is a liability. I could go on.

I have stayed away from posting this week because this place becomes unbearable after a loss. From garbage like "Maybe Bill Walsh was right" and other threads, one would think this was a 2-5 team coming off a loss to the Rams at home.

We lost to the defending AFC champions on the road by 8 points, playing the worst football we have played all season. The putrid defense held the Steelers to 6 points in the second half. The offense struggled to adjust to the surprising man pressure etc.... it was one loss get over it.

I think far to many people only watch the Pats play on Sunday, then watch highlights on ESPN of the other games. And then listen to uninformed opinions from the talking heads, like my example above.

Maybe they even go as far as comparing these Pats with Patriot teams of the early 2000's; which were one of the most efficient, and well disciplined football teams to ever step on to a football field. Then come to the conclusion that this team isn't good enough to win it all.

The only thing that is relevant now, is how they stack up against the other 31 teams in the league this year. And coming from someone that watches every game, every week, this team stacks up really well!

LINK: http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-...fensively.html

[GBMelBlount]

Wow. That was good post by the Patriot fan.

He is right that every team has a weakness.

However, while both of these defenses give up around 20 points a game their offenses average close to 30.

If I am not mistaken our offense is averaging maybe the low 20's....

Hopefully with the Oline solidifying and Ben getting in synch with the young receivers we will have a more potent offense and leave less points on the field...

Point is we have a great defense and if our offense starts clicking we could be the most solid team in the league imo.

[Edman]

Stats don't really tell the whole story. The Scoreboard reads that the Patriots lost by 8 points, but the game really wasn't that close. What he doesn't get is that the Steelers Offense has a tendency to leave points on the field against every defense this year. Making games closer than what they really are.

The Patriots D has been bad for a while now, while the Green Bay D slipped off seemingly overnight. I thought the Saints game was an abberration, but no. The Packers D has been giving up yardage at an alarming rate. But they're 7-0 and it hasn't cost them a game yet. So they're doing something right.

The Packers right now are winning exactly like the Patriots have been. High Octane Offense holding up for mediocre Defense. Relying on simply outscoring teams than stopping them.

[suitanim]

The stats again hide the same thing for the Pats that they do for the Packers. When the Pack jumps out front, the other teams will starts slinging the ball around...that hurts stats.

[steelreserve]

So what about the stats - they don't tell us anything we don't already know.

Packers: Very good offense, pretty good defense
Patriots: Excellent offense, bad defense
Steelers: Very good offense*, excellent defense**

* subject to the offensive line not taking the day off
** subject to Troy being healthy, and LeBeau not employing the sit-back

Basically, the way I see it, it's an issue of consistency for us; if we play like we're supposed to, we ought to beat either of those teams.

[fansince'76]

Now, I don't particularly give two ****s about power rankings. But I do know that most people consider Green Bay to be the best team in the league, which is well deserved coming off a Super Bowl win and opening the season 7-0.

But, I have watched everyone of Green Bay's games, and without stats to prove it, I didn't think the Packers defense was any better than ours. I thought everything that is said about the Pats defense could easily be said about the Packers defense (can't get off the field on 3rd down, terrible against the pass, decent against the run, hold teams to FG's in the red zone etc...).

Translation: The Patriots are still the bestest, most wonderfulest sports franchise in the history of the known universe, despite losing 3 postseason games in a row and not winning* a Super Bowl in 7 years.

[pepsyman1]

Stats don't really tell the whole story. The Scoreboard reads that the Patriots lost by 8 points, but the game really wasn't that close. What he doesn't get is that the Steelers Offense has a tendency to leave points on the field against every defense this year. Making games closer than what they really are.

Unfortunately, the reality is because we're leaving points on the field the games ARE that close. It's the same thing we dealt with for years with Bill Cowher but with a different cause. Cowher would get conservative when we had a lead and even though he had a lot of success once we got a lead, we rarely put teams away and had to sweat the games right until the end. Now, because we aren't punching it in (even though we appear more aggressive) we still have the same problem. We are leaving teams hanging around that we have outplayed up and down the field. We are currently 9th in offense yardage per game but 19th in scoring. Arians has made some good adjustments so far this year as has Ben. I think it's huge that Ben has worked on 3 step drops, quick decisions and the ability to take the short to medium passes when they are available to him. We need to get better in the redzone so that we aren't depending on defense to hold someone to 16 points so we can get a win. Green Bay is currently outscoring opponents by over 12 points per game, we are currently outscoring by less than 5. We need our guys to finish some of these long drives we've been seeing with TD's and not field goals.

[Craic]

Unfortunately, the reality is because we're leaving points on the field the games ARE that close. It's the same thing we dealt with for years with Bill Cowher but with a different cause. Cowher would get conservative when we had a lead and even though he had a lot of success once we got a lead, we rarely put teams away and had to sweat the games right until the end. Now, because we aren't punching it in (even though we appear more aggressive) we still have the same problem. We are leaving teams hanging around that we have outplayed up and down the field. We are currently 9th in offense yardage per game but 19th in scoring. Arians has made some good adjustments so far this year as has Ben. I think it's huge that Ben has worked on 3 step drops, quick decisions and the ability to take the short to medium passes when they are available to him. We need to get better in the redzone so that we aren't depending on defense to hold someone to 16 points so we can get a win. Green Bay is currently outscoring opponents by over 12 points per game, we are currently outscoring by less than 5. We need our guys to finish some of these long drives we've been seeing with TD's and not field goals.

You know, I keep hearing this 'Leave points on the field.' mantra.

However, the Steelers are dead on average for scoring touchdowns in the redzone, and five percentage points from being in the top ten. So yes, we leave points on the field, but the fact is, so does every team. That is the way football works. I think it's not practical to expect the Steelers to punch it in everytime we are in the redzone.

Am I happy with where we are at? No. But I don't think the issue is as much as redzone offense. Talk about points on the field, we are 30th in field goals. Change one player, and we change the entire look of a game. THAT I think, is where we need to be focused first.

[X-Terminator]

And we care about what a Pats* fan thinks because...?

[pepsyman1]

You know, I keep hearing this 'Leave points on the field.' mantra.

However, the Steelers are dead on average for scoring touchdowns in the redzone, and five percentage points from being in the top ten. So yes, we leave points on the field, but the fact is, so does every team. That is the way football works. I think it's not practical to expect the Steelers to punch it in everytime we are in the redzone.

Am I happy with where we are at? No. But I don't think the issue is as much as redzone offense. Talk about points on the field, we are 30th in field goals. Change one player, and we change the entire look of a game. THAT I think, is where we need to be focused first.

I don't think we are 30th in field goals...we're 13/18 for the year tied for 14th. That's 15 missing points. 6 of the top 10 offenses are also in the top ten in scoring and ALL of the other top 10 offenses are scoring more per game than we are. IF we made all five of those we'd still only be tied for 16th in scoring with Oakland. Green Bay has 25 offensive touchdowns in 7 games we have 18 in 8 games. That's at least another trip into the endzone per game.

[pepsyman1]

There isn't a single semblance of defense going on in this game....lol What happened to Dom Capers? These teams both look absolutely shell shocked on defense.

[GodfatherofSoul]

Did anyone watch that GB vs SD game? Brian Billick was in full-on suckfest mode talking about Rogers. He was even sucking him off on how awesome his INCOMPLETIONS were!!!! Then, the Chargers mounted that 21 point comeback and shut him up for a while. Had Rivers not gifted them 2 stupid pick-6s, they'd have won that game. Green Bay has been playing great, but they're not invulnerable.

[O'Malley]

Did anyone watch that GB vs SD game? Brian Billick was in full-on suckfest mode talking about Rogers. He was even sucking him off on how awesome his INCOMPLETIONS were!!!! Then, the Chargers mounted that 21 point comeback and shut him up for a while. Had Rivers not gifted them 2 stupid pick-6s, they'd have won that game. Green Bay has been playing great, but they're not invulnerable.

This^

[tube517]

The Packers may end up like the Cheats* of 2007. They may win alot of games but their defense might not be able to stop a hot team in the playoffs. It happens.

[steeldevil]

The Packers may end up like the Cheats* of 2007. They may win alot of games but their defense might not be able to stop a hot team in the playoffs. It happens.

Eh... The Cheats D did well in that SB, the Giants D just did better.