NFL Team Passing Defense Statistics - 2015, yardage...Steelers 28th

[TD's & Beer]

That can't be good.

The season is half over!

Boykin!!!

I don't care which coaches's wife he slept with.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/te...sition/defense

[hawaiiansteeler]

so far the Steelers' pass defense ranks 22nd in passer rating, 25th in yards per attempt and 27th in yards per game...

[Psycho Ward 86]

but but but Boykin will definitely be worse even though he has pedigree

[86WARD]

so far the Steelers' pass defense ranks 22nd in passer rating, 25th in yards per attempt and 27th in yards per game...

Lol...that's actually better than I would have guessed...

[Craic]

I could really care less about those stats. The key, for me, is TDs.

Right now, the Steelers are 15th. But, they're tied with 5 other teams for that spot (11 TDs allowed through the air), and bunched with 9 other teams for the 11th best spot (10-11 TDs allowed through the air). When you add to that, the Steelers are tied for first with 2 TDs allowed in the run game, tiled for 7th for overall TDs allowed, and just two TDs away from being tied for first overall in TDs allowed, I'm pretty happy with this defense.

(And don't forget, we haven't had our bye week yet as almost half the league already has, which tends to skew numbers a little as well.

[ALLD]

Better than "suck", but not much.

[teegre]

Ranked 7th in points allowed per game.

Rivers passed for 501 on Green Bay. I bet he'd give back 200 of those yards in exchange for one more TD.

[steelreserve]

This should come as a surprise to no one. Our pass defense is the Steel Sieve. (Steel Strainer? Steel Collander? I don't know, think of something better).

Ranked 7th in points allowed per game.

... because we're lucky as shit that we haven't had ANY bad turnovers this year. Change that to even average, and I'd love to see where our vaunted scoring defense ends up. Our special teams have also been pretty damn good about not allowing good starting field position.

Yes, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good - but your luck runs out eventually. We need Ben back and the offense to be firing on all cylinders - PRONTO.

[teegre]

... because we're lucky as shit that we haven't had ANY bad turnovers this year. Change that to even average, and I'd love to see where our vaunted scoring defense ends up. Our special teams have also been pretty damn good about not allowing good starting field position.

Yes, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good - but your luck runs out eventually. We need Ben back and the offense to be firing on all cylinders - PRONTO.

Okay... and???

I could just as easily flip that around and say that the offense has sucked for five weeks. Change that to even average, and the scoring defense only gets better.


As far as poo-pooing the ppg stat...

ANALOGY:
Your wife/girlfriend surprises you by wearing a sexy set of lingerie (stockings, boustierre)... would you really complain about the color??? The 2015 Steelers defense is giving up the 7th fewest points in the NFL, but yeah, let's complain about it being red instead of white.


Mind you, I want to revamp the entire secondary next off-season. SS, FS, CB, CB in the draft. That said, honestly, if at the beginning of the season, you told me that the defense would give up the 7th least point in the NFL, I would have taken that in a heartbeat.

SUMMATION:
We can all call the secondary crap, but don't try to act like points allowed isn't a significant stat.

[teegre]

As long as they only give up the 7th fewest points, the secondary could consist of Terry Tate, Paul Crewe, Diet Pepsi Machine, and Eclipse (from Lockdown) for all that I care.

[Count Steeler]

Okay... and???

I could just as easily flip that around and say that the offense has sucked for five weeks. Change that to even average, and the scoring defense only gets better.


As far as poo-pooing the ppg stat...

ANALOGY:
Your wife/girlfriend surprises you by wearing a sexy set of lingerie (stockings, boustierre)... would you really complain about the color??? The 2015 Steelers defense is giving up the 7th fewest points in the NFL, but yeah, let's complain about it being red instead of white.


Mind you, I want to revamp the entire secondary next off-season. SS, FS, CB, CB in the draft. That said, honestly, if at the beginning of the season, you told me that the defense would give up the 7th least point in the NFL, I would have taken that in a heartbeat.

SUMMATION:
We can all call the secondary crap, but don't try to act like points allowed isn't a significant stat.

At the end of the game, it is the only stat that matters. And hopefully you have at least 1 more point than what you gave up.

[hawaiiansteeler]

As long as they only give up the 7th fewest points, the secondary could consist of Terry Tate, Paul Crewe, Diet Pepsi Machine, and Eclipse (from Lockdown) for all that I care.

here is my analogy of why I somewhat disagree:

I coach soccer and if my defense is not doing its proper job the other team is going to get a lot of shots on goal and always be in our end of the field. we may be only giving up one goal a game because the other team is missing its shots, but I don't want to continue to rely on them missing. at some point it's just a matter of time that they will make some of those shots and the other team will be scoring more points again us.

[steelreserve]

Okay... and???

I could just as easily flip that around and say that the offense has sucked for five weeks. Change that to even average, and the scoring defense only gets better.


As far as poo-pooing the ppg stat...

ANALOGY:
Your wife/girlfriend surprises you by wearing a sexy set of lingerie (stockings, boustierre)... would you really complain about the color??? The 2015 Steelers defense is giving up the 7th fewest points in the NFL, but yeah, let's complain about it being red instead of white.


Mind you, I want to revamp the entire secondary next off-season. SS, FS, CB, CB in the draft. That said, honestly, if at the beginning of the season, you told me that the defense would give up the 7th least point in the NFL, I would have taken that in a heartbeat.

SUMMATION:
We can all call the secondary crap, but don't try to act like points allowed isn't a significant stat.

My point is, it's worked all right so far, but don't expect that to keep up, even for the rest of THIS season.

The offense HAS sucked, but somehow it managed to suck in a way that didn't leave us staring down a short field even once. Like I said, that was lucky as shit.

[86WARD]

As long as they only give up the 7th fewest points, the secondary could consist of Terry Tate, Paul Crewe, Diet Pepsi Machine, and Eclipse (from Lockdown) for all that I care.

Upgrade. Wouldn't happen.

[ALLD]

Upgrade. Wouldn't happen.

Maybe they will play Boykin once he gets out of solitary confinement.

[teegre]

@hawaiiansteeler
@steelreserve

Good points. I'll counter later on. I logged on to respond, while in line to buy a thousand sq ft of spider webbing. But, really I have no time to respond... because, my kids awoke at 4:30 ready for Halloween... and so, we'be been playing trick-or-treat (they ring the doorbell, I give them candy, repeat).

And... the boy I just knocked over a skeleton display. Gotta go.

(Again, good posts.)

[TeeTee]

As long as they only give up the 7th fewest points, the secondary could consist of Terry Tate, Paul Crewe, Diet Pepsi Machine, and Eclipse (from Lockdown) for all that I care.

- - - Updated - - -

here is my analogy of why I somewhat disagree:

I coach soccer and if my defense is not doing its proper job the other team is going to get a lot of shots on goal and always be in our end of the field. we may be only giving up one goal a game because the other team is missing its shots, but I don't want to continue to rely on them missing. at some point it's just a matter of time that they will make some of those shots and the other team will be scoring more points again us.

Yea, I feel the same way as well. In these last 5 game, we have been lucky we didn't get scored more on. Look at the AZ game; we should have been blown out of the water by halftime.

[Craic]

here is my analogy of why I somewhat disagree:

I coach soccer and if my defense is not doing its proper job the other team is going to get a lot of shots on goal and always be in our end of the field. we may be only giving up one goal a game because the other team is missing its shots, but I don't want to continue to rely on them missing. at some point it's just a matter of time that they will make some of those shots and the other team will be scoring more points again us.

That's not exactly the same. You're saying that that the only reason we won is because the opposing QBs couldn't throw the ball straight in the Red Zone, or the WRs couldn't catch it in the Red Zone (the equal of shooting but missing the goal).

To stay with your analogy, its more like our defense is able to tackle the ball when the other team is in close, or they're able to get in front and block shots, force shots wide, and when they other team does get through, the keeper is smart enough to know when to challenge for the ball. Sure, there are times when a ball is struck wrong (bad pass in football), but that's also part of the game.

[hawaiiansteeler]

That's not exactly the same. You're saying that that the only reason we won is because the opposing QBs couldn't throw the ball straight in the Red Zone, or the WRs couldn't catch it in the Red Zone (the equal of shooting but missing the goal).

To stay with your analogy, its more like our defense is able to tackle the ball when the other team is in close, or they're able to get in front and block shots, force shots wide, and when they other team does get through, the keeper is smart enough to know when to challenge for the ball. Sure, there are times when a ball is struck wrong (bad pass in football), but that's also part of the game.

you make a good point but what I'm trying to say is that if you consistently leave guys open, don't get pressure on the QB and don't tackle well it will eventually catch up to you...

[steelreserve]

Well, today we really had a solid effort on D, despite being thrust into some poor situations by turnovers and kicking. Figures that's when we'd blow it by rolling snake eyes on offense. I'm so sick of this team being such a tease, and seemingly EVERY key player suffering a serious injury. What a bunch of horseshit.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Well, today we really had a solid effort on D

yes, our D played very well today. what a shame to waste such a good effort.

the Saints on the other hand give up 49 points and still win...

[teegre]

here is my analogy of why I somewhat disagree:

I coach soccer and if my defense is not doing its proper job the other team is going to get a lot of shots on goal and always be in our end of the field. we may be only giving up one goal a game because the other team is missing its shots, but I don't want to continue to rely on them missing. at some point it's just a matter of time that they will make some of those shots and the other team will be scoring more points again us.

Good point.

Here's the thing. As the field shortens, the secondary is no longer scared to get beat deep. Hence, they can play closer and break up passes. The 10 yard cushion suddenly disappears; opposing QBs have to be more accurate; and, FGs are forced.

LeBeau used this philosophy to a T.

If you you force a team to take 10 plays to get into field goal range, somewhere along the way, one of your playmakers (Polamalu, Harrison... Heyward, Tuitt) is bound to make a splash play. If not, worst case: you give up a FG.

- - - Updated - - -

My point is, it's worked all right so far, but don't expect that to keep up, even for the rest of THIS season.

The offense HAS sucked, but somehow it managed to suck in a way that didn't leave us staring down a short field even once. Like I said, that was lucky as shit.

If the offense could manage to score (even FGs), the defense (which is holding teams to FGs) would be able to force the opposition to become one-dimensional. Instead, the Steelers fall slightly behind, which allows the opposition to dictate which plays they run.

More importantly, the defense is gassed by the second half... and, in turn, instead of giving up FGs, they're giving up TDs.