TheOak

Lots of debate from people picking a side instead of addressing which is the reason behind the losses.

I did a very high level fly by on some stats, since most people like to tout that 'defense wins championships' lets put that to a comparison to see which side of the ball needs to be addressed the most.

Eleven Years worth of Super Bowl Winners:
2013 Seahawks Scored 26.1 pts/game allowed 14.4 pts/game
2012 Ravens Scored 24.9 pts/game allowed 21.5 pts/game
2011 Giants Scored 24.6 pts/game allowed 25.0 pts/game
2010 Packers Scored 24.2 pts/game allowed 15.0 pts/game
2009 Saints Scored 31.9 pts/game allowed 21.3 pts/game
2008 Steelers Scored 21.7 pts/game allowed 13.9 pts/game
2007 Giants Scored 23.3 pts/game allowed 21.9 pts/game
2006 Colts Scored 26.7 pts/game allowed 22.5 pts/game
2005 Steelers Scored 24.3 pts/game allowed 16.1 pts/game
2004 Patriots Scored 27.3 pts/game allowed 16.2 pts/game
2003 Patriots Scored 21.8 pts/game allowed 14.9 pts/game


2014 Saints Scoring 29 pts/game allowing 31.5 pts/game

So we are scoring more points per game that every Super Bowl champion in the last decade (except the Saints) and allowing 6.5 more points than any team that made it to and won a Super Bowl in that same period.

The offense is getting it done to at least expectations...
This defense can not get you to or win any championship.

'If we ran the damn ball more' doesn't fix the defense and even if we ran the ball to consume 59 minutes of clock, the defense allowing the other team to score with a minute creates a tie ball game and then its a coin flip as to whether we win or lose.

Reasonable expectation is what we should focus on. Having to score 30+ points per game to win isn't how I categorize reasonable expectation.

This should be interesting.

lee909

If you cant keep a team under 30pts you dont deserve to win is the short answer.

TheOak

Winner winner chicken dinner!

dizzle88

Great post and use of stats

Remember however that the pick 6 Brees threw last week has slightly raised the average as the browns offense only scored 20 points themselves

But still, the defense is pathetic, can't stop a team that starts on their own 5 yard line and are missing their 3 best offensive players

saintsfan1976

Great point of reference Oak. Should (should) get things back on track around here...

Defense has been the problem so far. Can't tell if they're over-confident or under-confident right now. Interviews reveal a shell-shocked group of guys who don't have a real answer.

Danno

From what I've seen of our defense we should be trying to get the other team in a track meet.

One could easily argue we should be more wide open and pass happy in order to outscore the other team. Running eats clock, reduces possessions, keeps the score low.

We can't afford that with this defense. We need to make the other team keep up with us. Attack attack attack.

I do think this defense will get better, there's simply too much talent to play as badly as we have.

lee909

The new rules preventing hard defense has hurt teams like ourselves and the Packers who before thechanges could blow teams away. Now its easier to score it had created more parity, you dont need to be a high powered offense to put up 25pts. You need enough rotation at DE/OLB to keep fresh and put pressure on the QB and create turn overs the way the league is now imo. We only have Byrd who is a ballhawk in the backfield.

TheOak

Yes sir. I did take into account the pick 7 (I count the extra point as well to be fair) but I didn't want to use one game as a reference (not like 2 is much of an improvement on sample size but that's what i have to work with ) So when considering the pick 7 in my head that was spread across 2 games and still left us giving up an average of 28 points per game. Still at least a field goal above any Super Bowl winning team average points given up. Instead of applying that and explaining so everyone understood my logic, i decided that 5 minutes would be more wisely consumed going make coffee.

Oddly enough for every page my post represents my head runs through two pages of content.

What I also ran through.. which is largely how I am wired is the efficiency of improvement to either side.

Example - Could we replace 2 people on offense and immediately expect 7 points more per game? Could we replace 2 people on defense and immediately expect to give up 7 points less per game?

To add 7 points per game to our offense would take a boat load of money and player replacements (inefficient).
To take 7 off of what we allow would be a whole lot easier and cheaper.


Then there is Danno's point. Slowing the game down by running only works if you can effect what the other team does with their possession. If you can't stop them from scoring then you need to score as fast as you can to try and give them as much opportunity to screw up a series of downs and not score.

People seem to miss the point that you can only slow a game down so much.. If you are chunking out 8 YPC in the running game you are not slowing your score down much if any.

Mardigras9

Great stats Oak, can really see the consistant theme there (except for that lucky Giants team). Indeed, this D will not win any championship.

saintsfan1976

Hmmmm.. Increase the tempo to force teams into playing "keep up".

Interesting thought.