how #1 defense is figured

i cant imagine that im alone in this. i think the way they judge the #1 defense is bogus. they judge it on yards allowed.

to me that means very little. it should be based on points allowed per game, sacks and turnovers.

the Steelers are 7th in points allowed per game.

they are 29th in int's.

they are 25th in fumble recoveries.

they are 22 in sacks.

that doesnt look like a top rated defense to me.

i know the offense has struggled, but how often does the defense put the offense in good filed position. last week against the Chargers the offense was starting inside their own 20 all game. a bunch of times they were inside their own 10. so they are punting deep in their own territory and the other team is getting a short field.

that to me that is the main reason that the defense is #1 in total yards which is what their #1 ranking is based on. the offense is starting with bad field position a lot due to lack of forced turnovers or terrible special teams and penalties. so they punt, the other team has a short field to go and they are putting up points without having to get a bunch of yards.

im not putting the loses on the defense, but people need to stop blaming the offense for everything and pointing at the defenses #1 ranking. this is not a top defense i dont care what their ranking is. im watching the games and they dont force any turnovers or get any sacks.

they have 7 ints and 5 fumble recoveries. this will be the second year in a row that they have less takeaways than games played.

the offense needs to get their heads out of the asses as well, but they suck due to a team effort.

 

Poor field position, at least in the SD game, was solely the offense's fault.
You won't get field position if you never get a 1st down.

 

I agree, Yds allowed is but a single indication of a teams defense. Scoring allowed HAS to be included but in my opinion FGs need to be removed from that stat. I'm on the fence with turnovers though.

Cajun-

 

if the defense can hold a team to 5 or 6 field goals instead of td's than they did their job.

the fact that this defense doenst create any turnovers means that the offense is consistently trying to go the length of the field to score. that plus all the special team penalties that have killed good filed position has not given the offense very many east drives for points.

 

The poor field position was 100% on the offense this past game. We received the ball first and the entire first 29 minutes never moved the ball. We kept giving the Chargers the ball near mid field and the D did a good job at keping them out. The D can't keep them out forever giving them the ball with a short field every time. Get 2 first downs and change the field position. Also I do not understand why we always seem to fair catch the ball inside the 10, used to be you leave it bounce and hope for the best (it can either go forward, backward and be downed or go into the endzone. I take those chances letting it bounce vice a fair catch at the 7 yard line.

I also think points off turn-overs should not count against the defense (like when Ben threw it into Paulsons rear and they scored a TD). Another score came after the offense turning it over inside the 15, and another FG was the result of turning it over on downs in our own territiry.

 

I won't get into where our defence should be ranked, although I will say we're not the best defence in the league, that I know.

Team defence should be rated the same way players are by PFF, give the defence a grade for everything. Grade on run stopping, pass defence, turnovers, hits on the QB, hurries on the QB, sacks, etc. Every aspect of the defensive side of the ball should be graded to come up with the rank. In the end points against is the only thing that matters, but all those things I listed above contribute to points against.

 

I do agree with you that the loss wasn't on the defence (although to me it makes no difference, a loss is a loss regardless of which side of the ball is to blame), but at the same time, sometimes we're going to need our defence to get turnovers. At times we're going to go up against a very good defence, or Ben is going to have a bad game, or we're going to have a lot of injuries on the offensive side of the ball and we'll struggle, etc. It's great that the defence has mostly played well as of late, but it's inexcusable not to be getting pressure on the QB and turnovers. We need to expect more from our defence, just like we should expect more from our offence. Simply limiting yards against isn't good enough, we need turnovers sometimes, or we need a key sack to known them into 3rd and long.

 

i agree. there is no way a defense should be ranked as #1 or # 30 based on just on stat.

 

We all agree yds allowed isn't enough to gauge a teams defensive unit. There needs to be a formula like there is for QB rating but not so complicated. Scoring should be included because stopping points on the board is the ultimate goal of any defense. Here's my issue with FGs...............

Say our defense is totally awesome and has totally shutdown the opposing offense. Our offense is struggling some with turnovers as we've fumbled the ball on our own 25-40 yd lines 4 times. Our defense totally shuts them down BUT their FG unit ( part of their Special Teams ) with their strong legged kicker kicks 4 FGs for a total of 12 points. Then in the 4th QTR Ben throws a nice pass to wallace who ran a lazy rte and the ball was intercepted on the 27yd line. Our defense shuts them down totally again yet the kick another FG giving them 15 points and the win over our 14 points. Our defense toatally shut them down yet the 15 points scored and loss goes against the defense if FGs are allowed in the formula.

I suggest in stead of using points allowed or scoring in figuring a teams defense maybe we should use TDs allowed. Creating Turnovers and getting sacks should also be included. 3rd down % and red zone scoring % could be included but now we're making it too complicated.


Cajun-

 

i'd say the defensive rankings are done by the same guys that do the BCS rankings.

 

I say you make it simpler even than that- just as they report in-game, any points "off turnovers" should not count against the D in the formula; or at least those pts that resulted from a TO within your own territory.

 

a No.1 Defense doesn't allow 30+ points against sub par teams like Raiders or Chargers.

 

So long as the measuring stick never changes between teams I think its a fair assessment

Bman

 

judging a defense based only on yards allowed is a terrible measuring stick. last time i checked the team with the most yards in a game wins. point, points and points. that is what a team should be judged by if the stat gods are going to judge a team by using just 1 stat. otherwise they need to use them all and if they used them all the Steelers defense would probably not even be in the top half.

 

Bottom line I really dont think any of those stats match gameday preparation .. Anything can happen on any given Sunday, Monday or Thursday regardless of TOP, best defense or offense. I dont think stats of any kind are great measurables at predicting outcomes. Having the #1 defense is no good if your not winning games

 

The bigger question should be,
Do you enjoy watching the PGH Steelers defense?
Cmon lets be honest.

 

between nfl defense i enjoy to see houston sanfrancisco and seattle

 

you are so RIGHT we need young nose that can help our LBS AND WE DONT BLIZ ANYMORE EITHER WE LET THEM SIT THERE IN THE POCKET ANT PLAY TOSS TO THERE PLAYERS

 

I also think the rankings are lame as well. It's obvious to us that we are not the d we have been used to lately. I agree with Tomlin that our D was playing "solid". I think without all the turnovers and crazy Troy plays that this defense is actually BORING and maybe that's why we're thinking it's not that good. We have been stopping people and holding people in the red zone somewhat and all that but it's just sorta boring I guess. We tackle. We cover. We sorta make the qb feel like he needs to get rid of it. But we don't get in the backfield every play and get picks and sacks and strips like we are used to. I think if the defense could create more turnovers it would help Haley's system more because it's based on controlling the clock. I mean in the SD game they almost held the ball the whole 3rd quarter. In Denver WE almost held the ball the whole 3rd quarter but then the D didn't stop them and they scored quick and were off to the races. If we had a Cowher era D with a Haley era O who knows how many rings we would have.