The Current #1 seed in both conferences are the two "worst" defenses in the NFL

[strngplyr]

The mantra "defense wins championships" has been brainwashed into all of our heads, lol. The chart clearly refutes that claim showing the most balanced teams win more times than not and occasionally lopsided teams win having more dominate O's or D's.

YDs allowed is a deceptive stat, passing yards can accumulated quickly during a game especially with prevent defenses. We're 10th on rushing YDs allowed, this is interesting because rushing yards can usually kill more clock than passing YDs with 3-6 yrd gains on long sustained drives.

If teams like the pats and GB allowed more rushing yards they'd likely be a victim of the ground and pound come playoff time. I'm assuming covering that aspect of the D forces a shootout that both teams are built for, having the advantage.

You could probably argue our run D is the 10th ranked because of how often teams choose to pass on us.

Opponents have 485 pass attempts and 292 rush attempts at 4.2 ypc. 193 more pass attempts than rush attempts.


...gotta admit when I looked at those numbers I was pretty surprised. Says two things to me, teams are playing catch-up and they know they can easily dink and dunk passing all day.

 

[IllegalContact]

The NfL is always comprised of a bunch of haves and have not teams.

But many of the haves seemed to have morphed into the 2003 Indy Colts.

well, this is why eitehr the steelers, ravens, or texans will represent the AFC in the superbowl. they're the ones who have the defense also

as for the NFC, don't be surprised to see the 9ers knock everyone off

the fact is, even a guy of the street with a few days practice can put up 375 yards on the pats......now add to the fact that teams like houston and the ravens can also pound the ball and their defenses have already proven the ability to disrupt brady....last year's recipe all over again

 

[andrewgarrr]

the fact is, even a guy of the street with a few days practice can put up 375 yards on the pats......now add to the fact that teams like houston and the ravens can also pound the ball and their defenses have already proven the ability to disrupt brady....last year's recipe all over again

Patriots have a recipe to combat that type of defense. In fact they had the recipe to beat it last year.

BJGE

I think if the Patriots can run the ball successively on first and second down in the first half and the defense keeps the game close until the 4th quarter, the Patriots can beat anybody.