Quote:
Originally Posted by an23dy
You originally said the Eagles have an undeniably better defense than us. I don't understand how you can say that. Maybe you really are sure in your mind of that, but I'm not sold on that at all. I think it would be much easier to say the Eagles offense is better than the Redskins offense and our special teams was nothing special. And if that's the case then how did we beat them twice? From the games that I watched I remember our defense outplaying them.
And in terms of turnovers you're only looking at the one side of it. The Redskins were the ONLY team in the NFL last year to never give up more than 27 points in a game. That's consistency and that may not be flashy and get media attention about the defense on NFL Live or Sportscenter or have guys like Dawkins acting like an animal or the fat Williams guys getting in trouble with water pills and Jared Allen doing vitamin water commercials or any Pro Bowlers, but I think if people actually watched the games and paid attention to the defense they would see it differently. Also people don't look at the turnovers in terms of we were always in close games last year so teams didn't have to take any risks against us. When your offense can get you a lead (28th in points) other teams have to take more chances in order to catch up, which causes more turnovers.
I think our offense was really bad and we got unlucky losing some close games. Also, just because you're a top 5 defense it doesn't mean you automatically make the playoffs. I could argue we were the 4th best defense so I just don't see how you can be so sure those other 5 were better than us.
But all I was really saying is there's a lot more of what goes into how good a defense is than just the stats you're using. You gotta think about what offenses they play, what their offense does (if they keep putting the defense in bad positions), and a whole lot of other stuff that you can't just average with stats. Just because a team is 10th in interceptions, 10th in yards, 10th in yards allowed per drive, etc, it doesn't mean they're the 10th best defense. There are a lot of important factors not related to the team defensive statistics. I think it's more of an opinion than a statistical analysis.
|
Calling the offense "really bad" as opposed to something more rooted in what they actually were (slow-moving, turnover-averse, and lacking big play scoring ability) is a necessary justification to explaining how we could only be 8-8 with an elite defense. Of course, once you come to the realization that the defense was less-than-elite, in pretty much every possible way, then it becomes easier to accept the offense for what it was, and not have this justification dilemma with our record.
Philadelphia played 12 games against the same teams in the same locations as we did. They basically played the same schedule as us. Despite the slow moving, drive-limiting nature of our playing style, they STILL managed to give up fewer total yards, and points than us, while forcing more turnovers. They were undeniably better. Continuing to deny it is pretty crazy, considering the 4th ranking in pts against and yards against you hold so dearly is one behind the Eagles, and their scores in that category are far more legitimate, thanks to having faced more opponent drives than we did.