The defensive rank I care about is the amount of points we allow, which is a bit above average right now. We held the Vikings to 7 and Lions to 8. (before giving up a late garbage time TD) Obviously there is still room to improve on the defense, but getting Neal back to add to the defensive line rotation and hopefully getting Zombo back healthy to rotate with Walden will help some and keep our guys fresh. Obviously, even under the best case scenarios the defense will not be better than it was a year ago, but the offense is vastly improved as well. If the offense can keep up it's production and the defense even gets slightly better, we've got a good chance to repeat imo. We won't be staring at 3 straight road games in the playoffs like a year ago. Probably just two home games to get back to the Super Bowl which in and of itself is a big plus.

Originally Posted by: RainX 

No worries RP. If you like stats, you'll love NSD's thread on what really matters - the difference in offensive passer rating vs defensive passer rating.

Right now, we are #1 in Points Differential and I wouldn't be surprised if we're also #[img]null[/img]1 in the difference between offensive passer rating and defensive passer rating. If we're #1 in both categories, the NFL shouldn't bother finishing the season. They should just hand us the Lombardi Trophy.

Originally Posted by: zombieslayer 

Here is our ranking this week. The Texans are down to 3rd string QB. They may have some difficulty keeping that rating up.

Currently the Packers D is 8th at 78.1. The Bears are at 78.0 and SF is at 75.7.

Personally, I think the only thing wrong with the Packers D is that they have not had to play any close games where they had to step up for the whole game. They always have a huge lead going into the 4th quarter. When they have needed it, they have gotten it. It is just that when we really need it, we jump from down by 13 to up by 17 and we hold that until the 4th quarter when the other team starts running out of time.

Not that it is a problem or a lack of urgency. It is a scheme issue. We are playing soft and waiting for picks, keeping everything in front of them and off the boundary to keep the clock running. We don't need to force 3 and outs because we don't need to hurry up and score points to catch up. Opponents can burn up all the clock they want trying to catch us. We don't care.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister