got this on yahoo sports

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/byteam?group=Defense&cat=Total&conference=NFC&year=season_2009&sort=1129&old_category=Total&old_group=Defense 

Team G Pts/G Yds/G RushYds/G PassYds/G Int IntTD FFum DefTD Tack PD Sack
Green Bay Packers 15 19.3 290.9 85.7 205.3 27 2 10 3 596 90 37.0
Philadelphia Eagles 15 20.9 310.9 99.7 211.1 24 2 11 4 656 96 42.0
Minnesota Vikings 15 20.3 313.8 90.6 223.2 10 0 18 1 643 58 45.0
New York Giants 15 25.5 314.1 109.6 204.5 13 2 18 3 636 78 32.0
Washington Redskins 15 20.9 316.7 116.6 200.1 10 0 14 0 668 70 39.0
Dallas Cowboys 15 16.7 322.4 94.1 228.3 11 1 15 1 616 84 37.0
Carolina Panthers 15 19.9 322.7 125.7 196.9 21 1 19 1 668 64 31.0
Chicago Bears 15 23.5 337.0 128.1 208.9 12 1 20 1 692 50 33.0
San Francisco 49ers 15 18.3 340.9 97.7 243.2 18 1 21 3 662 66 36.0
Arizona Cardinals 15 19.5 346.5 113.0 233.5 20 1 11 1 674 87 42.0
Atlanta Falcons 15 21.0 358.4 111.4 247.0 13 1 16 3 675 59 27.0
New Orleans Saints 15 21.2 359.8 118.5 241.3 26 5 12 8 688 83 33.0
Seattle Seahawks 15 24.9 359.9 109.5 250.4 12 2 10 3 678 65 28.0
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 15 25.3 363.5 156.5 206.9 17 2 8 2 710 64 27.0
St. Louis Rams 15 27.2 375.7 138.4 237.3 8 1 13 1 701 47 22.0
Detroit Lions 15 30.5 390.4 125.0 265.4 9 2 15 3 633 67 24.0



Last updated through games completed on Dec 28, 2009

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What really matters is PA. Yards are irrelevant. You want proof? OK.

SB winners in the 2000s:

So 2006 and 2007 were aberrations. There's no coincidence that 4 times in the past decade, the SB winner had the #1 D and 7 out of 9 times were in the top 7.

We are currently #9. The Jets are #1. Maybe Favre should have stayed on the Jets. :downtown:

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What the points statistic doesn't separate is, HOW the points were scored. In otherwords, the 2 safeties the Vikings got on us, do they count as points allowed by defense? How about INT returns for a TD? Fumble return? Kickoffs? Punts?

TRhat is why the total yards allowed is a good stat to guage the defensive prowess. And leading the league in TO ratio doesn't hurt.

That is why I like our chances.

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Yes, points surrendered by turnovers or STs still go into that big number. However, in most cases, they're a fraction of the total points and year by year, they don't mean much in the difference between teams.

Total yards really don't mean that much. If you got a 28-3 lead going into the 4th Q, I can almost guarantee you that the opposing O will get lots of yards. So what? You'll still walk away with a W.

Or yet another example. I still remember when Lynn Dickey threw for 400+ yards. It was a huge deal at the time as back then, very few people threw for 400+ yards. We only got 14 points.

So if we allow 500 yards but takeaway the ball before they score, it's irrelevant. Points is everything. Yards - nice to have.

So now let's revisit SB winners in the 00s. This time, yards are the ranking:


Goes to show that Yards isn't as much an argument for "Defense wins championships" as Points.

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? All but two of those teams are tops in yards allowed(same as points, all but two in the top ten), i don't see how that makes it an irrelevant factor. If anything that supports idea that being high in yards allowed is a good indicating factor of success as well.

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It's actually a huge deal to give up few yards. It usually means you are getting the ball back quickly. Early in the year our special teams and offense was putting our D in impossible situations.

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Earthquake - For SB winners in the 00s, there were 4 that were #1 in PA. Only 2 #1 in Yards Allowed. All but 2 teams were in the top 6 in PA. For Yards Allowed, they're all over the place.

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The bottom line for the Packers is the huge difference in the points they have allowed when they win vs. when they lose.

In 10 wins they gave up a total of 116 points or 11.6 PA.

In 5 losses they gave up a total of 174 points or 34.8 PA.

The good news for the Packers is that they only gave up 30+ one time in the second half of the season and are definately playing better overall than the first half of the year.

So while past stats for total years find the victors I think it's safe to be pretty confident of how we are playing NOW. The #1 PA team this year is fighting for their lives just to get into the playoffs (Jets) and I like how we are doing vs. teams like the Saints and Vikes right now.

Arizona wasn't even on the map last year in PA and they were one play away from SB Champs and quite honestly if you look at this too closely you disregard teams like the Saints and Colts whose PA aint to hot but their QB's are.

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7/9 in the top 10 isn't quite what i would call all over the place =)
I think its pretty clear that yardage against is a consistent measurement of success, less so than points of course but hardly irrelevant.

There is really only one team on that list that had hugely inconsistent yards vrs points stats, and that is NE in 2002 at 6th in points and 24 in yards. While possible i think it is very very hard to give up a huge amount of yards but a small amount of points, it happens but it is much more the exception than the rule.

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Heres a quick look at yards vrs points with one game left to play in 09. Of the top 10 teams in yards allowed you'll see there is only one team (Giants) that have a huge discrepancy between yards and points, and the top 5 teams in yards are all top 10 in points.

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