NelsonsLongCatch
Cheesehead
Oh ye of little faith
I'm a realist... When that happens to a team in the playoffs, it's bad news.
Oh ye of little faith
Damn right, but that was last yearI'm sure you all agreed with the playoff structure last year.
Thanks for your responses everyone. I see there are some mixed feelings on the issue.
I also see a lot of people inaccurately pin-pointing GB's defense as worse in the league. There's never been a day and hopefully never will be when a team's yards will ever determine the outcome of the game nor the strength of a defense or offense. Games are won by points, not yards and yards stats do not override points stats. GB's defense is ranked 22nd in points allowed and 4th in yards per point efficiency. It's similar to the Patriots and what makes their defense so good. Yards are far down the list as far as being able to accurately evaluate an NFL defense. Despite perception that may be fueled by TV and overused inaccurate statistics, the fact is it's pretty much impossible for a team to outscore another without both a good defense and offense, unless they always win games on their last offensive possession.
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I've made the point that points allowed is THE defensive stat since that’s how games are determined, so I certainly agree with that point. However I disagree with your assertion that the Packers had “one of the top defenses in the league”. What I would point to first is the eyeball test. You, like every other Packers fan, saw opposing QBs have way too much time to throw, time after time throughout the season. And you saw that happen far too often on critical third downs. As to your point about point differential I would suggest that was due almost entirely to the Packers’ prolific offense. But the eyeball test is the essence of subjectivity so that probably won’t do for someone citing the Simpson Paradox.Games are won by points, not yards and yards stats do not override points stats. GB's defense is ranked 22nd in points allowed and 4th in yards per point efficiency… GB would have not been able to outscore their opponents by a 201 point differential if they didn't have one of the top defenses in the league.
The defense certainly excelled in taking the ball away and penalties, which were a problem on both sides of the ball a few years ago are no longer a big problem. (McCarthy did indeed “get that fixed”.) But look at the first and third paragraphs. They both speak to the notion that the Packers 2011 defense was anything but at or near the top of the league.Probably the leading indicator of pass defense is average gain per pass allowed (net yards divided by attempts and sacks). One year after ranking third, the Packers crashed to 32nd… At the same time, the Packers led the league in interceptions with 31, eight more than anyone else and the most in Green Bay since 1955… The Packers had just 18 defensive penalties, fewest in the NFL. Green Bay ranked 26th in third-down defense, 20th in red-zone defense. Foes completed an astonishing 73 passes for 20 yards or more.
Of course the missed tackles stat – almost 9 per game – and the first down stat relate to the entire defense, not just the rush D; they just appeared in that paragraph. But they too indicate the D was not good, let alone very good.Green Bay finished 14th in yards allowed (111.8), a mark helped immensely by the fact that most teams were behind and had no choice other than to throw. Only four defenses faced fewer rushes than Green Bay's 383. The Packers' yield of 4.67 per rush ranked 26th… The Packers were a terrible defense on first down, giving up 6.82 per play to rank ahead of only New England. There were 140 missed tackles.