Defense back to form in numbers

After tonight's 12 points, our team's defense for the season is looking back in form from the last 3 seasons.

Points allowed p/gm: 17.5
Total yards allowed p/gm: 284.9
Total passing yards allowed p/gm: 186.4
Total rushing yards allowed p/gm: 98.5

What does this mean? Well, we're back to our 2014 totals for the most part. Allowing ~2 more points per game, with a bit more rushing yards than last year.

We're back to #3 in the league on points allowed, behind Green Bay and Denver, with their game tonight TBD.

Things are starting to feel right again

Got to open up the offense! The offensive line did their job today.
Wilson needs to spend the bye week working on timing patterns with Graham and Lockett.

Russ Willstrong":2ym8oecz said:

Got to open up the offense! The offensive line did their job today.
Wilson needs to spend the bye week working on timing patterns with Graham and Lockett.

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definitely. but there's a lot of positives to take here.

our defense is playing REALLY well. not historic, but they're #3 in many categories.

our offensive line has been looking less...offensive out there.

Jimmy Graham is getting involved and it's paying dividends.

going into the bye week, i'm very positive on the direction this team is headed

It helps playing the craptastic 49ers and a Cowboys team without Romo, playing with a clearly not 100% Bryant.

But we will take it. 2 straight road wins is great.

Russ Willstrong":2klq0kd0 said:

Got to open up the offense! The offensive line did their job today.
Wilson needs to spend the bye week working on timing patterns with Graham and Lockett.

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and PRich.

FlyingGreg":6hkeufjw said:

It helps playing the craptastic 49ers and a Cowboys team without Romo, playing with a clearly not 100% Bryant.

But we will take it. 2 straight road wins is great.

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I believe they have played 3 games now where the opponent did not score a single TD. No matter who you play that is hard to do.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/kpelton/status/660982559233282048[/tweet]

When half of the games in the league allowing less than 100 yards passing were because of your defense, you're doing something right.

I noticed they mentioned it on tv that we were the third overall defense at the beginning of the game. Also, the other good defenses play garbage teams as well, we're not the only ones.

Yeah, we're really awesome against backup QBs.

Keep in mind, we've also played more games than a lot of teams. We're closer to the back end of the bye's. So, total points are actually lower, and when the other teams play that extra game, it's likely their PPG goes up.

We're in a pretty good spot. We're close to where we were last year, but we're getting more sacks. We're also lower in turnovers, but I think that will come with consistent pressure on the QB.

Arizona is coming up. They're averaging 32.9 ppg. If we can keep them to our defensive average, we have a really good shot at winning that game. Also, Palmer is playing really well, but he'll still throw up INT's. He likes to push the ball down the field, and tried to fit it into smaller windows at times. It makes for some amazing throws, but that ball is up there, waiting for an INT.

I'll be fully back on board with the defense if we punch the Cards in the mouth.

Yes the D has looked good, but against two dumpster fire offenses.

We're by far the best secondary the Cards have faced this season. I expect Palmer to have pedestrian numbers especially since our defense is very healthy right now.

Weird season for the Hawks so far, just in that five of their eight games have been against what's probably five of the worst eight offenses in the NFL by DVOA (Rams, 49ers, and Detroit confirmed, and the Cowboys without Romo and Bears with Clausen definitely fall in that bottom 8 too).

That said, on the other side of the coin three of their eight games have come against teams with top 10 offenses. They just haven't reallly gone up against an average offense yet.

FWIW:

Against the 1st, 4th. and 9th ranked offense they've given up 27 PPG. If they played Top 10 offenses every week they'd be tied with Cleveland for 26th in the league for defensive PPG.

Against five of the worst eight offenses in the NFL, they're giving up 12 PPG. If they played Bottom 10 offenses every week they'd be the top ranked defense in the NFL by a pretty wide margin.

I think the takeaway would be that the Hawks D is really beating up bad offenses, and getting beaten up by good offenses, but the degree to which they're beating up bad offenses outweighs the degree to which they're getting beaten up by good offenses. Or, put another way, so far they definitely seem to be an above average defense, although so far not as dominant as they've been in the past.

This is how we use numbers to get to what we already know. :lol:

I trust our defense, I think they games we've lost they have been on the field too much. If the offense can start sustaining drives and moving the ball the D can hang with any team in the league. Biggest test will be the next game against the Cards.

I would also say, that we've given up big points to the Rams and the Packers, but we were missing top level talent in the defense.

Now that all the guys are back, healthy, and in game shape, the defense is looking a lot better. Arizona is going to be the litmus test for sure. If we don't win that game, it's likely we won't get to the playoffs. Minnesota then becomes a MUST win.

Seahawk Sailor":7h4vk9w1 said:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/kpelton/status/660982559233282048[/tweet]

When half of the games in the league allowing less than 100 yards passing were because of your defense, you're doing something right.

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People keep pointing out that our Defense was dominant against crappy teams, but when you look at stats like this it is hard to not be impressed at least a little bit. In the NFL, it is hard to hold teams to yardage that low.

HawkFan72":1alzz8j4 said:

People keep pointing out that our Defense was dominant against crappy teams, but when you look at stats like this it is hard to not be impressed at least a little bit. In the NFL, it is hard to hold teams to yardage that low.

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For real. If these teams are so bad, why isn't everyone holding them to such low passing yardage?

Regardless who you are playing, their D has been very stingy the last couple games.

I wonder what the defensive stats would be if you only count the first 3 quarters of each game