Redskin Defenses: 2009 vs 2010

[Red_One43]

When you look at the defensive rankings 2009, rated #10 and the 2010, rated 31st. It appears that our defense dropped off drastically. Many fans on THN lamented and continue to lament on how much our defense dropped off because of the 3-4. My conclusion: Yes, our 2010 defense did drop off significantly in yardage and we all know why. - No line - No Run stoppage and no pass rush.

Though there was a significant drop of in yardage there wasn't a drop off in the overall play of the 2010 defense which was good enough to keep us competitive in 14 of 16 games and have 2nd half leads in two out of the 4 double digit losses. Our 10 ranked defense in 2009, really wasn't as good as the ranking would indicate. Thus the 4-12 record. The 2009 D was not a turnover producing D and failed to stop offenses on crucial drives. Check out the stats below and see what you think

I have underlined the best stat. I also looked at the offense to see if one defense had more help from the offense or more hurt. My conclusion - the help was about the same, but the 2010 O hurt our 2010 Defense with 5 more turnovers than the 2009 O.

My goal with this post is to show that our D overall did not drop as far as many believe and that we are not as far off from a major improvement in defensive play as some believe. All is not doom for next season and the improvements on the D hardly point signs to a Suck for Luck mentality.

Rankings - NFL bases defenserankings on average yards per game given up

2009 - 10th
2010 - 31st

Yards Per Game

2009 - 320
2010 - 389

Rush Yards Per Game

2009 - 112 rank 16
2010 - 128 rank 26

Pass Yards Per Game

2009 - 207 rank 8
2010 - 262 rank 31
Points Allowed Rank

2009- 18
2010 - 21

Points Allowed

2009 - 336
2010 - 377

Turnovers Caused

2009 - 32
2010 - 38

Sacks

2009 - 40 rank 8
2010 - 29 rank 25

Defense TDs Scored

2009 - 0
2010 - 2

Team Records

2009 4-12
2010 6 -10

OT Game Losses

2009 - 1 vs Saints
2010 - 1 vs Texans

Nearly identical played games with the Redkins leading both games in the 4th quater and missing crucial FGs

Losses by 7 or less

2009 - 7 of 12 loses by 7 points or less - 58%
2010 - 6 of 10 losses by 7 or less points - 60%

Gave up 30 - 39 points

2009 - 2
2010 - 5

Gave up 40 or more

2009 - 1
2010 - 1

Gave up 18-29 points

2009 - 6
2010 - 1

Gave up 0 - 17 points ( The Recognized threshold of a good defense is to hold poopsition to 17 points of less)

2009 - 7
2010 - 9

Pro Bowlers

2009 - Fletcher, Orakpo
2010 - Fletcher, Orakpo, Hall

Offensive Partner's Help and Hurt

Helps

2009 - offense ranked 22
2010 - offense ranked 18

Off Scoring rank

2009 - 26th
2010 - 25th

Offense Points

2009 - 266
2010 - 302

HURTS

Offense Commited Turnovers

2009 - 28
2010 - 33

TDs given up by Off

2009 - 4* and two safeties
2010 - 3 **

* 2009 - The Skins had a quirky TD scored against them in 2009 vs. the Saints. Kareem Moore INT results in Saint WR Meacham's 44 yrd TD fumble return. On NFL.com, it was not credited to the defense. It officially went down as a score by the Saint's defense. I chose not to include it, because my stats are showing how the offense as partners hurt the defenses Clearly this TD was not the offense's fault. The score still went against the defense's ppg avg.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/200912060 ... #tab:watch

** 2010 - 1 Punt Return TD for against ST. NFL includes this stat as a points scored against the offense. I chose not to include in for the same reason as the Saint TD.

[KazooSkinsFan]

2009 we had a better 4-3 defense which was playing a 3-4 defense. Now we have a 3-4 defense. Our 2010 D will play a 3-4 better then our 2009 defense did, but our 2009 defense would have played better defense if it were playing the 4-3 then our 2010 defense will.

[SkinsJock]

When you look at the defensive rankings 2009, rated #10 and the 2010, rated 31st. It appears that our defense dropped off drastically. Many fans on THN lamented and continue to lament on how much our defense dropped off because of the 3-4. My conclusion: Yes, our 2010 defense did drop off significantly in yardage and we all know why. - No line - No Run stoppage and no pass rush.

Though there was a significant drop of in yardage there wasn't a drop off in the overall play of the 2010 defense which was good enough to keep us competitive in 14 of 16 games and have 2nd half leads in two out of the 4 double digit losses. Our 10 ranked defense in 2009, really wasn't as good as the ranking would indicate. Thus the 4-12 record. The 2009 D was not a turnover producing D and failed to stop offenses on crucial drives.

My goal with this post is to show that our D overall did not drop as far as many believe and that we are not as far off from a major improvement in defensive play as some believe. All is not doom for next season and the improvements on the D hardly point signs to a Suck for Luck mentality.

personally I would agree that the 2009 D was not as good as the stats indicated and the 2010 defense was just not 'managed' properly

I do believe the defense is not far off and am glad that we seem to be heading in a direction that is basically a 3-4 but will show a lot of other defensive formations as well

our main issue here is NOT on the defensive side of the ball - our defense will continue to improve - we have the makings of a good defense here now

the O line takes a long time to get it together and we have to replace everyone who was a part of the O line in 2009

[riggofan]

personally I would agree that the 2009 D was not as good as the stats indicated and the 2010 defense was just not 'managed' properly

That's a good way to put it. I haven't looked at the stats that closely, but what you're saying feels about right.

[SkinsJock]

There are a lot of cliches associated with our game and I don't like the way that stats are so highly regarded - baseball is a statistics driven sport IMO - the NFL (media & fans alike) do not seem to place enough importance on momentum and desire to be better - INTANGIBLES



HOWEVER - I will say that I do agree with one adage

good teams can run the ball when they want to and stop the run when they have to