How much does good D matter?

[lloydroid]

Here are the remaining play off teams and their D ranking.

SF - 3
Denver - 2
Seattle - 4
Houston - 7
GB - 11
Balt - 17
Atl - 24
NE - 25

As we have discussed, D ranked on yards allowed is not the total picture. I think points allowed is probably the more accurate picture. PPG looks like this.

Seattle - 1
SF - 2
Denver - 4
Atl - 5
NE - 9
Houston - 9 (tied)
NE - 11
Balt - 12

Looking at this list, defense DOES matter. The worst D is Balt. who is still in the upper half of D in the entire league, plus, they are likely to lose next week, meaning the team with the lowest D will not advance. And NE, being just 9th in points per game, have an offense that is insanely wicked, so they can survive a less-than-top rung D. Looking at this, D still matters greatly. Passing offense matters more than ever, but it still does not dominate in terms of making or breaking teams - D does. It's a chain link fence (every team component impacts the over all team) but D is still very critical.

[feltdizz]

women say it's all that matters... well, that's what they tell me!

Baltimore's D is down because they weren't healthy all year. I think they said it was the first time this year Suggs, Reed, Ngata and Ray Ray were all on the field at the same time.

[williar]

It matters when your offense can't score points. When you have a functional, productive offense that can score anytime? Not so much!

[pfelix73]

Defense wins Championships.

[Chadman]

Good Offensive teams come & go, but good Defensive teams seem to consistantly contend at the back end of every season.

[supersteeler]

A great defense gives an average offense more opportunuties to have success, since they are taking the opposing offense off the field.

DEFENSE DE....FENSE!!

[lloydroid]

I still think this list proves that to contend, you better have an above average D. Most SB winners have a strong D. Even the years of SF and their high flying offenses that won still had a solid D. In the years the Pats won, they had a pretty stacked D. As a matter of fact, the Pats teams who have failed to win it all have had lesser Ds than those teams who won rings, even though their offenses were as good as ever.

[ikestops85]

It doesn't matter how good your defense is ... it only matters if you play a 4-3 defense. :stirpot

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