Factoid
Looking at team defenses right now, seeing how each team has performed the last couple of years in terms of sacks, takeaways, and defensive and special teams touchdowns. Most top performers are unsurprising: Philadelphia, which has one of the league's best pass rushes, and Green Bay, with its opportunistic secondary.
Then there's Tampa Bay, which has more defensive and special teams touchdowns over the last two seasons than anyone but those two teams. It's especially unusual considering that while Philadelphia and Green Bay have both ranked in the top 3 in takeaways and top 12 in sacks in both seasons -- the kind of plays that tend to yield defensive touchdowns -- the Bucs have been only slightly above average in takeaways (10th last season) and haven't ranked higher than 16th in sacks since the year Warren Sapp signed with Oakland; they've been in the 20s the last two seasons.
Part of Tampa Bay's favorable ranking is kick returns; they have 4 over the last two seasons. But even removing special teams scores from the equation, only one other team (Baltimore, 9) has more defensive touchdowns than Tampa Bay (8).
Total defensive and special teams touchdowns over the last two years are presented below.
Tot 09 08 Team
13 4 9 Green Bay
13 6 7 Philadelphia
12 5 7 Tampa Bay
12 9 3 New Orleans
10 4 6 Baltimore
10 4 6 NY Jets
9 3 6 Arizona
9 3 6 Chicago
9 5 4 San Diego
8 5 3 Kansas City
8 4 4 San Francisco
8 4 4 Tennessee
7 2 5 Buffalo
7 4 3 Cincinnati
7 4 3 Cleveland
7 4 3 Houston
7 3 4 Indianapolis
7 3 4 Minnesota
7 4 3 NY Giants
7 3 4 Seattle
6 3 3 Atlanta
6 4 2 Denver
6 4 2 Miami
6 3 3 Pittsburgh
5 3 2 Dallas
5 0 5 Oakland
4 3 1 Detroit
4 3 1 New England
3 1 2 Carolina
3 0 3 Jacksonville
2 1 1 St. Louis
1 0 1 Washington
--Andy Richardson
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