Defensive Notes
Perhaps the simplest strategy for selecting a team defense? Follow the sacks. Teams with the best pass rushes each season not only post the best sack totals, but also grade out favorably in terms of turnovers and defensive touchdowns.
Over the last five seasons, no one has been better at forcing sacks than Pittsburgh. Dallas is a close second, while Miami, San Diego and the Giants round out the top 5. The sack totals for NFL teams over the past five seasons are presented below.
Team sack totals, last five seasons
Total 09 08 07 06 05 Team
220 47 51 36 39 47 Pittsburgh
218 42 59 46 34 37 Dallas
212 35 28 42 61 46 San Diego
210 44 40 30 47 49 Miami
200 32 42 53 32 41 NY Giants
199 32 34 32 60 41 Baltimore
199 28 35 45 41 50 Seattle
198 44 48 37 40 29 Philadelphia
195 48 45 38 30 34 Minnesota
186 31 31 47 44 33 New England
185 43 31 36 38 37 Arizona
185 35 28 41 40 41 Chicago
183 32 44 40 26 41 Tennessee
181 37 27 36 46 35 Green Bay
177 31 37 23 41 45 Carolina
167 32 41 29 35 30 NY Jets
167 44 30 31 34 28 San Francisco
166 37 32 27 34 36 Oakland
163 34 30 28 25 46 Indianapolis
162 14 29 37 35 47 Jacksonville
161 28 34 25 37 37 Atlanta
161 39 26 33 35 28 Denver
161 25 30 31 34 41 St. Louis
160 32 24 26 40 38 Buffalo
158 35 28 32 38 25 New Orleans
154 26 30 37 30 31 Detroit
151 30 25 31 28 37 Houston
151 28 29 33 25 36 Tampa Bay
151 40 24 33 19 35 Washington
136 34 17 22 35 28 Cincinnati
136 40 17 28 28 23 Cleveland
130 22 10 37 32 29 Kansas City
--Andy Richardson
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Posted by DAVID DIGREGORIO | Mar. 14 at 11:37 PM
Can you find out if higher sacks correlate with lower scoring?
Posted by ANDY RICHARDSON | Mar. 15 at 12:18 AM
David - Do you mean defensive points allowed? I'm at a different computer right now and don't have the numbers, but my guess is it's not going to be any kind of direct correlation. There are a number of teams that rank high in sacks that I know also are worse than average in terms of points allowed. I suspect Seattle, Chicago, and the Patriots all fall into that category. Washington and Buffalo are two teams that leap out at me that tend to rank favorably in terms of points allowed, but are below-average in sacks.