rafaelgreco
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https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-defense-rankings/
While offenses control destiny in the modern NFL, it’s impossible to win the Super Bowl without a defense performing at a high level. The San Francisco 49ers made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game on the backs of their defense after seeing three different quarterbacks go down, and their opponents, the Philadelphia Eagles, may have had the most complete unit in the NFL.
With that in mind, it makes sense for teams hoping to catch up to the elite offenses to make defensive investments. That’s why we produced our 2023 NFL defense rankings.
Defensive performance is much more difficult to project than offensive performance. Defensive performance is unstable from year to year when compared to offensive performance — there is no quarterback on the defense who helps define the unit. Not only that, individual players on defense have more volatile performances from year to year — a cornerback is more likely to fall back down to earth next year than a quarterback by a substantial margin.
As an example, the top defenses in EPA per play from 2021 were Buffalo, New Orleans, Dallas, New England, and Tampa Bay. Those defenses ranked seventh, 10th, second, third, and 11th in 2022. Last year’s top defense, San Francisco, ranked 14th in 2021. The Eagles ranked fourth in 2022 and 17th in 2021.
While offenses control destiny in the modern NFL, it’s impossible to win the Super Bowl without a defense performing at a high level. The San Francisco 49ers made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game on the backs of their defense after seeing three different quarterbacks go down, and their opponents, the Philadelphia Eagles, may have had the most complete unit in the NFL.
With that in mind, it makes sense for teams hoping to catch up to the elite offenses to make defensive investments. That’s why we produced our 2023 NFL defense rankings.
Defensive performance is much more difficult to project than offensive performance. Defensive performance is unstable from year to year when compared to offensive performance — there is no quarterback on the defense who helps define the unit. Not only that, individual players on defense have more volatile performances from year to year — a cornerback is more likely to fall back down to earth next year than a quarterback by a substantial margin.
As an example, the top defenses in EPA per play from 2021 were Buffalo, New Orleans, Dallas, New England, and Tampa Bay. Those defenses ranked seventh, 10th, second, third, and 11th in 2022. Last year’s top defense, San Francisco, ranked 14th in 2021. The Eagles ranked fourth in 2022 and 17th in 2021.
