So far, with the exception of turnover ratio (ranking 1st) we've flip from one of 2020 worst defensive rankings to another one for 2021. In other words, last season we had the league's worst rushing defense ( dead last) and spent the offseason hell-bent on fixing it. The good news is it so far this season, we are ranked 6th rushing yards allowed BUT the bad news, we are dead last passing defense ( 31st ). That is, 31st in total passing yards allowed and passing yards allowed per game.
https://www.lineups.com/nfl-team-rankings/defense
Not trying to be negative Nancy here but a couple of things to keep in mind.....
- Quinn is a former Dline coach
- We are 16th in points allowed per game. IF we can improve this to at least top 10, the 31st yards ranking issue won't matter much. Why? As Belichick says ( many here know I've repeated this a 1000 times) only two defensive stats really impacts the game, turnover ratio and scoring defense ( keeping points off the board).
- What happens if we don't fix the passing yard issue? Look no further than the Panthers letting them back in the game and nearly lost. This has been an issue with his defenses, giving up points late in games
- Also, teams with a good QB AND Oline can put up a lot of points, especially late in the game when your D is tired.
- On January 22, 2017, Quinn's Falcons won the NFC Championship against the Green Bay Packers 44–21, clinching a berth to play in Super Bowl LI against the New England Patriots.[15] Up 21–3 at halftime and 28–3 in the third quarter, the Falcons blew the largest lead in Super Bowl history and lost the game in overtime by a score of 34–28.[16][17]
well, yes, the pass defense has to produce. I don't think anyone should be surprised to see parts of the defense struggling, given last year we were bottom sucking in all areas. I think critical to all of this is the run defense. if you can't stop the run, then you are doomed to suck. and suck we did.
this year, pass defense is struggling a bit, but its a case of half dozen of one, and 6 of the other. pressures, sacks and interceptions are much better. those are pass defense metrics. yards is not. passing TDs is improved. however, looking at couple of different factors since its early in the season. We played four offenses that are top 10 in passing offense. so in those cases you often end up somewhere in the middle with the defense vs. offense. and against Philly, Carolina, they were a bunch of yards and TDs in the 4th quarter when the game was over and we played prevent (something we can't do and DQ has to fix).
so its early. and then here come the giants, who are top 10 in passing. so expect a few more yards, but more of the same with pressure, sacks and interceptions.
the good thing is we rank middle of the pack in scoring defense and that's key....and take away those meaningless late scores and we are in good shape when it counts.....so give it a few more games....