Is the Patriots defense better than the Chiefs?
At least in the one statistic that everyone seems to measure defense by, yards, the New England Patriots soar ahead of their AFC competitors, including the Kansas City Chiefs.
None of these teams: Patriots, Broncos, Colts or Chiefs are especially great in this category, but the Pats reign supreme.
It's certainly strange to see since all we heard for the first 10 weeks of the season was how the Chiefs defense was the best in the league, and how it had yet to give up more than 17 points in their 9-0 start.
Well things have fallen off a bit for Kansas City since, as the team has given up 27, 41, and 35 points in their last three weeks, losing all of those. Even worse for Chiefs fans, two of those have been brutal blowout losses to the bitter division rival, Denver Broncos. After starting undefeated, Kansas City is now a miracle's length from a top seed in the AFC.
The Chiefs fell behind the Pats this week after their worse performance of the year, giving up 535 yards to Denver in Arrowhead.
As fans of Patriots teams that have routinely given up the most yards in the NFL, but still been in the thick of the Superbowl hunt, I think we can all agree that yards shouldn't be the end all be all when judging defenses. After all, the Texans defense was number one in the league in yards allowed and the Pats seemed to have no trouble posting 453 yards and 34 points on them last week.
So, does this mean the Patriots are the second best defense among the top seeds in the AFC? Unfortunately no.
If anything, this tells us that the stat generally used to measure defenses is a bit flawed.
Let's look at points allowed (on defense only). The Patriots actually rank fairly well here, good enough for 11th in the league. However, the Chiefs beat the Pats here as they are still fifth in the league while the Bengals are fourth. Other contenders, Indianapolis and Denver, rank 13th and 26th respectively.
Still, are points all we should judge a defense for? Certainly it should be more important than yards, after all the goal of the game is to outscore a team, not outgain them. There is lot more to a defense than points and yards though. That's why I rely on former Patriot Tedy Bruschi, who knows a thing or two about defenses. Bruschi has invented a new way to judge defenses on ESPN, aptly named the Bruschi Defensive Index.
Combining actual points allowed (not pick sixes, fumbles or return TDs), 3rd down conversion rate, redzone effectiveness, and turnovers, Bruschi's stat looks at just about everything that really makes a defense great.
So, how do the Pats measure up to their AFC contending counterparts?
They trail the Chiefs (2nd), Bengals (4th) and Colts (18th) as the Patriots come in at a paltry 20th in the league. This of course after giving up 31, 24, 24 and 31 points in their last four games.
That puts them ahead of only the Broncos who are 22nd in the league.
What this tells us is that maybe total yards should not be what we judge a defense by. If the Patriots were playing like they were early in the season, you could make the argument that, yes, they are better. However, key injuries have torn apart that stout looking Pats defense.
Via: Reddit
