We are averaging a full score less than the league average and 1 single game above the league average and 2 at the league average. We have a total of 2 games all season where an opponent scored more than their season average against us. 2. Total. Games. And the numbers would be increasingly in our favor if I did the legwork to remove out the score of our game but I’m not gonna do that.
League avg PPG: 22.7
#Scores by week:
1: 7 (avg 16.6)
2: 23 (avg 19.5)
3: 12 (avg 13.5)
4: 16 (avg 17.5)
5: 10 (avg 31.5)
6: 19 (avg 22.7)
7: 22 (avg 23)
8: 31 (avg 20.2)
9: bye (avg before the bye: 17.5ppg)
10: 3 (avg 23)
11: 14 (avg 19.2)
12: 13 (avg 20.8)
#League best PPG per year
2023: 15.5 SF
2022: 17.2 SF
2021: 18.3 BUF
2020: 18.5 BAL
2019: 14.4 NE
2018: 17.6 CHI
2017: 17.0 LAC
2016: 16.4 NE
A “terrible” Wilks had us at 17.5 PPG Which is good enough to be a top 2 defense by PPG in every single previous season listed.
Math doesn’t lie.
PPG alone can be misleading.
For example, against the Bengals one of their scoring drives was a single pass play for a 17 yard TD after a Purdy pick. The defense was put in a bad spot there. Hard to blame them for that one.
In the last game, the defense was only responsible for one drive that ended in a FG, the other FG was from a long kickoff and the TD was a pick six (usually you’d ignore that, but you still had it as 13)
On the flip side, if you’re trailing in a game and need the ball back, a long drive with a lot of 3rd conversions that kills the clock but doesn’t end in points is still bad defense.
If you really want to see how the defense is doing you need to look at more than PPG.
We all saw in the last two games before the bye the tackling was all of a sudden an issue and the pass rush wasn’t getting there. Dre was playing hurt, the bye really helped him get back. Adding Chase also made a huge difference, and Wilks made some adjustments as well as others already mentioned.
I assumed it will take Wilks time to get up to speed with this defense being an outsider coming in, just like it took Saleh a long time. With the way our offense is looking, if Wilks can keep the defense in the top 5 they should be unstoppable.
The defense is literally ranked #1 not top 5.
PPG is how you win, so even with the offense and special teams putting the defense in bad positions we are #1 in the whole league for PPG.
PPG is how you win or lose games. First downs don’t win games, points do. Agreed there is nuance to look at. Obviously. But we also score off other teams mistakes too. So it washes out and if anything means that our impressive PPG is even better than it reports.
Point is Wilks is not garbage. He wasn’t losing us the games before the bye. The offense also let our team down. Which puts the defense on the field longer. And X factor and y factor and etc etc etc
Point is people on the sub are claiming Wilks pre buy was trash and the math clearly shows that’s not the case.
No, the average of points scored against you is not how you win games. Football is a little more complicated than that…