Quote
jemach
We beat the Raiders, Cardinals and 49ers and gave up 23 points in three games.
We beat the Chargers, Vikings, Broncos and Seahawks and gave up 104 points in four games.
You can use a calculator and do the division.
We are the 13th ranked defense in the league having played 3 sorry arse teams who have a combined record of 3-18. My guess is if you look at the other 4 wins, our defense would fall somewhere in the 20's.
If you think our defense has played like a top defense this season...then we are on different football planets. Let's leave it at that..
This "the-Rams-D-has-only-done-good-against-bad-teams-and-bad-against-good-offenses" argument is a really tiresome and deceptive argument because that's how it is with ALL the top teams.
It's kind of common sense that it would be this way. Typically, top scoring offenses in general have more success against everyone than bottom ranked offenses do against the same opponent.
Let's take a look at the 5 top defenses in Fewest Points Allowed and see if we find the same disparity the Rams have experienced:
1) RavensAgainst three top ranked offenses in the Bengals, Saints, and Steelers they’ve allowed an average of 24 points per game. Games where they kept the score really low were against Bills, Browns and Titan who are among the league’s worst offenses.
The one laudable thing they’ve done is to keep a top 10 offense in the Steelers (#5) to under 20 points at 14 points. In Baltimore’s other two games against top offenses - Bengals (11), Saints (2) - they’ve allowed an average of 29 points.
2) CowboysThe Cowboys have not played a top 10 offense yet. The highest ranked offense they’ve played have been the Lions, ranked 12th, in which they allowed 24 points.
In the 4 games where they kept the score really low, two were against the Jags (#29) and Giants (#27) both of which are teams among the league’s worst offenses. The other two games were against the Texans and Panthers who are not top offenses; they are ranked 17th and 19th respectively.
3) TitansThey have played one top 10 offense in the Chargers (#7) and allowed 20 points to them. They allowed 27 to Miami who have the 23rd ranked offense and 23 to the Eagles who have the 22nd ranked offense.
In the three games where they’ve kept the score really low, two were against the worst offenses in the league in the Bills and Jags. The other was against the Texans who are merely average at #17.
4) RamsThe Rams have allowed an average of 26.25 points to the Chargers (#7), Vikings (#14), Seattle (#18), and the Broncos (#20).
They’ve allowed an average of 7.67 points to the Raiders (28), Cards (31), 49ers (21).
5) SeattleAgainst two quality offenses in the Rams (#3) and Bears (#6), and one mediocre offense in the Broncos (#20), they’ve given up an average of 28 points per game. Against bottom ranked offenses – Cowboys (26), Cards (31), Raiders (28) – they’ve given up an average of 11 points per game.
IOW, that’s the exact same thing the Rams have done. One difference is, the Rams have done it better by allowing fewer points per game at 7.67 to the bottom ranked offenses.
Notable Facts:None of these leading defenses have kept a top 10 offense under 20 points besides the Ravens against the Steelers.
Every one of these teams, with the exception of the Ravens, have had at least 3 games – roughly half of their games - where they’ve allowed 20+ points. In addition, for each of these teams, these bad defensive performances were not necessarily against top ranked offenses.
3 or 4 worst games points allowed average: Cowboys (22.67), Titans (22.75), Ravens (24), Rams (26.25), Seattle (28)
3 or 4 games fewest points allowed average: Ravens (7.25), Rams (7.67), Seattle (11), Titans (12), Cowboys (13.75)
