I looked at the
offensive DOVA from football outsiders (I am not a member so can only see ranks not actual values) and we played an easier schedule in the first half of the season. I am only going off of the end of season values so these rankings mat not be reflective of the teams DOVA rankings at the time we played them.
In the first half of the season we faced Chicago 26th, Indi 13th, TB 1st, Ariz 15th, Seattle 7th, NYG 32, Det 29th, Hou 30th, and Tenn 20th. So we faced four teams in the bottom quarter of the league and three of the four worst. We did face the top team and another in the top quarter (Seattle). Two teams in the top quarter, two from 9 to 16, one from 17-24, and four from 25-32. In the second half of the season, we faced SF twice 5th, 5th, Ariz 15th, Seattle 7th, GB 2nd, Minn 16, Balt 17, and the Jags 27th. So the breakdown is four teams in the top quarter (that is counting SF twice), two in the 9-16 range, one in the 17-24 range and one in the bottom quarter. Arizona and Seattle on both sides of the split point so if we drop them then the difference in offensive DVOA is
first half of the season: 1, 13, 20, 26, 29, 30, 32 (very bottom heavy) and the second half of the season: 2, 5, 5, 16, 17, and 27. A much heavier top end in the second half.
So if the stats stay about the same that means that the defense was actually better in the second half of the season because the competition they faced was harder (you would expect to look better against weaker foes than stronger ones).
