Secondary woes not as bad as thought?

[hn68wb4]

I was just looking through some defensive stats from around the league and notice something that i haven't really paid any attention to:

The Ravens are ranked 27th in passing yards given up yet we are ranked 16th against yds/game, how can that be? Well it seems that most are not taking into account the teams that have had byes that are ranked higher than they should be simply because they've had 1 less week. If you look around on here it looks as though the sky is falling pertaining to our secondary, but i think yds/game is much more indicative of how good our secondary is rather than total yards given up considering we haven't had our bye yet. Simply put, i expect our secondary ranking to take a massive jump following our bye week and I'm afraid people may put that squarely on the shoulders of Will Hill finally being able to play or something like that. But looking at the numbers our secondary has not been bad at all if you go game average, we are middle of the pack which isn't great but its certainly not bad at all. I just think that a lot is being made of how bad our secondary is when in actuality it hasn't been nearly as bad as it would seem looking through this forum. thoughts?

 

Just to reiterate it:

27th in total passing yards given up

16th in passing yds/game

3rd in points allowed

 

I've just seen multiple people on here point to that 27th rating as proof that our secondary is awful, and honestly i don't particularly blame them - we are all at times frustrated by this secondary. But its just important to remember that stat is just total yards surrendered over the season, so it does not take into account byes. Whereas the passing yds/game does take byes into account, so i think it is a much better indicator of how the team is doing against the pass

[GrimCoconut]

They're ranked poorly in passing as a secondary effect (see what I did there?) to the coverage we've used to eat into the clock while the opposing offense is on the field. A big reason why we're bending but not breaking is part scheme and other part players, because the safeties are getting burned at times on the back end, allowing some big gains only to get stopped when the field is smaller in the red zone.

Defense hasn't been horrible. It's just not the flashy defense we've come to know.

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

You got it mixed up.The total yards stat doesn't add up all the yards teams have given up in every game and rank them.It's ranks teams based on the average of the total yards you've given up in both running and passing combined.We really are ranked 27th in passing yards given up per game.We're ranked 17th in total yards per game because we're really good against the run.We're ranked 7th in run defense.

[rmcjacket23]

I'm not overly concerned about ranking when it comes to passing yardage allowed, because the correlation between that and wins isn't very strong, and its amongst the weakest in terms of comparing PPG and Rushing yards allowed/PG.

 

You've got a 4-1 football team that give up the most passing yards per game in the league (over 300), and you've got some pretty mediocre or bad football teams who are in the top 10 in passing yards allowed.

 

Last season alone, 5 of the 12 playoff teams were in the bottom 10 in passing yards allowed, including Denver. That was the exact same number of teams that were in the top 10 in passing yards allowed.

 

As it were, through 6 weeks (its still early), teams in the top 10 in passing yards allowed have an overall record of 31-26. Teams in the top 10 in rushing yards allowed have an overall record of 35-22, and teams in the top 10 overall in PPG allowed have an overall record of 38-19.

[berad]

Tied for 20th in the league with 7.5 yards.attempt which I like to look at so, in my mind, they're below average at this point.

 

Jimmy is a star but he's the only one. Webb is an unknown, as he's still coming back from injury. Safeties are inconsistent, Elam will make a great tackle for a loss then get run by on the outside. Asa is decent when he comes back from injury and Franks and Brown are just bodies, basically.

[funky141]

3rd in points allowed

 

Is the only stat that really matters in my opinion 

[BmoreBird22]

3rd in points allowed

 

Is the only stat that really matters in my opinion

Very much agreed

[The Raven]

While the only stat that matters is indeed points allowed, I think our 29th ranked pass defense certainly indicates our secondary is really bad.

[Mt. Crushmore]

They're ranked poorly in passing as a secondary effect (see what I did there?) to the coverage we've used to eat into the clock while the opposing offense is on the field. A big reason why we're bending but not breaking is part scheme and other part players, because the safeties are getting burned at times on the back end, allowing some big gains only to get stopped when the field is smaller in the red zone.

Defense hasn't been horrible. It's just not the flashy defense we've come to know.

 

So bad but so funny at the same time.

[jazz1988]

3rd in points allowed

 

Is the only stat that really matters in my opinion 

 

It's  good to be but  if your defense is constantly giving up yards especially in critical moments then thats a problem . Our offense is not going to be able to play great all the time and you need a defense thats going to be able to help close out games. The Buccs game is probably our best game yet on defense  especially on third downs  but if you have a   defense that's having trouble getting off the field on third downs and the opposing team just needs to make field goal to either tie the game  or win then yikes .

[redrum52]

Secondary needs work. It's not just the yards given up but how open the players are to get them. Considering ho often we rush four people shouldn't get that open that quickly. I think Hill coming back is going to help by getting our guys back to their natural position.

[xxhighriser]

Def an overrated stat, when teams are behind the only way to play catch up is to throw the ball.  And the only way to not give up big plays is to give the wrs a little bit of space to get those shorter passes.  We'll be alright

[757RavensFan]

It's  good to be but  if your defense is constantly giving up yards especially in critical moments then thats a problem . Our offense is not going to be able to play great all the time and you need a defense thats going to be able to help close out games. The Buccs game is probably our best game yet on defense  especially on third downs  but if you have a   defense that's having trouble getting off the field on third downs and the opposing team just needs to make field goal to either tie the game  or win then yikes .

 

 

But if the defense is only giving up FGs, the offense has to do their part.

[hn68wb4]

You got it mixed up.The total yards stat doesn't add up all the yards teams have given up in every game and rank them.It's ranks teams based on the average of the total yards you've given up in both running and passing combined.We really are ranked 27th in passing yards given up per game.We're ranked 17th in total yards per game because we're really good against the run.We're ranked 7th in run defense.

i just shortened it, the 27th ranking is total passing yards given up

[redrum52]

It's good to be but if your defense is constantly giving up yards especially in critical moments then thats a problem . Our offense is not going to be able to play great all the time and you need a defense thats going to be able to help close out games. The Buccs game is probably our best game yet on defense especially on third downs but if you have a defense that's having trouble getting off the field on third downs and the opposing team just needs to make field goal to either tie the game or win then yikes .

Best game was probably the Colts game and the defensive performance was wasted. On the other side of that coin the defense isn't always goin to be there to save the offense when we're playing good teams. The only game I think fans truly have a reason to call the defense out on was against the Browns.

[HoldingCall]

Best game was probably the Colts game and the defensive performance was wasted. On the other side of that coin the defense isn't always goin to be there to save the offense when we're playing good teams. The only game I think fans truly have a reason to call the defense out on was against the Browns.

Maybe not justified to call the defense out against the Browns. The 21 pts they scored against the Ravens is the lowest they've scored against any opponent so far this season. The other teams aren't top quality defenses but still....

Browns scoring:

Steelers 30

Saints 26

Ravens 21

Titans 29

Steelers 31

[52N19]

i  believe the difference between the ravens being an average defensive team and a good defensive team is the play of one person, Ladarious Webb. Webb is improving incrementally each week. if webb and jimmy smith are healthy it is a different defense. the TB QB held on to the ball a long time whihc was the reason fro his pressures and sacks. i wonder how much of that was due to the secondary coverage.

 

add in the new safety and the defensive pass stats to look at will be more indicative of the defense in the next few weeks. the past stats may mean nothing.

[RaineV1]

i think the big issue is, the defense doesn't get off the field that quickly. They've allowed a lot of long drives that end in field goals. It's nice and all that they aren't giving up touchdowns but they aren't helping the team in the field position game that much.

[arnie_uk]

i think the big issue is, the defense doesn't get off the field that quickly. They've allowed a lot of long drives that end in field goals. It's nice and all that they aren't giving up touchdowns but they aren't helping the team in the field position game that much.

this right here. It wouldn't be a reach, minus the bucs game, to say our defense has been awful until the redzoneish area. The 30 ot so. I reckon we probably have the best redzone d in the league.

But probably have the worst 3 and out d in the league as well. Teams seem to walk to our redzone with ease, with long 10plus play drives, converting 3+ 3rd and longs to get there. Its so painful to watch the philosophy. But he earns his paycheck when in gets to the redzone

[HoldingCall]

As for defensive woes, we acknowlegde that Webb has been out and the backups didn't play up to Webb's ability level. We know the team is thin in quality CBs and Elem and other safties have been moved around in the attempt to mask the deficiency, The needed talent just hasn't been available on the field to do much better. It's still good to know that during that time they gave up the 3rd fewest points per game in the NFL.

 

Don't get me wrong, I understand the frustrastion caused by watching them give up third and long plays but there is help on the horizon with Webb getting into playing condition and Will Hill getting into the swing of things.

[ludy51]

I cant believe we went from the best 3 and out team in the league to 1 of the worst.

[Tru11]

points give up is the only stat that matters.

 

you win games by scoring points and not giving up points.

 

we are 3rd in points giving up.

we are 5th in points scored.

 

we are much better then many people think.