kidhawk
Well-known member
Ok so we've heard a lot of talk about best defenses in history and a lot of people are putting us well after the Bears defense and the Ravens defense. One of the main arguments I hear for the Ravens 2000 defense is that they had 4 shut outs that season whereas the Seahawks only were able to get one shut out during the 2013 season. I thought there might be some statistical data that could explain it, because we know that offenses have become more potent in the last 20 or so years. I decided to look through just the scores of the two seasons in question.
In 2013 it is true the Seahawks only had 1 shut out, but the NFL as a whole had a total of only TWO shut outs the entire regular season (both were against the Giants with the other coming at the hands of the Panthers)
When you look through the 2000 season, you see that the Ravens had 4 shut outs, and that does sound impressive looking at it like that, but is it still as impressive if I tell you that along with the Ravens 4 shut outs, that there was a total of EIGHT other shut outs in the NFL that year making TWELVE total? What if I were to say that 3 of the 4 teams they shut out were also shut out by other teams that same year? Here is the breakdown:
Ravens 4 shutouts: Cowboys, Browns, Bengals & Steelers.
Steelers had 2 shutouts: Browns & Bengals
Jaguars had 2 shutouts: Browns & Bengals
Titans had 2 shutouts: Cowboys & Browns
Bucs had 1 shutout: Bears
Dolphins had 1 shutout: Seahawks
To me, this tells me that scoring was not as easy to come by that season. The Ravens held 4 of 12 NFL shutouts where we held 1 of 2 NFL shutouts.
Basically the conclusion I come to is that they are two very different seasons and you can't really compare each statistic straight across the board to declare a "best defense"
In 2013 it is true the Seahawks only had 1 shut out, but the NFL as a whole had a total of only TWO shut outs the entire regular season (both were against the Giants with the other coming at the hands of the Panthers)
When you look through the 2000 season, you see that the Ravens had 4 shut outs, and that does sound impressive looking at it like that, but is it still as impressive if I tell you that along with the Ravens 4 shut outs, that there was a total of EIGHT other shut outs in the NFL that year making TWELVE total? What if I were to say that 3 of the 4 teams they shut out were also shut out by other teams that same year? Here is the breakdown:
Ravens 4 shutouts: Cowboys, Browns, Bengals & Steelers.
Steelers had 2 shutouts: Browns & Bengals
Jaguars had 2 shutouts: Browns & Bengals
Titans had 2 shutouts: Cowboys & Browns
Bucs had 1 shutout: Bears
Dolphins had 1 shutout: Seahawks
To me, this tells me that scoring was not as easy to come by that season. The Ravens held 4 of 12 NFL shutouts where we held 1 of 2 NFL shutouts.
Basically the conclusion I come to is that they are two very different seasons and you can't really compare each statistic straight across the board to declare a "best defense"