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Monday Morning Hangover: Defensive coaches putting up big numbers
Cold, Hard Football Facts for October 15, 2007
By Jonathan Comey
Cold, Hard Football Factorer
Aren’t NFL teams supposed to be built in the image of the coach?
Looks like it’s not that easy. It’s great to hire a “defensive guru” to toughen up a team, but if he doesn’t have the defensive talent, said toughening won’t ensue.
Same goes for “offensive geniuses,” who aren’t quite as brainy when their No. 1 QB goes down in Week 4.
This trend started in Baltimore, where “offensive genius” Brian Billick rode a mediocre offense – but world-class defense – to victory in Super Bowl XXXV. Fellow "offensive genius" Jon Gruden did the same in Tampa in Super Bowl XXXVII. And the Colts have galloped to the top of the NFL behind their flawless offense – and a defensive superstar coach in Tony Dungy.
This year, it’s been remarkable to see the script flipped.
The top six teams in scoring are all head coached by teams with former defensive coordinators in the top spot: New England (Bill Belichick), Dallas (Wade Phillips), Indianapolis (Tony Dungy), Cleveland (Romeo Crennel), Pittsburgh (Mike Tomlin) and Cincinnati (Marvin Lewis).
Tom Coughlin is the top-ranked guy from an offensive background, with his Giants No. 7 in scoring (24.6 PPG) heading into Monday night's game at Atlanta. And the bottom three spots on the defensive list are owned by defensive types – Cincy, Cleveland and Detroit (Rod Marinelli).
However, the new coaches in 2007 are generally doing what they’re supposed to, based upon background. Offensive-minded Lane Kiffin (Oakland) and Cam Cameron (Miami) have turned around their teams’ attacks. Kiffin’s Raiders are up dramatically, to 23.2 PPG from 10.5 PPG in 2006, and Cameron’s Dolphins have risen from 16.3 PPG to 21.3 PPG.
In Arizona, Ken Whisenhunt has guided the Cardinals to a modest scoring increase, from 19.6 PPG in 2006 to 21.3 here in 2007, but more importantly has the Cardinals running the ball effectively (4.0 YPC) for the first time since the team was still in St. Louis. As for Bobby Petrino in Atlanta … well, he’s trying. But failing (No. 29 in scoring at 13.8 PPG).
The Steelers lead the NFL in scoring defense (9.4 PPG) under Tomlin, who was Minnesota’s defensive coordinator in 2006. But Phillips has failed pretty miserably in Dallas. The Cowboys rank No. 25 in scoring D (24.0 PPG) and have allowed 41.5 PPG in their two meetings against Quality Opponents.
MORE ON MARVIN
When will Lewis’ free pass expire in Cincinnati?
Taking over a 2-14 team and turning them into an 8-8 team will endear you to a lot of people, and so it was for Lewis in 2003 with the Bengals.
He inherited a bad team, but also inherited two top tackles (Willie Anderson, Levi Jones), Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rudi Johnson and the No. 1 pick in that year’s draft (Carson Palmer).
Sound like a tough rebuilding job? Not in retrospect.
Of course, Lewis also inherited a No. 32-ranked scoring defense, and the most depressed fan base this side of the Arizona desert. But this was “defensive guru Marvin Lewis” we’re talking about here! Everything was going to get better!
No.
Including this year, the Bengals under Lewis rank an average rank of 23.6 in scoring adefense and 26.2 in total defense. And this comes despite an offense fully capable of controlling the clock and keeping the D off the field.
Add the team’s remarkable run of off-field troubles, and Lewis’ 36-33 record in Cincy doesn’t seem quite so impressive.
The Bengals, for all of their flash and dash, have no playoff wins, no defense, no division titles, and a mediocre record in 4+ seasons under Lewis.
In other towns, that gets you fired.
In Cincinnati, we’ll have to see.
QUARTERHACKS!
We saw the following quarterbacks see significant game action this week:
- Kyle Boller, Baltimore
- Kerry Collins, Tennessee
- Gus Frerotte, St. Louis
- Cleo Lemon, Miami
- Vinny Testaverde, Carolina
- Tim Rattay, Arizona
The amazing part? Two of them won games! Who says you need a QB to win in the NFL?
Ah, but it wasn’t that rosy. Combined, these six players threw 11 interceptions, and both of the wins came by backup hacks vs. backup hacks (Testaverde and the Panthers over Rattay and the Cardinals; Boller and the Ravens over Frerotte and the Rams). As a group, they compiled a passer rating of 49.84.
AFC vs. NFC
The AFC-NFC interconference battle has been uncharacteristically tight all season, and the AFC holds a slim 14-12 advantage.
Still, as the Colts showed in Tampa in Week 5 and the Patriots showed in Dallas on Sunday, the class of the AFC is shining through.
The AFC’s six winning teams are a combined 11-2 vs. the NFC, while the NFC’s winning teams are 7-3 vs. the AFC. The only two Quality Wins for the NFC are Arizona (at home) over Pittsburgh and Tampa (at home) over a mostly Vince Young-less Titans team Sunday.
Heading into tonight's game, the NFC boasts seven winning teams to the AFC's six.
WEAK WEST AWFUL AGAIN
After three weeks, the NFC West looked like it might be at least decent.
San Francisco and Seattle were 2-1, the Cardinals were 1-2 but playing well. The Rams were God awful.
Well, now they’re all God awful. Back then they were just minor-deity awful. The West is a combined 8-15, and Seattle or Arizona is primed for a playoff berth at 8-8 – even 7-9, if things break right.
It could be even worse if the old pre-2002 expansion NFC West were still intact.
Those standings would be:
- Carolina, 4-2
- San Francisco, 2-3
- New Orleans, 1-4
- Atlanta, 1-4
- St. Louis, 0-6
Now that would be a hell of a race to the finish. Saints fans would be legitimately optimistic right now, and we might have our first six-win playoff team.
Of course, the Saints (now in the NFC South) found this week that a good dose of the NFC West is often just what the doctor ordered. The New Orleans offense was anemic all season, pretty much dead last in every major category, until facing Seattle last night. The Seahawks are alleged to be the best the NFC West has to offer, but the Saints ripped from for a 28-17 victory. Hell, even Reggie Bush looked good.
WHO WANTS BROWNIES?
Our crystal ball was a bit cloudy in making our preseason predictions, but one we’re fairly proud of is a 7-9 pick for Cleveland.
We saw something beyond rock-bottom status for the Brownies, and by God they’ve delivered the kind of surprising mediocrity at 3-3 we thought they would.
Over the past year, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow have developed into bonafide star targets. In the last 16 games, Edwards has hauled in 68 passes for 1,079 yards and 12 TDs, and Winslow has caught 85 balls for 1,064 yards and 3 TDs.
QB Derek Anderson has been the beneficiary of a heavily-invested left side of the O-line (LT Joe Thomas and LG Eric Steinbach), and has a tidy 88.9 passer rating we didn’t think we’d see in Cleveland anytime before 2010.
Even their No. 32 scoring defense (30.5 PPG) can be defended ever so slightly. The Browns have faced four of the NFL's Top 10 scoring offenses, and held their lone offensively challenged opponent (Baltimore) to 13.
The Browns have only two more good offenses left on the schedule (Pittsburgh and Cincy), and still have all four of their interconference games left against the aforementioned NFC West, which made even the Saints look good. A 3-1 mark there gets them to six wins. Add very winnable home games against Houston and Buffalo, and the Brownies could even exceed our optimistically averagetastic expectation.
QUICK SLANTS
Wes Welker took an inordinate amount of fair catches as a punt returner in Miami last year (29 in 70 attempts). But he only has two fair catches in 16 attempts in New England. Oh, and he’s on pace for 101 catches. …
The Bengals are terrible, but T.J. Houshmandzadeh is putting up some unbelievable numbers. He's caught 47 passes in five games, and has 107 grabs over his last 16 games. Houshmandzadeh has also scored in nine of his last 11 games …
Note to Vikings coach Brad Childress: let the kid run. Adrian Peterson’s shredded the Chicago D for 224 yards on 20 carries (11.2 YPA). Yet Childress still allotted 22 carries (and a non-Superman 3.8 YPA) to Chester Taylor – even when the Vikings were trying to put the game away. Remarkable that Peterson would have the No. 5 single-game rushing performance of all time, yet not even lead his team in carries. ..
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