Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: 2007 Defensive Passer Rating

(Defensive Passer Rating is a "Quality Stat" because it has a direct correlation to winning football games. Click here to read more about this "Stat That Matters.")

As we've noted many times in the past, passing yards allowed is a very poor way to rate the quality of a particular pass defense. Basically, some bad teams are so easy to run on that opponents rarely pass against them. So you end up with a situation in which a team appears to have a great pass defense when, in fact, it does not. Defensive Passer Rating gives a much more accurate picture of the overall effectiveness of a pass defense.

FINAL 2007 OVERVIEW

As the Cold, Hard Football Facts have proven over the years, passing the ball well on offense is the key to success for NFL offenses. So naturally, stopping opponents from passing well is critical for defenses.

Simply look at our year-end Defensive Passer Rating rankings. The top 11 teams on the list all made the playoffs. It's a remarkable correlation with victory that has even us stat geeks amazed.

The Giants, at 17th in Defensive Passer Rating, are the lone playoff team missing from from the top group.

Of those teams in the top 11, all are within 8.1 rating points of each other, from No. 1 San Diego's 70.0 to No. 11 New England's 78.1. All of those numbers are pretty good, or at least above average.

San Diego's top ranking was built upon INTs, with a league-leading 30. Seattle finished No. 2 in Defensive Passer Rating thanks to its red-zone success: the Seahawks allowed a league-low 15 TD passes.

Indy, No. 3 on the chart, gave up a high completion percentage (65.3) but few yards per attempt (5.88, second). Those two numbers show you Tony Dungy's famous Tampa-2 in statistical action: Indy's DBs funnel receivers in front of them, allowing a high number of completions but few great gains.

Pittsburgh, No. 9 overall in Defensive Passer Rating, was one of the more interesting pass defenses in football in 2007. They allowed the lowest completion percentage (54.5 percent) and fewest yards per attempt (5.72) of any team in football. However, the Steelers failed to produce big plays (a league-low 11 picks, tied with Houston and Philly), which kept the D from truly elite status.

The worst pass defenses in the league were all part of losing seasons – every single one of the bottom 14 teams on this list failed to get over the .500 mark. New Orleans had a highly disappointing season, and the insipid pass defense was a big reason why: the Saints finished dead last in the NFL in Defensive Passer Rating (a truly abysmal 96.9), yards per attempt (7.87) and TDs allowed (32, tied with Detroit).

The Lions produced a notable defensive achievement: they became the first team ever to allow a completion percentage of greater than 70 percent, which probably won't be inscribed on a plaque at Ford Field anytime soon.

FINAL 2007 DEFENSIVE PASSER RATING (playoff teams in italics)

	Team	Att.	Comp.	Pct	YPA	TD	INT	RATING
1	San Diego	555	338	60.9	6.64	20	30	70.0
2	Seattle	568	333	58.6	6.70	15	20	73.0
3	Indianapolis	498	325	65.3	5.88	16	22	73.3
4	Tennessee	569	349	61.3	6.03	21	22	74.5
5	Dallas	581	342	58.9	6.42	19	19	75.1
6	Green Bay	534	295	55.2	6.71	23	19	75.6
7	Jacksonville	543	319	58.7	6.74	20	20	76.1
8	Tampa Bay	490	297	60.6	5.99	18	16	76.2
9	Pittsburgh	536	292	54.5	5.72	22	11	76.5
10	Washington	602	351	58.3	6.02	20	14	77.1
11	New England	526	314	59.7	6.43	23	19	78.1
12	Oakland	439	261	59.5	7.56	17	18	78.9
13	Philadelphia	539	312	57.9	6.85	16	11	80.3
14	Kansas City	462	276	59.7	7.09	17	14	81.0
15	Buffalo	567	354	62.4	6.98	19	18	81.1
16	NY Jets	470	289	61.5	7.15	18	15	82.6
17	NY Giants	523	306	58.5	7.01	24	15	83.4
18	Cleveland	578	340	58.8	6.69	29	17	83.4
19	Chicago	541	343	63.4	7.31	19	16	84.7
20	St. Louis	523	318	60.8	7.36	25	18	85.0
21	Carolina	537	337	62.8	6.71	22	14	85.1
22	Arizona	570	361	63.3	6.94	26	18	85.8
23	Minnesota	646	415	64.2	6.97	22	15	86.3
24	Baltimore	490	293	59.8	7.63	27	17	87.6
25	Atlanta	536	336	62.7	7.09	27	16	88.2
26	Denver	458	279	60.9	7.20	25	14	88.3
27	Cincinnati	540	353	65.4	7.07	29	19	89.2
28	San Francisco	543	345	63.5	7.05	24	12	89.9
29	Miami	409	242	59.2	7.79	28	14	92.4
30	Houston	546	361	66.1	7.10	25	11	93.6
31	Detroit	602	422	70.1	7.29	32	17	96.8
32	New Orleans	524	327	62.4	7.87	32	13	96.9