2006 Defensive Hog Index

Cold, Hard Football Facts for Jan 02, 2007

By Cold, Hard Football Facts contributor Jonathan Comey

The Ravens were the undisputed champions of the Defensive Hog Index this season, and they set the tone early. In Week 1, they limited the Bucs to a 2.0 average per rush, kept them off the field for all but 24:11 and forced six negative pass plays. And while they weren't quite that good every week, they were consistently strong.

Only six of the 12 playoff teams ended up in the top half of the D.H.I. With their epically bad run defense, the Colts brought up the rear for this playoff group, finishing tied for 29th.

Teams that bested their opponents in the Defensive Hog Index were 13-3 in Week 17.

The Hog Index is a compilation of three different categories: Yards Per Carry, Negative Pass Plays and Time of Possession. The top defensive Hogs are those that post the highest average rating across the board. See the footnotes after the rankings chart for details about each category.

	Team	Opp. YPC (Rank)	Opp. NPP% (Rank)	Opp. TOP (Rank)	Avg. Rank
1	Baltimore	3.31 (2)	15.47 (1)	27:12 (1)	1.33
2t	Jacksonville	3.48 (4)	9.86 (12)	27:49 (2)	6
2t	Pittsburgh	3.46 (3)	10.39 (8)	28:47 (7)	6
4	New England	3.88 (10)	11.74 (5)	28:25 (6)	7
5	San Diego	4.18 (20)	12.85 (2)	28:21 (4)	8.67
6t	Green Bay	4.14 (17)	12.30 (3)	29:15 (11)	10.33
6t	Carolina	3.87 (8)	10.17 (10)	29:48 (13)	10.33
6t	Miami	3.51 (5)	10.11 (11)	29:59 (15)	10.33
9	Chicago	3.96 (11)	10.30 (9)	29:26 (12)	10.67
10	Minnesota	2.83 (1)	8.11 (27)	28:23 (5)	11
11	Dallas	3.87 (9)	9.54 (17)	28:58 (10)	12
12	St. Louis	4.88 (30)	11.75 (4)	28:53 (8)	14
13	Oakland	3.96 (11)	11.71 (6)	31:46 (28)	15
14t	Arizona	4.14 (17)	9.64 (13)	30:01 (17)	15.67
14t	Atlanta	3.75 (6)	8.88 (22)	30:12 (19)	15.67
16	New Orleans	4.94 (31)	9.57 (15)	28:07 (3)	16.33
17	Denver	4.07 (14)	9.23 (18)	30:10 (18)	16.67
18	Philadelphia	4.46 (24)	10.44 (7)	31:22 (25)	18.67
19t	N.Y. Jets	4.60 (27)	8.99 (21)	28:57 (9)	19
19t	Kansas City	4.18 (20)	8.74 (23)	29:54 (14)	19
21	N.Y. Giants	4.00 (13)	8.18 (26)	30:25 (21)	20
22	Seattle	4.61 (28)	9.55 (16)	30:12 (20)	21.33
23	Cincinnati	4.16 (19)	9.15 (19)	31:26 (27)	21.67
24t	San Francisco	4.09 (16)	8.70 (25)	31:23 (26)	22.33
24t	Tampa Bay	3.86 (7)	6.95 (31)	31:54 (29)	22.33
26	Cleveland	4.42 (23)	8.73 (24)	30:39 (23)	23.33
27t	Washington	4.47 (25)	4.95 (32)	30:01 (16)	24.33
27t	Buffalo	4.74 (29)	9.58 (14)	31:56 (30)	24.33
29t	Indianapolis	5.33 (32)	9.09 (20)	30:28 (22)	24.67
29t	Detroit	4.09 (15)	7.76 (28)	32:19 (31)	24.67
31	Houston	4.39 (22)	7.33 (30)	30:46 (24)	25.33
32	Tennessee	4.57 (26)	7.73 (29)	32:43 (32)	29

YPC – Yards Per Carry. So simple, even you can understand it. This rates a defense's ability to stuff an opposing ground game.

NPP% – Negative Pass Plays, expressed as a percentage. This is how often an opponent's pass plays end in either a sack or interception. Defenses that get after the quarterback and overwhelm the opposing offensive line naturally force sacks and INTs. These negative pass plays are calculated as a percentage of attempts. So if a team foces two sacks and two INTs in 40 pass plays, their NPP% will be 10 percent (4/40).

TOP – Time of Possession. Another easy one. This category simply ranks defenses based upon their ability to get opposing offenses off the field.

By Kerry Byrne

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