Final 2008 Defensive Hog Index

The Defensive Hog Index is our effort to quantify which team has the best defensive front in football.

 

This isn't rocket science, folks. The Defensive Hog Index simply looks at at each team in three major, easy-to-understand categories and ranks them by average in these categories.

 

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).

 

3down% - Opposition success rate on third down. The lower the percentage, the higher the defensive success.

 

Data is current through Week 17.

 

* Indicates playoff teams.

 

	Team	YPA	rank	NPP%	rank	3down%	rank	AVG
1	Steelers*	3.29	1	12.2	1	31.4	1	1.0
2	Eagles*	3.51	4	11.0	3	32.2	2	3.0
3	Ravens*	3.56	5	10.7	5	33.5	3	4.3
4	Vikings*	3.31	2	9.9	8	33.5	4	4.7
5	Titans*	3.73	7	10.3	6	35.0	6	6.3
6t	Cowboys	4.23	19	11.8	2	35.6	8	9.7
6t	Bears	3.42	3	7.7	21	34.9	5	9.7
8	Jets	3.73	6	9.0	12	38.6	15	11.0
9t	Giants*	3.97	12	11.0	4	40.7	21	12.3
9t	Dolphins*	4.17	18	9.7	9	37.8	10	12.3
11	Buccaneers	4.31	22	10.1	7	37.9	11	13.3
12	Redskins	3.83	9	6.9	26	35.6	7	14.0
13	49ers	3.78	8	7.1	25	37.9	12	15.0
14	Packers	4.6	26	9.0	11	38.1	14	17.0
15	Jaguars	3.99	13	8.5	17	41.0	22	17.3
16	Patriots	4.15	15	8.9	13	44.4	26	18.0
17t	Cardinals*	3.96	11	8.0	19	44.4	28	19.3
17t	Bills	4.29	21	6.6	28	36.1	9	19.3
19t	Saints	4.24	20	7.8	20	39.8	19	19.7
19t	Panthers*	4.43	23	8.2	18	39.7	18	19.7
21	Rams	4.94	29	8.8	14	39.6	17	20.0
22	Chargers*	4.02	14	6.8	27	40.6	20	20.3
23t	Texans	4.47	24	7.5	23	39.4	16	21.0
23t	Falcons*	4.92	28	7.5	22	38.0	13	21.0
25	Colts*	4.17	17	8.8	15	47.4	31t	21.0
26	Raiders	4.71	27	9.5	10	44.4	27	21.3
27	Bengals	3.91	10	5.5	31	42.7	24	21.7
28	Seahawks	4.16	16	6.5	29	42.3	23	22.7
29	Browns	4.49	25	8.6	16	45.9	30	23.7
30	Lions	5.14	32	7.2	24	45.7	29	28.3
31	Broncos	4.98	30	6.1	30	44.1	25	28.3
32	Chiefs	5.0	31	4.3	32	47.4	31t	31.3