Bendability

Through Week 1 of the 2011 Regular Season

About The Bendability Index: It measures the concept of the "bend but don't break defense."The Bendability Index is not merely a defensive indicator! It is a team-wide measurement of ability to keep opponents off the scoreboard. It takes into account a variety of factors, including proficiency of offense and special teams, field position, red zone defense, and turnover differential, and then spits it all out in an easy-to-understand number. Other measures of defense, and defensive efficiency, look at the defensive unit in a vacuum and do not tell you how all units work together to keep opponents off the scoreboard. 

Bendability =Yards allowed/Points Allowed = Yards Per Point Allowed (YPPA). The higher the number, the more “bendable” the defense.

Week 1 Bendability Overview
Baltimore races out of the gates No. 1 across the board in our Quality Stats Power Rankings and also No. 1 across the board right here in Bendability.

Baltimore's Week 1 opponents, Pittsburgh, generated a fair amount of yards, 312 in fact, but they turned those yards into just 7 points. In other words, the Ravens forced the Steelers to march an incredible 44.6 Yards Per Point Allowed. That's what seven turnovers will do to a team, folks: squeeze the life out of them and leave so much wasted effort on the field.