Does Te'o get his job back?

[Beerman]

Where are the STATS! Suddenly you don't want to use them?

We are 9th in rushing D. 97.2 yards per game, with a large chunk coming in the 51 yard run by Harvin that should have only been a 20 yard run.

ATL is 28th allowing 153.5 yards per game.

Clearly equal.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Where are the STATS! Suddenly you don't want to use them?

We are 9th in rushing D. 97.2 yards per game, with a large chunk coming in the 51 yard run by Harvin that should have only been a 20 yard run.

ATL is 28th allowing 153.5 yards per game.

Clearly equal.

If you subtract out the first two games, we are yielding an average of 86 yards rushing against.

BAZINGA!

That's how you do it.

[Yubaking]

Where are the STATS! Suddenly you don't want to use them?

We are 9th in rushing D. 97.2 yards per game, with a large chunk coming in the 51 yard run by Harvin that should have only been a 20 yard run.

ATL is 28th allowing 153.5 yards per game.

Clearly equal.

Lord God, please give me patience.

Beerman, please try reading my posts on this subject. The stats are all over them.

The two teams do have equal rushing defenses.

Borrowing your terminology, the Falcons have given up more yards on the ground than the Chargers solely because they have had a FUCKTON MORE rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us. Both teams average 4.5 yards surrendered per rushing attempt, putting them in the 20+ category in terms of run defense rank--that is, both teams are below average.

The reasons why they have had more rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us are:

1) We get more stops because our pass defense is better. (Theirs is literally dead last in YPA against whereas we are 17th.)

2) We possess the ball more (by almost 4 minutes per game) so the other team does not, which means we have to make fewer stops per game.

Oh, I think there is one more thing that I haven't mentioned. We have been ahead late in our games much more so than the Falcons, so that would tend to make the other team pass more versus running the ball as well.

[Beerman]

Lord God, please give me patience.

Beerman, please try reading my posts on this subject. The stats are all over them.

The two teams do have equal rushing defenses.

Borrowing your terminology, the Falcons have given up more yards on the ground than the Chargers solely because they have had a FUCKTON MORE rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us. Both teams average 4.5 yards surrendered per rushing attempt, putting them in the 20+ category in terms of run defense rank--that is, both teams are below average.

The reasons why they have had more rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us are:

1) We get more stops because our pass defense is better. (Theirs is literally dead last in YPA against whereas we are 17th.)

2) We possess the ball more (by almost 4 minutes per game) so the other team does not, which means we have to make fewer stops per game.

Oh, I think there is one more thing that I haven't mentioned. We have been ahead late in our games much more so than the Falcons, so that would tend to make the other team pass more versus running the ball as well.

Are you really this dense? The whole point is that we ignored our run D and focused on the pass D/pass rush this offseason. RUN D DOESN'T MATTER in the big picture.

You are literally proving everyone else's point by admitting that because we have improve our pass D so much, we are able to make stops which literally makes the run D inconsequential.

THE DEFENSE IS DESIGNED TO STOP THE PASS. RUN D DOESN'T MATTER, YET WE ARE TOP 10 WITH A SHIT D.

Don't you see the irony in all this? Run defense does not fucking matter as much as you think.

PS - not to mention our run D isn't actually that terrible.

PPS - take out 25-30 yards and we are at 4.1 ypc which is average.

[Beerman]

Even Footballoutsiders has us as having a decent run D and their metrics take most shit into account.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef

[KNSD]

I like how those dudes with the DVOA have consistently ranked the Chargers lower than they really ought to be. Even looking at the NFL statistics you would think the Chargers shouldn't be that good. But we all know better having watched the games.

Charger defense is pretty damn solid this year. They do a great job of baiting the other team with stuff when they are ahead, and have clamped down with their "real stuff" when things get tight. See the Seattle game for a perfect example. Seattle's offense rolled on a few drives while Chargers played passive defense. Then when Seattle had to step up at the end, the Charger went to its "A" game and stuffed them.

Same thing with the Charger offense. Boring, predictable, run lots of the same running plays on 1st and second down, don't show the other team your entire playbook.... Then BOOM long pass play when the defense cheats up too much.

Edit: No offense to the naysayers on this board, but this team (barring more injuries) is WAY BETTER than I thought they'd be going in. The coverage (two superior and one solid CB), and the pass rush (consistently excellent pressure with four guys) are CLEARLY superior to last year. Offense continues to roll and barring injuries to Matthews, Woodhead, Ohrnburger/Hardwick, Clary, etc.. they'd be in the top 3 right now. As it is they're only putting up 30 pts/game. And even special teams are more athletic than last year. Novak/Scifres are best in business, and the three coverage guys are monsters (Stuckey, Conner, Ajiratutu).

[Beerman]

One of the things to note in that link I posted

We are 5th and 2nd vs. #1 and 2 WR's. Then it goes downhill vs. the 3rd WR (18th), TE(29th), and RB(30th - shocking). Clearly we can see the weak spots in the D right now. Hopefully having all 3 CB's healthy for once will improve that slot WR ranking. Our safeties and LB really need to step it up vs. TE's and RB's though. More Addae can potentially improve those rankings (he played the 3rd most snaps this past week among the DBs).

[Beerman]

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/dl

One last point - we are allowing the 18th most yards up the middle at 4.12 (note Carolina is at 17th). Our issue has been off tackle on the right side - exactly where Harvin took his 51 yarder to the house (with a little officiating help).

So Yuba, unlike you, I back my shit up.

Now shut the hell up.

BTW Atl is 32nd up the middle.

[Panama]

Lord God, please give me patience.

Beerman, please try reading my posts on this subject. The stats are all over them.

The two teams do have equal rushing defenses.

Borrowing your terminology, the Falcons have given up more yards on the ground than the Chargers solely because they have had a FUCKTON MORE rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us. Both teams average 4.5 yards surrendered per rushing attempt, putting them in the 20+ category in terms of run defense rank--that is, both teams are below average.

The reasons why they have had more rushing attempts made against them than we have had made against us are:

1) We get more stops because our pass defense is better. (Theirs is literally dead last in YPA against whereas we are 17th.)

2) We possess the ball more (by almost 4 minutes per game) so the other team does not, which means we have to make fewer stops per game.

Oh, I think there is one more thing that I haven't mentioned. We have been ahead late in our games much more so than the Falcons, so that would tend to make the other team pass more versus running the ball as well.

Clueless logo:

[Steve]

No, Panama. To give you the context, Steve suggested that ATL was awful in run defense because they were surrendering a large amount of rushing yards per game. I was simply trying to show the effect that ATL's comparatively high rushing attempts against was having on the figure.

To provide an extreme example to drive the point home, I pointed out that ATL's rushing yards surrendered right now would be lower than that of every team in the league by the end of the season (because every other team will have had a bazillion more rushing attempts against it than the Falcons do right now). So, trying to point out the very obvious where it appeared to have been lost, the number of attempts a team has against is an important factor in the total yards that team surrenders.

That is why I used YPC against. Interestingly, in his attempt to criticize Soliai, Steve went out of his way to slam the ATL run defense, but there is a problem with that. He has suggested that we don't run have a run defense problem and yet that "horrible ATL run defense" and our Chargers yield the same 4.5 YPC against. Neither is good, but neither is absolutely horrible either--both are somewhat below average.

But sorry, I am not saying ATL will finish #1 at the end of the year in rushing defense and you aren't (I am guessing because you are intelligent) taking the field on a proposition bet that gives me ATL's yards surrendered now versus every other team's end of the season number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjwaqZfjIY

Atlanta has an awful run D, therefore they give up a lot of yards. It is the essence of statistics. The stat NEVER means anything, it describes what is happening.

Second, YPC doesn't mean what you think it means. You think that on every run play we typically give up 4 or 5 yards rushing like Atlanta does. That is NOT what it means. We gave up a huge chunk of our yards to Harvin's sweep in the Seattle game, plus the QB scrambles. If you subtract those out, we are actually a lot better then 4.5 YPC. The more important part though is how we got to the 4.5 YPC. Atlanta is giving up a lot of yards 4 yards at a time, and has given up a couple of long runs. Teams are sustaining drives against them, so they give up consistent yardage on plays. We are giving up a fair number of longer runs, but we are also stopping people on a fair number of runs. Sure, they get enough to have a good average, but that doesn't matter, because they aren't getting the big runs on the same drive. If you get a 15 yard run on every drive, it doesn't matter unless that run is close enough to score allow points to be scored. But if you give up a 15 yard carry, then hit the other team for no gain, and they throw 2 incomplete passes, they have to punt. Sure, we want to improve and stop the 15 yard run, but in the grand scheme or things, it doesn't matter, because they didn't score. That is what Yuba forgets.

So, to sum up: Atlanta consistently allowing 4 yards -> BAD
SD inconsistently allowing yards -> good (not the allowing, but because we play well except for a few mistakes).

And how do I know all this. I now live in South Carolina, 2 hours outside of Atlanta, and those are the games on TV. So I WATCH the games. Mostly to be able to give the guys at my new job a hard time, but also to annoy Yuba and because I don't really need an excuse to watch football.

[Steve]

Edit: No offense to the naysayers on this board, but this team (barring more injuries) is WAY BETTER than I thought they'd be going in. The coverage (two superior and one solid CB), and the pass rush (consistently excellent pressure with four guys) are CLEARLY superior to last year. Offense continues to roll and barring injuries to Matthews, Woodhead, Ohrnburger/Hardwick, Clary, etc.. they'd be in the top 3 right now. As it is they're only putting up 30 pts/game. And even special teams are more athletic than last year. Novak/Scifres are best in business, and the three coverage guys are monsters (Stuckey, Conner, Ajiratutu).

MM is doing a great job of slowly but steadily making progress with this team. No matter how this year turns out, next year we could be pretty awesome. Lot of cap space. Another draft. Lots of guys getting a lot of playing expereince making them better players. Great game planning. They are putting a lot of the right pieces together.

[sandiego17]

We possess the ball more (by almost 4 minutes per game) so the other team does not, which means we have to make fewer stops per game.

How does the defense being able to actually make stops, get off the field and get the ball in the offenses hand factor into this TOP argument? Doesn't that matter? You do see that the rest of your post supports not spending excess resources on a NT, right?