Experienced journalist and editor covering the sports and betting industry. A football, NFL and rugby specialist, he is a FWA member and judge at the Football Content Awards.
Best NFL Defense By Year
With the NFL playoffs just around the corner, I wanted to look at a phrase that we hear used countless times by commentators during the season. "Defense win Championships"
This phrase is reeled off for fun whenever a team with a strong defense overpowers one with a strong offense.
But does defense really win Championships?
After all, you can't win games if you can't score points.
Do olbg tipsters take a strong defense into account when adding their weekly NFL Tips? or do they focus more on offense?
What constitutes a good defense?
To quantify this blog, I'll be looking at three categories (points allowed, yards allowed, and turnovers) over the past seasons to see how the leading teams in each of those categories fared in the postseason.
2020 Update
I took a look at recent years NFL statistics as wanted to see if things had remained the same in relation to teams winning championships because of defense.
The highlighted teams made the Conference Championship Games that year.
The stats show 15 teams from a possible 60 positions.
Yards Allowed
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | New England Patriots | San Francisco 49's | Buffalo Bills | Baltimore Ravens | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 2018 | Baltimore Ravens | Buffalo Bills | Chicago Bears | Minnesota Vikings | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 2017 | Minnesota Vikings | Jacksonville Jaguars | Denver Broncos | Philadelphia Eagles | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 2016 | Houston Texans | Arizona Cardinals | Minnesota Vikings | Denver Broncos | Seattle Seahawks |
Points Allowed
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | New England Patriots | Buffalo Bills | Baltimore Ravens | Chicago Bears | Minnesota Vikings |
| 2018 | Chicago Bears | Baltimore Ravens | Tennessee Titans | Houston Texans | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 2017 | Minnesota Vikings | Jacksonville Jaguars | Los Angeles Chargers | Philadelphia Eagles | New England Patriots |
| 2016 | New England Patriots | New York Giants | Seattle Seahawks | Denver Broncos | Dallas Cowboys |
Turnovers Differential
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | New England Patriots | New Orleans Saints | Green Bay Packers | Seattle Seahawks | Minnesota Vikings |
| 2018 | Seattle Seahawks | Houston Texans | Chicago Bears | Los Angeles Rams | New England Patriots |
| 2017 | Baltimore Ravens | Kansas City Chiefs | Los Angeles Chargers | Philadelphia Eagles | Detroit Lions |
| 2016 | Kansas City Chiefs | Las Vegas Raiders | New England Patriots | Atlanta Falcons | Minnesota Vikings |
NFL Takeaways From Statistics
Not one of the teams who was in the top 5 of total defense won the SuperBowl.
Turnover Differential Trends show a correlation with teams contesting the SuperBowl.
- 2018: Patriots and Rams
- 2017: Eagles
- 2016: Patriots and Falcons
2010 -2014
With the NFL playoffs just around the corner, I wanted to look at a phrase that we hear used countless times by commentators during the season. ‘Defense win Championships' is reeled off for fun whenever a team with a strong defense overpowers one with a strong offense.
But does defense really win Championships? After all, you can't win games if you can't score points. But what constitutes a good defense? To quantify this blog, I'll be looking at three categories (points allowed, yards allowed and turnovers) over the past five seasons to see how the leading teams in each of those categories fared in the postseason.
Yards Allowed
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Seattle | Kansas City | Buffalo | San Diego | San Francisco |
| 2013 | Seattle | New Orleans | Houston | Buffalo | Cincinnati |
| 2012 | Pittsburgh | New York Jets | Denver | San Francisco | Arizona |
| 2011 | Pittsburgh | Cleveland | Houston | Baltimore | New York Jets |
| 2010 | San Diego | Oakland | Buffalo | New Orleans | Green Bay |
In 2014, only one of the five teams (Seattle) ranked inside in the top five made it into the postseason although the Seahawks made it all the way to the Superbowl. Seattle also made it all the way to the Superbowl in 2013, winning it, whilst two other teams in the top five also made it into the postseason, with New Orleans losing to Seattle and Cincinnati lasting just one game
In 2012, only Denver and San Francisco made it into the postseason although the 49ers went all the way to the Superbowl. 2011 saw three teams make the postseason but recorded only two wins.
2010 saw just two teams reach the postseason but whilst New Orleans lost their first game, Green Bay won the Superbowl.
Points Allowed
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Seattle | Detroit | Denver | Buffalo | San Francisco |
| 2013 | Seattle | Carolina | Cincinnati | New Orleans | San Francisco |
| 2012 | Pittsburgh | Denver | San Francisco | Seattle | Chicago |
| 2011 | Pittsburgh | Houston | Baltimore | San Francisco | New York Jets |
| 2010 | San Diego | Pittsburgh | New York Jets | New Orleans | Green Bay |
The top three teams in 2014 all made it into the postseason but only Seattle made it past one game, reaching the Superbowl. Seattle also made it all the way to the Superbowl in 2013, winning it, whilst two other teams in the top five also made it into the postseason, with New Orleans losing to Seattle and Cincinnati lasting just one game
Three teams in 2012 went to the postseason but only Superbowl runners-up San Francisco made it past their first game. In 2011, Four teams made it into the postseason with three teams winning one round.
2010 was the most successful season for the top five in this category with four of the teams making the postseason and Green Bay winning it all whilst Pittsburgh and the Jets faced off in the AFC title game
Turnovers
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Houston | Dallas | Buffalo | Cleveland | San Francisco |
| 2013 | Seattle | Kansas City | Cincinnati | Philadelphia | Tampa Bay |
| 2012 | Chicago | New England | New York Giants | Arizona | Seattle |
| 2011 | San Francisco | Green Bay | New England | Detroit | Seattle |
| 2010 | New York Giants | New England | Pittsburgh | Chicago | Philadelphia |
In 2014, only Dallas made it into the postseason, winning one round before being eliminated. The top four teams all reached the postseason in 2013 but only Seattle, who won the Superbowl, made it past their first match.
Two teams made it into the postseason in 2012 with both New England and Seattle making it through one round. Four teams made it into the postseason in 2011 including Superbowl runners-up New England
Four teams made it to the postseason in 2010 with two teams losing their first game
Conclusions
Only once, in 2013, has a team ranked inside the top five of all three categories and made the postseason. Back then, both Seattle and Cincinnati made the playoffs with the Bengals losing their opening match whilst the Seahawks won it all.
The key spot for me is that of those teams who ranked inside the top five in both points and yards allowed, there were four teams who made the Superbowl. Seattle (2013) and Green Bay (2010) won it all whilst Seattle (2014) and San Francisco (2012) were Superbowl runners-up. It's also worth noting that all four of those teams are from the NFC.
Check out all the NFL TIPS added by olbg members
Check out the American Football Forum for more discussion and picks during the Playoffs.
Contributor Information
We are spoiled with our Expert team at OLBG with our Commercial Content manager Luke Bradshaw-Lee being a keen UK-based NFL fan attending London games and burning the midnight oil to catch all the weekend action, He is ably assisted with inside info from, Michael Calabrese [@EastBreese] ; an Action Network correspondent and College sports podcaster in the US with the deepest football knowledge we have ever come across. They combine to create the best American Football content on OLBG which assists our tipsters in making their NFL predictions in the tipping competition.
Michael Calabrese
US Content Manager
Luke Bradshaw Lee
Senior Sports Betting Editor
The data in this article is maintained and updated regularly by Andy Powell and James Banting from our Tipster Competition team who settle and manage all the tips in that seection
