Bengals Defensive Players Not the Only Ones Who Weren't Top 10 Material in 2008

Not to pile onto the "Camp Postcards" article from yesterday, but the second item really got me thinking:

The Bengals finished a surprising 12th in the NFL in total defense in '08 (it was by far their best performance since 2001), but that ranking was inflated in that they spent so much time way behind in games, allowing opposing offenses to ease up on the accelerator. "The offenses may have been running a little bit more, because we weren't playing from ahead a lot, and I don't think we were quite top 10 material," says second-year defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

Seems like a nice little bit of humility from a coach that improved a defense significantly in his first year in Bengaldom until you actually look at the numbers.  The chart below shows how our defense performed by week in 2008:

That's right, the defense actually gave up significantly more yards/play in the second half than in the first. In only three of the games did the defense give up fewer yards per play in the second half than they did in the first, and that's including 11 kneeldowns to end blowouts. Don't worry, it's not some statistical anomaly, they also gave up more significantly more points in the 2nd half (216) than they did in the first (148).

What's worse, the fact that Ben Reiter didn't bother to check the data before proclaiming his theory or that Mike Zimmer didn't appear to know either.

Comments

[Leo deTrotskyo]

You could have highlighted the Giants (-1% Deviation) and the Redskins (0%), too. A few more games were within single digits, though positive (which is really negative, when you think about it). In all, exactly half the games show an appreciable increase by Bengals opponenets in the second half; only two show a significant decrease.

Zimmer was correct, though. #12 certainly is not in the top 10.

[Robert Weintraub]

Any one who actually watched the games or used common sense could figure this one--the offense could not sustain drives, and the defense that played well for two or three quarters gave way from exhaustion in the fourth. Rarely do teams "let up" in the NFL, for one thing, and with the exception of a couple of outright debacles, most of Cincy's games were competitive into the fourth quarter.
Robert Weintraub

[Ben]

Another thing to think about is that our (terrible) offense would be passing like crazy to try and get back in games during the 2nd half, leading to several drives where we punt the ball right back to the opponent without taking much time off the clock. That impacts the 2nd half defensive statistics negatively as well. But anyway I think we are both of the like mind that while we believe our defense last year was not nearly as good as our 12th place ranking would seem, we like the attitude Zimmer was brought to the defense and think he will improve year-to-year.

[Competitiveness]

That was my theory Rob (you confirmed it in the interview I did with you two weeks ago). I think the point was that Zimmer didn't seem to realize his defense's second half failures

[Ochotheclown]

Not all teams let up in 2nd half look at the patriots,Not only that Our problem in past years was playing good defense against teams we were suppossed too this year we did that...not giving up 50 pts to the Browns >_<

Plus they they need factor in what bad field position our defense had for the entire season...IMO we deserved atleast deserved the 12 spot.

[Mr. X]

We really didn't deserve better than 12th. The poor field position (32nd ranked offence, crappy punting) helps account for the fact that the D was 12th in yards allowed, but 18th in points allowed. Saying that it was a middle of the pack defence would be more accurate.

I do concede, however, that this was a far better performance than in previous years, and that Zimmer deserves a generous share of the credit.

[best running shoes]

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