Don't Jump Ship On The Redskins' Defense Just Yet

No city does the knee-jerk reaction like Washington, D.C. And much of the time, it's really not necessary.

Case in point: The “hullabaloo” over the significant number of passing yards given up by the Redskins’ secondary over the first two weeks of the 2010 season. It stems from the fact that the Redskins are yielding 453 yards per game to opposing offenses, which ranks dead last among the league’s defenses. And anyone who had the great privilege of watching Matt Schaub light up the ‘Skins defenders and dance among the flames last week certainly wouldn’t blame Redskins Nation for being a little nervous.

But here’s the thing. I’m not really that nervous about 453 yards per game, at least not yet. That’s because I think that to rank the NFL’s defenses based on total yards per game is to use an incredibly flawed measuring stick.

Why do I feel this way? Well, for one thing, it really depends on who a team plays. For example, the Redskins have thus far faced the Cowboys and the Texans. Some facts about those two franchises: each has been a top 10 passing offense the past two years, each has a deep receiving corp, and each has a quarterback who threw for 4,000+ yards in 2009 (Matt Schaub actually threw for 4,770; there are only five other signal-callers in NFL history who have thrown for more). Facing good passing teams means giving up passing yards. So don’t worry; the Redskins will also play some bad passing teams this year. Things should even out.

Second, there are many factors that contribute to how many yards a defense yields. For example, a team could have a punter that doesn’t get a lot of range on his punts, resulting in a better average starting field position for that team’s opponents. Those opponents would have to travel less of the field to score, so while the defense may yield points, it may also yield less total yards while doing it and be ranked higher. To further illustrate: last year, the New York Giants defense gave up 26 points per game, 3^rd-most in the league. Conversely, the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints gave up 21 points per game, 13^th-most in the NFL. But in the default rankings, New York’s defense ranked higher (13^th) than New Orleans’s (25^th) because New York only surrendered 324.9 yards per game as opposed to New Orleans’s 357.8 yards per contest.

Now remind me, which one was the better defense?

What I’m trying to say is that there is more to defense than total yards. Now if the Burgundy and Gold are still ranked last at the bye week, then maybe we all can get the jitters. But as of right now, it’s a little too early to jump ship.