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IS THE RAVENS' DEFENSE THE BEST EVER? DON'T GET CARRIED AWAY By CHARLES JAY, Editor/Publisher, Total Action.com December 29, 2000 The Baltimore Ravens' defense is understandably proud of their accomplishment. Their unit has allowed less points than any NFL team in the 16-game era. According to defensive tackle Tony Siragusa, "I think we're the best defense ever. Our stats will show it, and no one can take that away from us." Well, I'm here to take that away from you. Sort of. Do the Ravens possess the greatest defense ever in the NFL? Well, statistically, they might. But there's more to it than that, isn't there? Coach Brian Billick was asked about it on a CBS post-game show with Mike Ditka on it. And Billick answered, "I'll only think about that if it translates into a championship." Many of the Ravens' players are indeed aware of that reality. Says Ray Lewis, "I think to go down in history as the best of all time, you have to win the big one. You have to get into that big game and show people that you are for real." And I'm here to tell you that even if they do, the Ravens are going to be hard-pressed to surpass the feats of Ditka's 1985 Chicago Bears. That Bear team actually allowed more regular season points that year than they did the next, but they were at their devastating best when it mattered most. They surrendered just 208 points in 19 games, forcing 64 turnovers through the post-season. In the playoffs they pitched two shutouts (hanging goose eggs on the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams) and allowed just TEN points to their opponents in three games - seven of those points being relatively meaningless, as they already had a 44-3 lead over the Patriots in the Super Bowl - and these were opponents with a 37-16 record between them. During their three post-season contests the Bears yielded just 31 total first downs, 434 TOTAL yards, just 125 of those on the ground. And, as it turns out, ONE meaningful point per game. In the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots had SEVEN net rushing yards. That's a Super Bowl low. They had 123 TOTAL yards. And 76 of those yards came on the inconsequential touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. To add insult to injury, when the Bears had the whole thing salted away, they scored a safety when Steve Grogan was tackled in his own end zone. By halftime, the game had essentially been decided. At that point, Chicago was ahead, 23-3, and had held New England to -14 total yards. That's MINUS-14 yards! The Bears played seven of the other nine playoff teams at some point during the season, allowing just 71 points in eight games against those teams (that's 8.9 points per game). And even the "lesser" teams Chicago played that year - Tampa Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Green Bay, Atlanta - were, by and large, capable of putting points on the board. By contrast, the Ravens have played three games against playoff teams this season. They compiled a 1-2 record against those teams. And they had the benefit of playing eight games - half their schedule - against teams that were notoriously bad on offense - clubs like Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh twice each, plus San Diego and Arizona. In those games, they allowed just 33 points (just over four points a game). Against the rest of the schedule, they gave up 132 points. Not bad, but at 16.5 points per contest, merely pedestrian when you think of the Bears' exploits. Truth be known, when you consider the aforementioned facts, Baltimore's statistics against their 2000 schedule may stamp them as the best now, but they're really moot from a historical perspective. And speaking of historical perspective, we haven't even explored the historical impact of the Bears and their defensive schemes. Many a head coach, not the least of which is Bill Parcells, will tell you that every NFL team, at some time or another afterward, adopted most of the principles Buddy Ryan installed in his "46" defense. "Buddy Ryan changed the way defense was played in this league," said Parcells. That's pretty significant, and it counts for something too. If the Ravens can duplicate all that, I'll be happy to hand the mantle over to them. But to do that, they'll have a long, long way to go. I thought it was very interesting that Jeff Fisher, in a press conference after the Dallas game, was talking about what he's going to do during the bye week. He mentioned that his staff was going to get to know Indianapolis, they were going to study Denver, they already knew about Baltimore. The only possible opponent he didn't mention was the Miami Dolphins. Not that it's likely he'll be made to eat his words. Of course, Miami shut out his team in Pro Player Stadium last year, 17-0. I wonder if he remembers that....................... Is the talk about Tampa Bay's seeming inability to win a game in cold weather overblown? Well, the Bucs' players seem to think so. They feel their trip to Green Bay this past week, in which they could have won the game if the usually-consistent Martin Gramatica hadn't missed a field goal, was good for them. You've also probably heard that the Bucs are tired of hearing about their cold-weather ineptitude (now 0-19 in sub-40 degree temperatures), and that it doesn't mean anything here. Yeah, that's exactly what they said the last time they were in this situation, and the time before that, and the time before that. Do the aforementioned trends mean anything? You bet they do. This is football. It is played outdoors (sometimes) and played in the wintertime, and played in freezing temperatures. And weather is a factor in games. It's often a negative factor for warm-weather teams, which the Bucs are. Right now the forecast for Philadelphia calls for temperatures between 25-37 degrees for Sunday, and it may snow the day before. Of course, another consideration is the horrible field conditions that exist at Veterans Stadium - turf that should be hard as a rock. From that perspective at least, advantage - Eagles...........................The mid-season lull for the St. Louis Rams may have been attributable, in part, to the time off Mike Martz gave his players after a 57-31 thumping of San Diego earlier in the year. The Rams' bye week was next, and Martz, as a reward, gave his team the week off and had them come back the next Tuesday. After that, St. Louis wasn't quite the same, losing a certain "edge" they may just be getting back now. After a couple of wins in the last three weeks, and some very convenient choking by the Detroit Lions, St. Louis now finds itself in a position to mount a legitimate Super Bowl run - and they're confident about it. And with good reason. When you think about it, the Rams have beaten the Saints with Kurt Warner in the lineup. They ran roughshod through Minnesota's defense, and they handled the Giants pretty easily at the Meadowlands. So they have beaten almost everyone they're likely to face in the NFC playoffs, with the exception of Tampa Bay. And if that were the case, it's too bad they wouldn't face the Bucs at home. Then they could turn the air conditioning in the Trans World Dome down to, say, 28 degrees. That's legal, isn't it? All that having been said, here are my odds to win the Super Bowl (for entertainment only): TENNESSEE -- 5/2 MINNESOTA -- 4/1 OAKLAND -- 9/2 BALTIMORE -- 7/1 NY GIANTS -- 12/1 TAMPA BAY -- 15/1 ST. LOUIS -- 15/1 DENVER -- 18/1 NEW ORLEANS -- 20/1 PHILADELPHIA -- 25/1 MIAMI -- 30/1 INDIANAPOLIS -- 35/1 |
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