Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics



1998 DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 7/6/2009

This page lists DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) for total defense as well as rushing and passing defense separated. The DVOA system is explained here. All numbers below are adjusted to an average schedule of opponents and an average percentage of fumbles recovered by the defense. The exceptions are the final three columns, which are unadjusted total, passing, and rushing defense. Rushing includes all rushing, not just running backs.

LAST YEAR represents 1997 rank. WEIGHTED DEFENSE is adjusted so that earlier games in the season become gradually less important. It better reflects how the team was playing at the end of the season.

VARIANCE measures the statistical variance of the team's weekly DVOA performance. Teams are ranked from most consistent (#1, lowest variance) to least consistent (#30, highest variance).

Remember, since positive numbers represent more scoring, defense is better when it is NEGATIVE.

TEAM DEF.
DVOA 		LAST
YEAR 		WEIGHTED
DEFENSE 		RANK PASS
DEF. 		PASS
RANK 		RUSH
DEF. 		RUSH
RANK 		NON-ADJUSTED VAR. RANK
TOTAL PASS RUSH
1 MIA -26.0% 28 -23.5% 1 -30.1% 1 -21.1% 5 -21.0% -22.2% -19.7% 10.4% 27
2 SD -19.5% 20 -18.5% 4 -4.2% 12 -37.3% 1 -17.5% -3.9% -33.4% 5.4% 11
3 OAK -19.4% 29 -14.2% 5 -13.7% 5 -25.0% 2 -16.0% -11.8% -19.9% 4.5% 6
4 NYJ -15.8% 19 -19.3% 3 -18.5% 2 -12.6% 11 -9.7% -9.0% -10.6% 7.7% 20
5 ATL -13.3% 22 -20.2% 2 -5.5% 9 -24.4% 3 -20.2% -11.8% -32.2% 3.7% 5
6 TB -11.4% 9 -10.0% 8 -12.1% 6 -10.6% 12 -10.0% -9.2% -10.9% 11.7% 30
7 GB -10.7% 3 -8.0% 11 -4.5% 11 -19.0% 7 -12.5% -8.3% -18.2% 8.3% 23
8 SEA -10.5% 18 -8.9% 9 -14.6% 4 -5.8% 20 -10.5% -16.5% -3.7% 5.8% 13
9 NE -10.1% 13 -5.7% 15 -4.6% 10 -16.9% 9 -5.2% 2.5% -14.8% 5.0% 9
10 NYG -9.6% 4 -10.8% 7 -14.8% 3 -4.1% 23 -10.0% -18.4% -1.2% 6.5% 14
11 NO -8.9% 7 -5.7% 14 -0.8% 14 -17.9% 8 -4.8% 3.0% -13.5% 8.3% 22
12 PIT -8.0% 2 -11.1% 6 5.2% 17 -21.0% 6 -8.4% 6.5% -22.9% 6.9% 17
13 BAL -7.8% 12 -7.2% 12 6.7% 20 -23.2% 4 -5.7% 9.7% -22.1% 8.6% 24
14 STL -7.7% 11 -8.6% 10 -9.6% 7 -5.8% 21 -2.6% -1.9% -3.3% 5.7% 12
15 BUF -4.8% 6 -6.6% 13 -2.3% 13 -7.8% 18 -7.7% -3.9% -12.4% 1.8% 1
TEAM DEF.
DVOA 		LAST
YEAR 		WEIGHTED
DEFENSE 		RANK PASS
DEF. 		PASS
RANK 		RUSH
DEF. 		RUSH
RANK 		NON-ADJUSTED VAR. RANK
TOTAL PASS RUSH
16 SF -3.4% 1 0.5% 17 -7.7% 8 2.5% 26 -2.8% -3.4% -2.0% 4.5% 7
17 KC -2.7% 5 1.9% 20 5.4% 18 -9.9% 13 -3.8% -0.5% -6.8% 11.0% 29
18 MIN -2.0% 27 -2.1% 16 0.7% 15 -5.4% 22 -5.9% -4.4% -7.7% 8.8% 26
19 JAC -0.8% 23 1.0% 19 6.2% 19 -8.8% 14 -1.3% 5.8% -9.3% 2.9% 3
20 DEN 1.8% 8 4.2% 23 14.4% 25 -16.8% 10 -4.9% 4.5% -18.7% 2.8% 2
21 CAR 2.7% 21 2.7% 21 14.3% 24 -8.8% 15 6.6% 20.4% -7.0% 8.7% 25
22 CHI 4.7% 24 4.0% 22 17.2% 28 -6.5% 19 7.0% 20.7% -5.2% 7.2% 18
23 DAL 4.7% 17 6.5% 24 14.9% 26 -8.7% 16 -1.5% 4.9% -9.9% 5.3% 10
24 DET 4.7% 10 9.2% 26 7.4% 21 2.0% 25 7.5% 10.2% 4.9% 7.4% 19
25 PHI 5.7% 15 0.9% 18 2.3% 16 8.3% 27 6.3% 3.4% 8.5% 7.8% 21
26 ARI 6.2% 26 13.2% 29 11.3% 23 1.4% 24 -1.3% -2.0% -0.6% 10.4% 28
27 TEN 11.0% 16 10.1% 27 27.7% 30 -8.5% 17 8.2% 23.4% -9.6% 3.4% 4
28 IND 12.2% 25 10.8% 28 15.5% 27 9.3% 28 14.9% 25.5% 6.0% 4.9% 8
29 WAS 12.7% 14 7.8% 25 9.7% 22 15.4% 30 10.3% 2.8% 16.9% 6.7% 15
30 CIN 16.9% 30 14.9% 30 24.3% 29 12.0% 29 19.5% 30.2% 12.3% 6.8% 16