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Inside The Data: Eagles Defensive Performance Vs. NFL's Best QBs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, welcome back to Inside the Birds. Actually it's inside
0:12
the Data. On Inside the Birds, I'm Jeff Mosher. And
0:15
of course when you hear inside the Data, you know
0:17
that means we're bringing in Sam Finkle to answer a
0:21
mail bag question in this episode, and Sam, we're gonna
0:23
turn the page. This is gonna be it for our
0:25
summer mail bag series because most of these questions have
0:29
been about last year's team from an analytics standpoint, and
0:32
we got to turn the page and start to get
0:34
looking at this year's upcoming team, which we'll start to
0:37
do pretty soon, but in the meantime, let's finish off.
0:40
This question is a little bit like the last one
0:43
we answered, where there's some subjectivity involved. You know, we
0:46
had an episode that asked us how did the Eagles
0:49
do against the top the elite pass rushers? And that's subjective, right,
0:53
I mean we who the number one, number two, number
0:57
three pass rusher in the league? Is all subjective and
1:00
this latest question was more about how did the Eagles
1:04
defense last year do against the top ten quarterbacks? But
1:08
everybody's got their own top ten lists, So how did
1:11
you reconcile that?
1:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the question specifically asked about turnovers, scoring in yards,
1:17
So this analysis will look at passing yards, passing touchdowns,
1:21
and obviously interceptions of the So they wanted to know
1:25
the Eagles defense in comparison to other playoff defenses. So
1:27
it'll take the Eagles defense and put them comparatively to
1:30
all the teams that made the playoffs. In terms of
1:33
how the top ten quarterbacks were selected, there was some
1:36
subjectivity to it. There were some guys that probably could
1:40
have and would have made the list on other years,
1:42
like Dak Prescott, for example, if he played a full season,
1:45
I probably would have included him on this list.
1:48
Speaker 3: Also CJ.
1:48
Speaker 2: Stroud I did not include on this list, but there
1:51
is some subjectivity to it. I used as a baseline
1:54
predominantly the top quarterbacks the Eagles played, and I used
1:58
them as a good base and then I expanded a
2:00
little bit of So you.
2:02
Speaker 4: Did a couple of things here, right.
2:03
Speaker 1: You You picked out not just how the Eagles performed
2:08
against some of the better quarterbacks in the league, but
2:10
also how that compared to how other playoff teams performed
2:15
against top quarterbacks.
2:17
Speaker 4: In the league.
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Speaker 1: And I feel like, I don't know, I don't remember
2:19
exactly how the question was phrased, but I feel like
2:21
you took it a step further, just for more context.
2:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
2:25
Speaker 1: Absolutely, well, good good on you for doing that, and
2:27
I'm sure the person who submitted the question will appreciate that.
2:31
Don't forget to continue submitting your questions to Inside the
2:35
Birds at gmail dot com. We'll do we'll answer questions
2:39
in podcast style, but we'll also have this season, Sam
2:43
doing his own, you know, analytics and metrics podcasts for
2:46
Inside the Birds. As Inside the Data continues. We have
2:49
fancy cover art for your show. Now, Sam, I mean,
2:51
we were making here, becoming a superstar on our platform.
2:55
Speaker 2: It's just such an honor to be here. And you know,
2:57
I think this is our twenty fourth episode. That's crazy,
3:00
that's incredible.
3:01
Speaker 4: I didn't even realize that that is amazing.
3:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I saw the little folder on the
3:07
page that it said twenty three with yesterday's or whatever
3:10
we posted last.
3:12
Speaker 3: So it's exciting. I'm very excited to be here, and
3:15
we're gonna have some great stuff coming.
3:17
Speaker 1: Always do good stuff, all right, So let's get to
3:20
the question. How did the Eagles defense perform against some
3:23
of the best quarterbacks in the league last year and
3:26
By the way, I think this is a good question
3:28
for this past season, their super Bowl season, because in
3:31
twenty twenty three when they went to the Super Bowl,
3:34
I just thinkly remember they just didn't face a whole
3:36
barrage of really tough quarterbacks. They did in twenty twenty four,
3:40
I'm sorry two twenty two season. Right, twenty twenty three
3:44
season they did face a lot of quarterbacks start off
3:47
ten and one had the slide at the end we
3:48
all know. And then of course last year, I do
3:50
feel like they faced a decent amount of good quarterbacks,
3:53
which we'll see in just one second here.
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Speaker 4: And so now I've shared so that.
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Speaker 1: People watching from home can see, but we will of
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course do our best for those who are just listening
4:03
to the podcast version to explain what the people on
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YouTube are seeing.
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Speaker 4: So good, Sam, why don't you describe what we're seeing
4:11
right now?
4:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, basically, like I said, Eagles at the top,
4:14
but it has all the playoff teams that are color coded,
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so you can if you're watching it, you can see
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you know where you're where that playoff team falls. And
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then it has those three categories that I described earlier,
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the average passing yards per game, average pass touchdowns per
4:29
game and average interceptions per game, So just kind of
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seeing from that context. The Eagles numbers for the average
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passing yards per game was two point fifty two point
4:38
eighty six, which is seventh. Their average passing touchdowns was
4:42
two point one four which is eleventh, and their average
4:44
interceptions was zero point seven to one, which was fourth.
4:48
Speaker 1: All right, so people might be surprised to say, wow,
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the Eagles were only sort of middle of the pack
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and average yards per game and then also average touchdowns
4:57
per game low. They allowed more than I guess all
5:00
but three other teams. Right, But it's important to note
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two things right. One, they started off really slow defensively.
5:07
They had a couple of bad games that skew it. Two,
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this is the regular season stat they played like on
5:13
a totally higher level even in the playoffs. If we
5:16
did a playoff one, I'm sure it would look different.
5:19
Speaker 4: Yeah.
5:20
Speaker 1: And three, I mean, the whole nature of Vic Fangio's
5:22
defense is to bend a little bit and not break
5:25
and rely on those turnovers, which, as you have here,
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they were ranked four, so they did their job there.
5:31
And then the one thing I'll add in from the
5:32
passing touchdowns per game, which is two point one four
5:35
for them against playoff teams. Is that they did seemingly
5:40
allow a lot of low red zone touchdowns. I believe
5:45
that game where Washington had six touchdowns against them, at
5:47
least five came low red zone passes two to Crowder two.
5:52
Speaker 4: It is the keyest. There was another one. They just happened.
5:55
We talked about it during the season last year. You know, CJ.
5:59
Speaker 1: Garder Johnson sort of got targeted and man on Mann
6:02
situations and low red zone and they got them on.
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Speaker 4: Some crossing routes and some brub routes. So it happened.
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Speaker 1: They just happened to allow more passing touchdowns per game
6:11
than other playoff teams.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and as you'll see, that does actually skew the
6:16
numbers pretty significantly. So without that one to five touchdown
6:20
game in particular, these numbers would be a lot different.
6:23
So and when you're dealing with a small sample size,
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you know, one anomaly really affects the average, so right
6:29
where we're at.
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Speaker 1: And then you know the other number that that sort
6:32
of is good jumps out and as we get into it,
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I mean, there are some really impressive numbers here. The
6:37
Texans allowing only two hundred and four yards per game passing.
6:40
That's passing yards, right, passing yards per game in the playoffs,
6:44
I'm sorry, in the regular season against playoff teams is
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really really excellent. And then there was one other number
6:52
that really jumped out to the Lions.
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Speaker 4: They skewed some some teams because they how much they scored.
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Speaker 2: Right, yeah, I mean, and I mean when they score
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a lot, you expect the quarterbacks to have to score
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a lot to in response. So I think that averaging
7:06
only one touchdown allowed against elite quarterbacks is pretty impressive.
7:11
And the other side, I mean, the Commanders allowed the
7:13
most at two ninety two, the Bills allowed the most
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touchdowns at three, averaging three. And again the Texans again
7:22
with the most turnovers generated, and the Kansadity Chiefs with
7:26
the least generated.
7:28
Speaker 1: How about that interesting, right, just during the regular season,
7:31
the least generated interceptions. They were not as opportunistic with
7:35
the ball as they had been in years past.
7:37
Speaker 2: Certainly, Yeah, I was a little bit surprised when I
7:39
was doing the research on this, right.
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Speaker 1: However, I'm sorry I didn't interrupt it. I was gonna
7:44
say two thirty one passing yards per game. That was
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probably it's one of the better.
7:47
Speaker 3: Ones for sure. Yeah, it definitely is.
7:51
Speaker 1: All right, So then you broke down each team individually,
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and we'll start here with the Eagles and Chiefs, the
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two teams that met in the Super Bowl, hopefully meet minimize.
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Speaker 4: That's sort I can see it. There we go.
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Speaker 1: So what you did here is take each team and
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all the playoff quarterbacks that they face and how they fared.
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Speaker 4: So for the.
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Speaker 1: Eagles, they faced Jane Daniels twice, Mayfield once, Love once
8:15
in the regular season, Stafford once in the regular season,
8:17
Lamar Jackson.
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Speaker 4: And Burrow.
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Speaker 1: I think as we go through this, the Eagles are
8:21
on the higher end of how many, like I said before,
8:23
how many quarterbacks they had to face this year that
8:26
were pretty good and playoff bound.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and let me just start this by telling you
8:29
that I actually did an average for quarterbacks that appeared
8:33
multiple times, just because I didn't want to put their
8:36
full numbers. But that obviously is accounted for in the
8:38
total average. But when you see these numbers that two
8:42
twenty four point five, it's actually double that if you're
8:45
looking at it holistically, and it's six touchdowns and three interceptions,
8:49
but if you take it on an.
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Speaker 3: Average, you get those numbers. So yeah, that's where that
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comes from.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so basically, they held Jane Daniels to a pretty
8:58
low number of passing in comparison to say, Baker Mayfield,
9:02
even you know, Stafford or Lamar. But he threw more
9:07
touchdowns against them by far, you know, on average, because
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like you said, he had six, that's an average of three,
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you know guys who did well. Lamar Mayfield only had two.
9:17
He also had more interceptions that he threw against the Eagles,
9:22
But I think the number that jumps out Sam is Borrow.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so, yeah, like two.
9:28
Speaker 4: I mean we all saw it.
9:29
Speaker 1: But two hundred and thirty he threw for the fewest
9:33
yards against the Eagles defense in any of these playoff
9:35
bound quarterbacks.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's really interesting, especially because due to the
9:40
Bengals situation and their play calling, they throw the ball
9:43
a lot, so it's particularly impressive that it was. It
9:47
was the lowest, you know, besides obviously besides Daniel's average,
9:51
but again that's an average.
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Speaker 1: Rights Yeah, and Lamar too. I mean, Lamar will only
9:56
get two thirty seven and two. It was a frustrating
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game for him. The only thing that really from a
10:01
negative I guess jumps out is outside of Daniels, they
10:04
really didn't force a lot of interceptions against these top quarterbacks.
10:08
Just two among the one, two, three, four, five not
10:12
named Jayden Daniels for sure.
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Speaker 2: And again the one stain on here is Baker Mayfield.
10:18
In terms of yardage, I do think that they would
10:20
have one of the better yardages. If you take away
10:24
that three hundred and forty seven performance by Baker Mayfield,
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I think it skews it pretty significantly, So I think
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that's worth saying.
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Speaker 4: Good, good point. All Right, so the Chiefs. The Chiefs
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faced Herbert Twice.
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Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and to your point, before you know, their yardage
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passing yards per game is one of the lower ones,
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and their touchdowns per game is one of the lower ones.
10:53
And they just didn't generate the turnovers. But they still
10:55
were very successful unit because they were able to limit
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you know, passing yards and touchdown. Just because they couldn't
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generate the turnovers at a rate the other teams, they
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were still a very successful defensive team.
11:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean averaging just two hundred and thirty one
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passing yards those quarterbacks is pretty good. You see, the
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Eagles faced a bunch of the same guys in average
11:14
two sixty two and obviously only one point three touchdowns allowed.
11:18
Very good, but to your point, not that many, not
11:22
as much of a high turnover total, which you know
11:24
the Chiefs have really relied on in the past.
11:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
11:27
Speaker 2: I mean they had one turnover forced against elite quarterbacks
11:30
and that was against Josh Allen, which he does throw interceptions.
11:33
I mean, that's one of the flaws of his game,
11:35
one of the very few flaws of his game, to
11:37
be honest.
11:38
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to some other playoff teams.
11:43
Let's look at the Texans and the Chargers and how
11:46
they did comparatively. Like I said, the Texans are allowing
11:50
just two hundred and four yards passing to guys like Mahomes, Goff, Love, Lamar, Jackson,
11:55
and Allen, and then holding Jackson and Allen under one
11:58
hundred and seventy yards.
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Speaker 3: Really impressive, it really is.
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Speaker 2: And I think that their turnover numbers get significantly skewed
12:06
because of that golf game where he threw five interceptions.
12:09
Speaker 4: Yes, so they were.
12:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're a good turnover team, but that makes it
12:13
seem like they're really really good having seven against those
12:16
but five, well, it's it's like this, right, I mean,
12:18
you don't take them away. They actually happened, so you
12:21
give them credit, but it's sort of an anomaly because
12:23
you just don't get.
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Speaker 4: You don't see five. And again, although didn't do it twice.
12:27
Speaker 3: I do believe he did it twice.
12:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he did do it twice incredibly, and
12:32
I think well the was the fifth was the second
12:34
one against the Commanders in the divisional.
12:36
Speaker 3: Series, was I believe?
12:37
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, so amazingly the guy was one and
12:40
one games were through five interceptions. So I mean, go
12:44
find go find somebody who wins game throwing five interceptions.
12:48
Speaker 4: Won't see it.
12:48
Speaker 3: Too often, No, you really won't.
12:50
Speaker 2: But one of the honestly one of the better, at
12:54
least in these metrics, one of the best defenses that
12:56
you see as the Texans.
12:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, all right.
13:00
Speaker 1: So the Chargers are interesting one, right, because they finished
13:03
as one of the elite defenses in the league last year.
13:06
But when you look at their metrics against the good quarterbacks,
13:08
it makes you think they really kind of feasted off
13:11
the bad ones and at time we're up and down
13:15
against the good ones.
13:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent.
13:17
Speaker 2: I mean they did a good job at limiting Lamar Jackson,
13:21
but he still scored twice with passing touchdowns and they
13:24
got kind of torched by Joe Burrow with three hundred
13:27
and fifty six yards and three touchdowns.
13:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, then Joe Burrow, that's a repetitive theme. We'll see
13:33
for some other defenses that you compare. But two fifty
13:37
five passing, that's actually worse than the Eagles, right, the
13:39
Eagles are at two. I have to go back nount
13:41
check too, oh fifty two.
13:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, very very similar at the end that
13:46
that Burrow game is kind of like their Baker Mayfield anomaly.
13:49
Speaker 4: Right.
13:50
Speaker 2: I will say that Baker also did very well against
13:53
the Chargers with four touchdowns and one reception.
13:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, he really came into his own last year. Let's
14:00
talk about the Bills. I'll blow them up and make.
14:02
Speaker 1: Them separate here, ye, Bills, you mentioned this like there,
14:07
they will bend. They get abused by Goff and Stafford,
14:12
but in the bigger games against Mahomes and Jackson, they
14:15
play well even though they give up more touchdown passes.
14:17
Speaker 4: They held them to fewer yards.
14:20
Speaker 2: It's crazy. I mean Goff went four ninety four five touchdowns.
14:24
That was a crazy high scoring game. And that actually
14:28
is probably the best example of an anomaly on here
14:31
that you just don't see those kind of games. But
14:34
you look at the other quarterbacks, like you said, like
14:35
Mahomes and Lamar one f six respectively, you know you
14:40
can't ask for much more against those caliber guys.
14:44
Speaker 1: No, you probably if you're McDermott, you want a little
14:47
bit more turnovers overall. I mean you had two against Mahomes,
14:50
but none against Goff, Stafford or Lamar Jackson.
14:55
Speaker 2: But like when you look at Lamar's game that hit turnover,
14:57
he really limits the turnovers, so that one's a little
14:59
bit difficult. But you would think that a guy like Goff,
15:02
who threw five interceptions twice last year, you might get
15:05
one or two from him.
15:06
Speaker 4: But yeah, you would think, all right, let's go on
15:10
to the Ravens. Always a good defense.
15:12
Speaker 1: But again, the Ravens are gonna be interesting because a
15:15
they have a big sample size, so that's really good.
15:17
Speaker 4: Let's let's go.
15:18
Speaker 1: They faced Burrow twice, so that's two, right, there, Mayfield three,
15:23
Mahomes four, Daniels five, Herbert six, Josh Allen seven, Jalen
15:27
Hurts eight.
15:27
Speaker 4: So it's eight times.
15:29
Speaker 1: It's almost half their schedule that they were facing a
15:32
playoff quarterback.
15:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Burrow dominated the Baltimore Ravens on the stat
15:38
sheet and then did not dominate them on the win
15:40
sheet and win column. He lost both the games, one
15:44
in overtime. You know, he put up four hundred and
15:47
ten yards on average, so between two games, he scored
15:50
nine touchdowns in both games and he only had one interception,
15:54
So I mean, you can't do much better than that,
15:57
and he still lost. And that was kind of the
15:59
story of the Bengal last year overall. But I mean,
16:02
you look at that, the performance is also this very
16:05
similar with Baker. Mayfield put up three hundred and seventy
16:08
but they were able to get two interceptions off and
16:10
keep him to only three touchdowns.
16:12
Speaker 1: I remember the two games really vividly between the Ravens
16:16
and the Bengals, and they were as crazy and back
16:19
and forth and neck and neck as you would expect
16:22
AFC North teams like that to go at it. There
16:25
were like some crazy turnovers. I think Lamar Jackson threw
16:28
a touchdown pass where he was almost down on his knees,
16:31
he was almost being sacked and he kind of escaped
16:33
it in sideways through a touchdown. It was those There
16:36
were awesome games to watch.
16:37
Speaker 4: If you like offense.
16:38
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Lamar just being Lamar for sure. I will also
16:42
note that at the bottom, I mean, they limited Josh
16:45
Allen one hundred and eighty yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions,
16:48
very impressive, and then Jalen Hurts they limited to one
16:51
hundred and eighteen yards and only one touchdown.
16:54
Speaker 1: So true, true, indeed, all right, good stuff there, Ravens
16:57
are going to be a really good team in twenty
16:59
twenty five. I brought back pretty much everybody on defense,
17:02
so that'll be And then, like I said, over the
17:04
last eight games of last year, Sam, they were number
17:07
two to the Eagles in total defense.
17:10
Speaker 4: So should be a good team this year.
17:11
Speaker 3: Absolutely team to watch for sure. All Right.
17:14
Speaker 1: The Steelers faced Borrow twice, Jackson twice, so that's four
17:20
right there, Mahomes five, Hurt six, Daniel seven, Herbert eight,
17:25
So that's a pretty big sample size.
17:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's probably more representative than some of the
17:31
other teams. As to what their defense is. I mean,
17:34
the Steelers dealt with some injuries over the year. Watt
17:37
got hurt a couple of times. But they're they're a
17:40
good defense, and it shows here. You know, they only
17:44
allowed two hundred and forty two point one three passing
17:47
yards on average, one point seventy five touchdowns per game
17:50
passing average. But and they only generated half a interception
17:55
a game. So and those came from you know, two
17:59
from Burrow and two from Jackson.
18:01
Speaker 3: Imagine Jackson's not a guy that throws interceptions, so right, can.
18:04
Speaker 1: You imaginef the Steelers for the last two years just
18:06
had like I don't want to say, above average or yeah,
18:09
like slightly above average quarterback play.
18:12
Speaker 3: They'd be dangerous.
18:13
Speaker 4: They would be dangerous, absolutely, all right.
18:17
Speaker 1: Uh and Broncos Now, interestingly, the Broncos quarterback.
18:21
Speaker 4: I like that you did this.
18:24
Speaker 1: His name is Bonix, right, we didn't. You didn't put
18:28
him on this list for other even though we did
18:31
versus playoff quarterbacks. He is clearly not a top ten
18:34
He was a rookie, so I'm glad that he was
18:36
sort of kept out of the comparisons here.
18:38
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I didn't just limit it to just playoff quarterbacks.
18:42
But it does kind of tend to be mostly playoff quarterbacks,
18:44
I mean, because Burrow didn't make the playoffs unfortunately.
18:47
Speaker 4: Oh that's a good point.
18:48
Speaker 1: Right, right, because I'm separating these these individual charts versus
18:52
the other.
18:53
Speaker 4: One where it was versus playoffs. So fair enough, but
18:55
good point.
18:57
Speaker 1: But yeah, anyway, the Broncos had a really really good defense,
19:00
probably the best no name defense you ever heard. Not
19:02
a lot of people know about Nick Bonito or Coo,
19:05
Jonathan Cooper, Zach Allen.
19:07
Speaker 4: Right, they had like think same.
19:09
Speaker 1: I think they had five or six guys that had
19:12
at least five and a half sacks.
19:13
Speaker 2: It's really impressive. It's they're they're a dangerous team. And
19:16
they returned a lot of people too, so they're they're
19:18
gonna be tough this year. Yeah.
19:19
Speaker 1: They added Jade bar in the corner I think at
19:21
a Clemson right, so er Texas and Texas I think Texas.
19:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, he might have started either way.
19:28
Speaker 1: Good player there, good secondary, and you can see once
19:31
again the Joe Burrow. It's like, how did this team
19:35
not make the playoffs?
19:36
Speaker 3: Joe show.
19:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough when you don't have a defense that
19:40
can you know, bail you out and you're just asking
19:43
your offense to do everything. I mean, complimentary football is
19:45
important for a reason, and you know, we see a
19:47
good example of it there.
19:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was like the one team and I remember
19:51
this was very early in the year. The Broncos just
19:54
steimied Mayfield. I think they won that game like forty
19:56
two to seven or something, very lopsided. But that was
20:00
one of the few Baker Mayfield duds of the year,
20:03
but they caused it.
20:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, props to that defense. Baker looked
20:07
incredible throughout the year. So having that kind of performance
20:11
as opposed to the other performances we just looked at
20:13
against playoff team defenses, It's right, it's interesting to say,
20:17
for sure. And they did a decent job limiting Mahomes,
20:21
you know, not really with Lamar Again, the Joe Show
20:24
did his thing and Herbert did okay, So yeah, yeah.
20:28
Speaker 4: And again this is a really good defense.
20:30
Speaker 1: But still against the best quarterbacks, you're up around two
20:34
seventy five a game passing.
20:36
Speaker 4: That's a little bit more than the Eagles allowed.
20:38
Speaker 1: So it just puts into perspective how well the Eagles
20:40
did last year.
20:41
Speaker 4: For sure, all right, let's go to Detroit and Washington.
20:45
Speaker 1: Here the Lions, and the caveat that I would say
20:49
is that when you score as many points as the
20:51
Lions score, teams.
20:52
Speaker 4: Are constantly behind. They have to pass.
20:54
Speaker 1: So probably gonna see a higher yard per game here
20:58
than some of the other playoff teams.
21:00
Speaker 3: But even that, I mean, if you look at the
21:02
passing touchdowns, it's it's one of the best.
21:05
Speaker 4: That's great, great point.
21:06
Speaker 3: So and I actually might have been the best now
21:08
I'm thinking of it is the best.
21:10
Speaker 4: So good for them.
21:12
Speaker 2: And honestly, they dealt with so many injuries last year
21:14
that this is just a testament to you know, their
21:17
defense and their ability. They're going to be a dangerous
21:19
defense this year too.
21:21
Speaker 4: Sure just coming.
21:22
Speaker 2: Back, I mean it'd be good assuming he recovered well obviously, Yep.
21:27
Speaker 1: This was like the only this was the other Baker Mayfield.
21:30
Not great game Tampa, I'm sorry, not Tamla. Denver was
21:33
one in Detroit. Yet another one.
21:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was the best performance they had defensively.
21:39
You know, Stafford threw a lot, Alan threw a lot.
21:44
Alan had two touchdowns. Everyone else had one. Jordan Love,
21:48
you know, he averaged two thirty nine point five, threw
21:51
only one touchdown in one interception.
21:53
Speaker 3: In the two games that he played.
21:54
Speaker 1: So right and then Washington they took their turn getting
21:59
torched by Joe Barr as well. Three twenty four, three touchdowns,
22:03
no interceptions. However, other than that, pretty good. Hurts two
22:07
thirty two Mayfield had four touchdowns. That's not obviously great.
22:11
I think the big thing if you're dan Quinn is
22:13
when you look at this, you're probably okay with the
22:15
high passing numbers. But dan Quinn's defenses sam as you know,
22:20
have always been sort of turnover oriented and only one
22:24
in the one, two, three, well five because Jalen Hurts
22:26
playing twice in the five appearances against these quarterbacks.
22:29
Speaker 2: So I did not count the second game with Jalen
22:33
Hurts in this analysis because he left the game really early.
22:37
Speaker 3: That's a good point, okay, So it's only the four here.
22:41
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett, I don't remember if he got picked off either, though.
22:45
Speaker 3: I don't I'm not sure I don't remember that.
22:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I remember Picket through two touchdowns early,
22:50
came in kind of struggled after that, but I'm pretty
22:52
sure I don't remember him having a turnover.
22:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to find it as we speak because
22:58
I'm a little interested in it. It's just taking me
23:03
a second.
23:04
Speaker 1: Sorry, Yeah, yeah, no, well you then I'll move on
23:06
to the the Rams and Vikings. Rams were a really
23:10
nice defense last year. They really came along. Obviously, they
23:14
had that barn Burner game with the with the with
23:17
the Bills that I think they won in weeks sixteen
23:21
or seventeen, but Josh Allen got him for three forty
23:24
two and three. But other than that, I mean, Hurts
23:26
did not have a great passing game. Goff really didn't
23:30
have it, one of his few bad passing games, and
23:33
you know, Jordan Love was just okay against him.
23:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, so to answer your previous question, Pickett did have
23:39
the interception.
23:40
Speaker 1: Okay, so there was one extra turnover there, but that's
23:42
really that's against a quarterbackers not in the in the
23:45
elite range.
23:46
Speaker 3: So for sure.
23:48
Speaker 2: But I think you described the Rams perfectly, and yeah
23:52
they were. They're a tough defense too, and they always
23:55
really have been historically and at least in modern era
23:58
for sure.
23:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:59
Speaker 4: Another said brings a lot of its young core back.
24:02
Speaker 1: I know they lost Michael Hoyt to the Bills, and
24:04
I do like Michael Hoyt, but I think they added
24:07
somebody in the secondary whose names escaping Grea Right now,
24:10
I feel like the Rams are ripe to be a
24:12
pretty good defensive team again this year with Jared for
24:15
Vers and Fisk.
24:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think so too.
24:18
Speaker 2: And we definitely we talked a lot about Verse last episode,
24:22
and everyone knows how we feel about him and how
24:26
his future is going to be.
24:27
Speaker 4: So yep.
24:29
Speaker 1: So the Vikings, you move on, and let's say, oh,
24:31
they only face three no, because they face Goff twice
24:33
and they face Love twice.
24:35
Speaker 4: So this is really five.
24:37
Speaker 1: This is an average of five outings against some of
24:41
the top quarterbacks in the league.
24:43
Speaker 4: Here.
24:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Stafford had four touchdowns in his one game
24:48
against them, which is pretty impressive, but the yardage wasn't
24:51
anything crazy and he had an interception.
24:53
Speaker 4: So there you go.
24:55
Speaker 1: Two hundred and seventy nine. Nobody, nobody averaged. Nobody got
24:57
the three hundred on average against So that that's good.
25:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's what you want for sure.
25:04
Speaker 1: And obviously they're on the higher end of the interceptions
25:06
per game at one point two. This is one of
25:07
the best of all the teams we've gone through, because
25:10
that's a Brian Flores defense. They're going to give up
25:12
yards because they're going to leave one on one situation.
25:14
So that's why you see a bunch of touchdowns per
25:17
game here. But they're also going to turn the ball
25:21
over because they're going to hit quarterbacks and pick up
25:23
fumbles and step in front of passes.
25:25
Speaker 2: That one point two number is ranked second among the
25:30
playoff teams. So to your point, yes, absolutely, turnovers is
25:33
a big part of their game, especially against elite quarterbacks.
25:37
Speaker 1: Right and uh, Tampa, we will finish off of the Bucks.
25:40
Speaker 4: I was surprised by this because I'm sorry, but Bucks
25:44
are back.
25:45
Speaker 1: The Bucks surprised me only because I think of them
25:49
as a turnover defense that gives up a lot of
25:51
yards with Todd Bowles blitzing just like Brian Flores. But
25:54
you know, there are two hundred and thirty six average
25:56
against six guys is pretty good. But they didn't really
26:00
force well other than golf, they didn't force too many turnovers.
26:04
Speaker 2: Right, And what's interesting is even though the yardage doesn't
26:07
scream anything crazy, they did a really good job at
26:10
limiting touchdowns except for three games I mean, Mahomes got
26:14
him for three, Lamar got him for five, and Herbert
26:18
got him for two. Everything else was zero zero one.
26:21
So I mean, you look at those guys and arguably
26:25
those are like some of the upper echelon of the
26:27
elite guys, so they against them. I wonder if you
26:30
teared this down what it would look like if you
26:33
actually broke it down based on whatever you define as
26:36
the top five guys versus the top you know ten,
26:39
it'd be interesting.
26:40
Speaker 1: Right, And there's a trade off with Herbert where you
26:42
allowed to but you intercepted him once and held him
26:45
under two hundred.
26:46
Speaker 4: So I think you take that.
26:47
Speaker 1: I forget who won that game, but I imagine that
26:50
you take that overall most times.
26:53
Speaker 3: I think so too. I think so too.
26:55
Speaker 2: All right, Packers, so they got golf twice and then
27:01
they have Hurts and Stafford and so like the hurts
27:06
the opening game, the two interceptions really helping.
27:10
Speaker 3: Their average quite a bit. Here.
27:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, the one point zero I think is third on
27:16
the list and Eagles were fourth, just for reference in
27:20
interceptions generated per game. You know, the touchdowns one point
27:24
seventy five is okay, and the yardage was pretty good too,
27:29
So I think.
27:30
Speaker 1: That that's a fair way to summarize their year. They
27:32
were pretty good, not great, both offensively and defously, but
27:36
we're talking about defense here. This is a team though
27:39
that yes, they say goodbye to Dyar Alexander, but he
27:42
was hurt for them a lot last year. Anyway, I
27:44
think in second year under Jeff Hafley wouldn't surprise me
27:48
if they took a step up. I kind of like
27:49
the Packers going into twenty twenty five as as a
27:52
team that can even improve upon last year is what
27:54
thirteen or fourteen win team.
27:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were. They were definitely a good team, and
28:00
it'll be interesting to see what they do this year,
28:03
especially under Hathley, for sure.
28:05
Speaker 1: All Right, So that's what it looked like for the Eagles,
28:10
and then what it looked like for other teams in
28:11
compared to the Eagles.
28:13
Speaker 4: And we know the Eagles won the Super Bowl, but.
28:15
Speaker 1: That was a nice look at how teams were defensively
28:17
against the better quarterbacks.
28:19
Speaker 4: Sam, we turned the page.
28:20
Speaker 1: Now twenty twenty four season, we're done talking about it.
28:23
Speaker 4: We are on to twenty twenty five.
28:26
Speaker 1: Just want to thank you for all your great work
28:28
over the summer and look forward to what we got
28:30
coming in the fall.
28:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
28:32
Speaker 2: It's been an honor doing this and I'm I'm excited.
28:34
I think we have some really cool stuff coming up,
28:36
and once we get some stats from preseason, you know
28:39
we're going to be going full force.
28:42
Speaker 1: Can't wait, as Bart Scott likes to say, all right,
28:44
So for Sam Finkel, I'm Jeff Mosher. You're watching Inside
28:47
the Data or listening to Inside the Data on Inside
28:50
the Birds.
28:51
Speaker 4: Catch you on the next one.