Midseason Night Grades

[pbmax]

I'm not sure what to make of this defense. To answer your question, they're now ranked 19th in PPG. 79 of the 191 points they've given up were in their 1st and 8th games. In between, they had a 6 game stretch where they gave up just 18.5 PPG. That would be 3rd in the NFL if you did it all year. So this team has shown signs of being able to play decent defense, but they've also had a couple of major lapses. Halfway through the season, I'm just not sure what to expect from this defense.

Capers approach has proven vulnerable to a team that can really attack both on the ground and in the air. If they don't get a lead or turnovers, it can be a struggle choosing what to focus on.

[Joemailman]

Capers approach has proven vulnerable to a team that can really attack both on the ground and in the air. If they don't get a lead or turnovers, it can be a struggle choosing what to focus on.

All that may be true, but I would argue that could be said of the vast majority of teams in the NFL. The NFL has made it exceedingly difficult for teams to consistently play good defense. Baltimore was looking good, but they've given up 70 in the last 2 weeks. Denver got torched by New England yesterday. Indy gave up 51 to Pittsburgh a week after shutting out Cincinnati. The Packers defense had 2 bad games in 2 of the toughest places to play in the NFL. I think the jury is still out on whether this is one of the worst defenses in the NFL, or just another mediocre one.