Best NFL defenses of all time?

[CMIZ5290]

Everyone talks about the 1985 Bears, the 2000 Ravens, etc...Does anyone remember how fantastic the 1977 Atlanta Falcons defense was? Their stats suggest that they were the best. Look at some of these stats...They only gave up 128 points for the season (about 8 per game!), only 1,380 pass yards for the season (less than 100 per game!), they only gave up 12 touch downs for the season! As remarkable as they were, believe it or not, the team finished 7-7! Can you imagine giving up just a tad over a touchdown per game, and being just .500?

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

Everyone talks about the 1985 Bears, the 2000 Ravens, etc...Does anyone remember how fantastic the 1977 Atlanta Falcons defense was? Their stats suggest that they were the best. Look at some of these stats...They only gave up 128 points for the season (about 8 per game!), only 1,380 pass yards for the season (less than 100 per game!), they only gave up 12 touch downs for the season! As remarkable as they were, believe it or not, the team finished 7-7!

I forget the year but the Philly Eagles defense in the mid 80s coached by buddy ryan... there was a year or two they were number 1 against the pass and the run and their offense was bad so the defense was on the field a lot... Golic/White/Simmons maybe Jerome Brown as still alive on the line...seth joyner. eric allen etc.....they crushed warren moon when Moon was set to break Marino's yardage record at the time..

also killed like 3 redskin qbs in one game and put them in body bags.. and brian mitchell had to be the qb

[Rookiemonster]

Stats don't make the defense . You to give it the eye test .

[Peter_Spaeth]

Has to be the mid 70s Steel Curtain.

[cardsfan73]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Has to be the mid 70s Steel Curtain.

+1

[Mikehealer]

The Buddy Ryan coached Eagles, come on, they never won a playoff game.
I can't imagine anyone seriously considering them the best defense ever.
They never led the league in scoring defense, which is the point of defenses, keeping the other team from scoring.

The '91 team didn't even make the playoffs and Ryan was already fired by then.

The mid to late '80's Bears and Steel Curtain were much better defenses.

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I forget the year but the Philly Eagles defense in the mid 80s coached by buddy ryan... there was a year or two they were number 1 against the pass and the run and their offense was bad so the defense was on the field a lot... Golic/White/Simmons maybe Jerome Brown as still alive on the line...seth joyner. eric allen etc.....they crushed warren moon when Moon was set to break Marino's yardage record at the time..

also killed like 3 redskin qbs in one game and put them in body bags.. and brian mitchell had to be the qb

Mike Golic, really???? He sucked....Watching Mike and Mike???

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

Mike Golic, really???? He sucked....Watching Mike and Mike???

Mike was a reserve...he would of started on most teams actually on the Eagles he was a reserve ..Reggie White probably passed the eye test......3 members on the D-Line were in the Pro Bowl

i thinking of the 1991 team actually as I looked up the best year of the late 1980s run to early 1990s.......20 Tds allowed all year the 85 bears gave up 22 TDs..gave up 3549 yards... 85 Bears gave up 4135 plus the eagles offense was much worse than the bears offense and were on the field longer..


Statistics site Football Outsiders ranks the 1991 Eagles as the greatest defensive team in their ranking's history.[1] Says Football Outsiders, "The 1991 Eagles completely lap the field in terms of defensive DVOA. Only the 2002 Bucs had a better pass defense, and only the 2000 Ravens had a better run defense, and the Eagles were much more balanced than either of those teams.

"It's crazy to imagine how few points the Eagles might have given up if they were playing with a halfway-decent offense instead of losing Randall Cunningham to a torn ACL in the first game of the season. The Eagles were stuck depending on an over-the-hill Jim McMahon for 11 starts, plus Jeff Kemp for two and Brad Goebel for two. McMahon actually wasn't half bad ... but the other two quarterbacks were awful, especially Goebel who had no touchdowns with six interceptions. And the running game was dreadful, with 3.1 yards per carry as a team.

[esd10]

One of the best defensive secondary in football history was the 1976 bengals with lamar Parrish, Ken the rattler riley and tommy Casanova. They are very much over looked bye football historians because the the d line was a joke but if you came over the middle you would have been rocked or picked.

[DeanH3]

I feel it's almost impossible to compare defenses of today with those of even the early 90's. The rule changes are so in favor of the offense today that it would interesting to see how even the vaunted steel curtain would fare in today's game.