Sportsfrog.com

I came across one of the more interesting quotes of the NFL football season while reading Football Outsiders Audibles from week 10.


While discussing the Titans – Jags game, and Tennessee’s struggles while playing without Albert Haynesworth:

“Bill Barnwell: It’s weird. We define offensive players by how great they are when they perform on the field, but it’s almost as if we define great defensive players by how their teams do when they’re not around (Bob Sanders being the first example that comes to mind). There’s something very strange about that.”

Strangely interesting.



The Bears went through this last year when they lost Tommie Harris and the Steelers have shown they aren’t the same without Troy Polamalu. You can go down a list of every team and probably easily pick out the one guy who makes everything go.


I think maybe it’s because offenses are so scheme based these days, while defenses still largely rely on one key, fundamental aspect: beat your guy.

If you lose a starting WR or left tackle, you merely plug in another guy at the spot and tell him to execute. And if he’s not better than average, you get the ball to someone else. That’s just not the case on defense.