Winning vs. Rushing yards allowed on defense

[*bengalfan74*]

A couple recent threads about defensive stats get me thinking. How does a team winning affect yards given up on D vs. the rush ?

I understand all sorts of things affect these stats and this isn't by any means all inclusive or meant to be a know all end all type of thread. Just a glimpse into some stats.

I mean wow so many things factor in, injuries on both D and even O. One season you play 5 of the top 10 rushers in the NFL, the next 0 or 1. Outdoor stadiums and weather, facing teams with playoffs locked up, your division opponents, facing teams that just don't rush a lot, and on and on. And then the biggie: Generally speaking teams that our winning, their opponents have to pass more because time is running out and they're playing catch up. So obviously your defense is facing fewer rushing plays.

So how does our rush yards allowed stack up vs. winning seasons ? I went back to 05 just to give a larger sample size. These are average per game yards allowed, and of course our record and NFL rank.

05. 11-5 117.6 20th
06. 8-8 116.4 14th
07. 7-9 118.3 21st
08. 4-11-1 120.1 20th
09. 10-6 102.6 8th
10. 4-12 115.2 19th
11. 9-7 109.6 12th
12. 10-6 110.2 14th
13. 11-5 102.4 7th
14. 10-5-1 116.2 20th
15. 12-4 96.7 7th
16. 6-9-1 113.2 21st
17. 7-9 127.9 30th
18. 6-10 137.8 29th
19. 2-14 148.9 32nd

So a couple things stick out to me. 1. Our winning seasons line up pretty well with having decent rush defense stats. The two big anomalies are 05 117 yards allowed per game and 2014 116 yards. In 2011 and 12 we finished in the top half at 12th and 14th. 2. I knew this but it sorta really hit home how big a dive we've taken since 2015.

Just for some comparison only four teams that finished #1 in rush yards allowed during this same span have finished the season at or below .500 06 Vikings 6-10 07 Vikings 8-8 12 Bucs 7-9 19 Bucs 7-9. The bulk of the rest is the very top of the league for a given year, 13-3, 12-4, 11-5 final records.

And the other thing that jumped out at me is just how good the Steelers have been against the run ! They've been in the top 10 every year but 3. 2013, 17, and 19. Nine times they've finished in the top 5.

So what does all this mean ? I don't know, I just found it interesting.