*Defensive Standouts Through 5 Games

[Beaver]

Separated defensive players by position grouping (Defensive Back, Linebacker, Defensive Line) and took the Z-Scores of each defensive stat for each of those groupings then compared each player's average Z-Score (since there were an uneven number of stats by position) to all defenders to get an idea of which players are standing out at their position.



There are massive sample size issues (any DB that's happened to score a touchdown gets a +2.070 for zTD compared to most who haven't who are at -0.483, likewise zSfty for defensive linemen). So if we cut it down to just stats that have actual participation - Tackles, Tackles for Loss, Sacks, Interceptions, Pass Deflections, Fumbles Forced, and Fumbles Recovered we get:



Basically this was just a convoluted way of showing that Dermott sucks.

Some fun facts (using the numbers from the second image):
-Though the top 10 is an even split (3 DB, 3 LB, 4 DL), the top 20 has 8 DBs, 4 LBs, and 8 DLs suggesting a large drop off from the elite LBs to the next tier.
-Only 23 Linebackers have a stat of any type - less than the 24ish you'd expect as a minimum - while Linemen have 29 and Defensive Backs have 37.
-Orange County's Linebackers have the highest average followed by Philadelphia's Linebackers. Arizona's and Colorado's are the last two, enhancing the theory that there is a massive drop-off in linebacker quality.
-All three of Orange County's defensive groupings have an above-average zAvg2 as do San Jose's, Philadelphia has two, and Colorado one.

[HalfEatenOnionBagel]

Dermott sucks.

[bovovovo]

This is really awesome

Sad to see Hardrool so low, he usually tears it up

[Ben]

wow beaver u r so smart

[PDXBaller]

@`Fire-Bred` check out the info about LBs...

[CDub2]

Love this analysis.

It's funny how the YKW defence groups are rated so low compared to the other elite teams (Table 3) but the defence as a whole, the Wraiths are number one in the league for points against, yards allowed, and rush defence.

[Roly]

Love the analysis - really cool

Too bad Morris is crapping the bed - it was a longgg scroll for his name on the first list (its at the end)

[Beaver]

Love this analysis.

It's funny how the YKW defence groups are rated so low compared to the other elite teams (Table 3) but the defence as a whole, the Wraiths are number one in the league for points against, yards allowed, and rush defence.

Yeah that's one of the things I found weirdest about this whole thing and I think the reason, for example, that teams like New Orleans and Colorado are rated above Yellowknife in the position groupings is that I only used counting stats. That is, if an offense runs 70 plays against Defense A and 90 against Defense B the players on Defense B will accumulate more statistics even though they likely had a worse performance as a team. That could be as a result of that defense's offense being good and holding onto the ball a lot (but not so good that they score quickly) or that the defense is able to force short possessions.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Yellowknife and Arizona both came out lower than I expected and those are the top two rushing offenses by yards. Baltimore is the other high volume rushing offense and I think an argument could be made that they're below expectations here, too.

[Bzerkap]

Further proof we are gods amongst ye mere mortals

Gaze upon our divine manhoods and weep