Followups—Giants, Browns, and Rams

By John Turney  

Brian Daboll, Giants' Head Coach

Earlier in the season we showed the starts by three teams that were very good in league or team annals or in the case of the Giants a poor start.

The Browns' defense start was impressive given the era even if it was only after a handful of games. They were allowed the third-fewest yards after five games since the 1970 merger -- with the merger being a fair line of demarkation because the old AFL teams and NFL teams playing each other in the regular season for the first time. 

It was inevitable that the Browns would not be able to keep up with defensive teams in the deadball era like the early 1970s Vikings an Colts. But it's always worth it to talk about great teams of the past.

The Browns, after eight games (nine weeks) are no longer averaging 200.4 yards a game as they were after five games. However, allowing just 234.8 yards a game after eight games is still nothing to sneeze at. It's the best in the NFL (And they are third in scoring defense) and is still one of the best starts in club history., currently fifth in fewest yards allowed per game after eight games—

Fifth, you say? Not first. 

Well, considering all four in front of them were pre-1960 and the only team in the top ten that is post-1978 when the passing game was opening up is the 1987 defense.

It's also 13th best among all teams since 1978 in the fewest total offensive yards allowed.

Like always, it's obvious there is still half a season of football left to play for Myles Garrett and the rest of the Dawg Pound defense but give credit where credit is due -- they are playing pretty well. It's just unknown if it can last at 17 games. 

Odds are against it because these days defenses are at such a disadvantage given current rules and how penalties are called that are almost always tilted in the favor of NFL offenses but that is why they play the games -- so we can watch what teams can accomplish, one way or another.

We also posted about the Rans defense a few weeks ago. The Rams began by not allowing a lot of touchdown passes in their first seven games but five in the last two weeks dropped them from allowing the second-fewest (tied) to being tied for 14th best in team history after nine games, now totaling nine on at the midway point of the season. Or about as midway as you can get in a 17-game schedule. 

No, 14th best is not stellar but it's decent considering a few things. One is the era, two is the youth of the defense and three is the aforementioned era.

This year's rams have allowed the same number of touchdown passes the 1975 and 1976 Rams defenses allowed after nine games. And the same as the 1999 Rams who were the only team to allow fewer touchdown passes than the 2023 Rams after six games.

It just shows how fast things can change.

Current list, fewest touchdown passes allowed through nine games, in Rams franchise history.

Again, will they stay this high? Probably not. But still, exceeding expectations is always something to be praised and this unit has done that through nine games.

Last comes the 2023 Giants offense update. 

Last week they were tied for ninth-worst in scoring in team history -- dating back to 1925 which was bad enough. 

After Sunday's 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, they've fallen to sixth-worst—

At least they are not doing as poorly as the 1928, 1932, 1936, 1925 and 1931 teams. Well, yeah they are because none of those teams were last the the league in scoring. 

Like the Browns and Rams defenses, the Giants offense won't end the season averaging 11.2 points per game but like we said last week they better get a move on. Even finishing the year anywhere among these bottom twenty would not be a good look for Brian Daboll and the Big Blue.

Fun stuff.