According to footballperspective.com. The 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the greatest pass defense in NFL History, and the 2013 Seattle Seahawks are ranked 4th.There are some surprises in the Top 10 like the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers. Here's the link. http://www.footballperspective.com/putting-the-2013-seahawks-pass-defense-in-perspective/
Lynch, Jackson, Barber and Kelly! I miss the old days!
If you ask me, the single best defense ever.Even when I'm not drinking the koolade, or wearing homer glasses that's still what I think.
The '99 defense was every bit as good IMO. It didn't have Simeon Rice, but did have Hardy Nickerson in his last year with the team, and Warren Sapp in his absolute prime. They held the record-breaking Rams offense to 9 points in the NFC Championship(Rams got a safety as well to make it 11 points), which was really amazing in and of itself. A shame that the offense couldn't do anything.2002 was just a special year period though, can't argue that both were some of the best defenses ever.
'99 ranked in at 52 and '00 at 93
Lynch, Jackson, Barber and Kelly! I miss the old days!
Or was it because of the pass rush?
The 1999 team had the biggest contrast between offense and defense I've ever seen. That offense made the 2000 Ravens look like the current Broncos. That the year the Giants offense did not cross the 50 yard line and we lost. Beat the Bears 6-3. Held the Chiefs to 10 points despite 6 turnovers by the offense.
Big differences between '99 and '02:1. Stronger Corner play when we went into the Nickel. Dwight Smith was fantastic, and allowed Ronde to Dominate inside covering the slot. We were much stronger in nickel in 2002 than 1999, which was fortunate as the 3 receiver set was something we saw much more often as well!2. Hardy Nickerson was a FANTASTIC LB for us, but Quarles was stronger in coverage down the deep middle. Hardy just didn't have quite that mobility near the end of his career.
The 1999 team had the biggest contrast between offense and defense I've ever seen. That offense made the 2000 Ravens look like the current Broncos. That the year the Giants offense did not cross the 50 yard line and we lost. Beat the Bears 6-3. Held the Chiefs to 10 points despite 6 turnovers by the offense.
That really was sickening.I've always said balance on a team is very important. I'd prefer a 10th ranked defense and a 10th ranked offense, than to have the number one defense, but the 32nd ranked offense.One side has to be exceptionally good to get past that anyway. It's why I've given kiff a lot of credit for keeping us competitive all those years while the offense wasn't doing so great. They pretty much outscored the offense during playoffs. It's nuts how good they were inside their 20.
Lynch, Jackson, Barber and Kelly! I miss the old days!
Or was it because of the pass rush?
It goes hand in hand. We were stacked from top to bottom, and we had nice depth on that defense too
The '99 defense was every bit as good IMO. It didn't have Simeon Rice, but did have Hardy Nickerson in his last year with the team, and Warren Sapp in his absolute prime. They held the record-breaking Rams offense to 9 points in the NFC Championship(Rams got a safety as well to make it 11 points), which was really amazing in and of itself. A shame that the offense couldn't do anything.2002 was just a special year period though, can't argue that both were some of the best defenses ever.
The 2002 defense was better... not by much, but better. They created more scores off turnovers and that was pretty important. One score off a turnover in the '99 title game and we might have two rings today.
The '99 defense was every bit as good IMO. It didn't have Simeon Rice, but did have Hardy Nickerson in his last year with the team, and Warren Sapp in his absolute prime. They held the record-breaking Rams offense to 9 points in the NFC Championship(Rams got a safety as well to make it 11 points), which was really amazing in and of itself. A shame that the offense couldn't do anything.2002 was just a special year period though, can't argue that both were some of the best defenses ever.
The 2002 defense was better... not by much, but better. They created more scores off turnovers and that was pretty important. One score off a turnover in the '99 title game and we might have two rings today.
Defense gave the offense the ball 4 times in Rams territory and all they got was 3 points.
