Do you prefer Yards or points allowed as the metric of a team’s unit ranking?

[lancerman]

DVOA but it’s not as predicative as ppg

[Jetzger]

Per drive stats seem to often be the best indicators for me. 

[megatechpc]

I dunno, the first objective of any defense is and always will be allowing the least amount of points possible.  Now giving up a ton of yardage puts you into a bad position for limiting scoring, but if picking the more important attribute to judge a defense on I will always go with least points allowed over least yardage.

[BaratheonFollower]

1 hour ago, Jetzger said:

Per drive stats seem to often be the best indicators for me. 

Yep, i agree with this.

[megatechpc]

You know what the best metric for determining the best defense in a season is?  Which defense allowed fewer points than their own team scored, in the most games (otherwise known as good old Win/Loss record)! 

[RavensDefense3]

a bad offense/ST really ruins a defense's PPG. i like DVOA.

[fortdetroit]

Neither. a combination of yards per drive and points per drive, taking into account starting field position. 

[TVScout]

Yards per play. Points per game and yards per game are both too dependent upon special teams and ball control by the offense.

[Bobikus]

DVOA, or per drive stats.

[3rivers]

lowest points is all that matters. Allow less and win, sounds right to me. Agree with BB, stats are for losers. 

[Malfatron]

I agree with most posters that DVDA is the best tool we have.

turnovers are more fluky. they contribute to how much a team has won in the past because turnovers win games, but they dont tell you how good a team is or as a future win predictor.

between yards and ppg, definitely ppg. a lot of meaningless garbage time stats could be racked up late.

[FrantikRam]

I'd rather my team give up fewer points, of course.

But when assessing all defenses I prefer yards. Yardage tells you how consistently a defense wins on each play.

A bend but dont break defense can still be a detriment - time of possession.

[footbull3196]

Without a doubt, yards allowed.  Textbook example of this would be the 2012 Falcons.  They were top 5 in points allowed, but bottom 10 in yards allowed.  This caught up to them in the NFC Championship Game where they blew the 17-0 lead to the 49ers, and then it caught up to them the following season as well when they were undoubtedly one of the worst units in the league

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Well I mean, look at it this way:

Give up a lot of points but not a lot of yards, chances are you lose.

Give up a lot of yards, but not a lot of points, chances are you win.

Neither of these stats are good on their own, but PPG provides a much better basis for how quality a defense a team is than YPG - though they should generally support one another. If your team is great at PPG but not YPG, it's probably an indicator they're a "bend but don't break" type of team that gets lucky in the red zone (Ravens have been this way for a few years under Dean Pees). It could also indicate they're not on the field for very much of the game. If your team allows a ton of PPG but not a lot of yards, it indicates field position issues stemming from the offense.

People have indicated per-drive stats and DVOA are better indicators, and I certainly agree with that.

[Broncofan]

I will heart every post in this thread that says DVOA.   Or at least until my 20 likes are done.   

Giving up meaningless yards or points when the game is out of reach (but making team use up clock while scoring) or when the O puts you in a short field is so context specific.   Why I prefer DVOA by a mile.  It’s not perfect but it tries to address context and game situation (6 yards given up on 3rd and 3 not the same as 3rd and 10).   

DVOA FTW.