In the wake of the dominant beat down that the Seattle Seahawks just bestowed upon the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48, many have been dubbing the Seahawks of having the best defense of all-time.
I'm here to say, pump the brakes.
Actually just slam on the brakes.
People tend to be prisoners of the moment and tend to give an excess amount of credit where it really isn't deserved.
Filter out the media storm Richard Sherman created after the NFC Championship game. Filter out the fact that the Seahawks are pretty easy to root for. Filter out the 12th man that traveled all the way from Seattle to New Jersey. What it boils down to is a body of work over a complete season and the numbers do not lie.
Need I say more?
Okay if you insist, I'll go on.
Along with giving up fewer points in the Super Bowl, the Ravens gave up fewer yards per game throughout the season, fewer points per game, forced more turnovers and gave up fewer yards in the Super Bowl.
Yes I am aware the Seahawks were playing Peyton Manning and one of the greatest offenses of all time but there is no arguing with the body of work the 2000 Baltimore Ravens defense put together.
The two defenses that are notoriously in the conversation of greatest of all-time are the '85 Chicago Bears and '00 Ravens. The graphic above clearly shows you that not only was Seattle not the best defense of all-time but they weren't even the second best either.
The point of a defense is preventing the other team from scoring points, something the '85 Bears and '00 Ravens did with more success than the '13 Seahawks.
You could make the argument that the Seahawks had one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history but as far overall best defense of all-time, I don't even think it is very close.
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