Fantasy Index

Factoid

New Orleans Saints

Saints closing in on allowing 40 touchdown passes

Two games left, and the Saints have already allowed more touchdown passes than any team in the last 50 years. When Blake Bortles throws his first touchdown on Sunday, it will be No. 40 against that secondary. Yards and scoring are up all over, so it’s fare to wonder how some of these leaky defenses will finish on the all-time list of futility.

But upon further review, they’re not as historically bad as I suspected.

Since the NFL moved to a 16-game season in 1978, 72 teams have allowed at least 27 points per game. (And I’m setting aside the two strike-shortened seasons for this one). Prior to looking up the numbers, I expected maybe six of the 20 worst defenses to be from the 2015 season.

But that isn’t the case. Instead, there are only two in the top 70.

The Saints are allowing plenty of points, but they’re not in contention to finish anywhere close to the 1981 Baltimore Colts or 2008 Detroit Lions. Maybe they finish up in the No. 3 spot, but no higher.

The next offering from 2015 are the Browns, and they’re sitting behind 44 other defenses right now, at 27.6 points per game.

Jacksonville, at 27.1 points, is the only other team over 27 points per game.

What we have, it seems, isn’t a scoring explosion, but more accurately a shift to more of the stats being generated on pass plays.

Those two worst defenses both allowed 30-plus rushing touchdowns, and that’s something I don’t believe we’ll see again.

MOST POINTS ALLOWED, 16-GAME SEASON
YearTeamPointsTDRTDP
1981Baltimore Colts33.33037
2008Detroit Lions32.33125
2009Detroit Lions30.91835
2011Tampa Bay Buccaneers30.92630
2015New Orleans Saints30.91239
1980New Orleans Saints30.42831
2001Indianapolis Colts30.42030
1984Minnesota Vikings30.32035
2013Minnesota Vikings30.01437
2013Washington Redskins29.91129
2013Chicago Bears29.92225
1986Tampa Bay Buccaneers29.63123
2000St. Louis Rams29.41832
2010Denver Broncos29.42626
2008St. Louis Rams29.12620
1990Cleveland Browns28.92132
1983San Diego Chargers28.92628
1996Atlanta Falcons28.81826
1999Cincinnati Bengals28.82228
1983Houston Oilers28.82326
2002Cincinnati Bengals28.51630
1996New York Jets28.41933
1984Buffalo Bills28.41932
2012New Orleans Saints28.41831
1999San Francisco 49ers28.31136
2013Oakland Raiders28.31533
1985Atlanta Falcons28.32432
2014Oakland Raiders28.31729
2003Arizona Cardinals28.31729
2004San Francisco 49ers28.32227
1998Cincinnati Bengals28.32323
2002Detroit Lions28.21927
2011Minnesota Vikings28.11034
2013Jacksonville Jaguars28.12029
2008Denver Broncos28.02620
1985Tampa Bay Buccaneers28.02818
1990New England Patriots27.92921
2012Philadelphia Eagles27.81133
2007Detroit Lions27.81932
1998Indianapolis Colts27.82027
2012Jacksonville Jaguars27.81921
2013Atlanta Falcons27.71431
2012Oakland Raiders27.71828
2000Arizona Cardinals27.72919
2015Cleveland Browns27.61129
2014Chicago Bears27.61234
2002Minnesota Vikings27.61533
2004Oakland Raiders27.62130
2003San Diego Chargers27.61236
1996Baltimore Ravens27.61827
2000San Diego Chargers27.51033
2008Kansas City Chiefs27.52521
2004Tennessee Titans27.41829
1983Green Bay Packers27.42820
2014Washington Redskins27.41135
2014Tennessee Titans27.41728
2007St. Louis Rams27.41725
2007Miami Dolphins27.31828
2012Detroit Lions27.31326
1985Cincinnati Bengals27.32326
1984Houston Oilers27.32723
1989Atlanta Falcons27.32619
1999Cleveland Browns27.32917
2010Dallas Cowboys27.31133
2009St. Louis Rams27.32422
2004Kansas City Chiefs27.21832
1985San Diego Chargers27.22528
1991Cincinnati Bengals27.22026
2012Buffalo Bills27.22325
2015Jacksonville Jaguars27.11225
1999New Orleans Saints27.11534
2011Buffalo Bills27.11930
2010Arizona Cardinals27.11922
2011Oakland Raiders27.11531
2013Dallas Cowboys27.01733

—Ian Allan

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