Football Outsiders: 2009 Jets Had 17th Best Defense of Last Three Decades

Football Outsiders is looking back at the last thirty years of the NFL this week. They ranked the top thirty defenses in that span by their DVOA metric. The Jets unit from 2009 made the cut, coming in at number 17.

17. 2009 New York Jets

-22.7 percent

This was the year Darrelle Revis really became Revis Island, and the Jets' defense ranked No. 1 after falling to 15th the year before. They allowed just eight passing touchdowns and a completion rate of 51.7 percent, far below the NFL average of 60.9 percent. This Jets squad had the No. 5 pass defense DVOA of the past 30 years, and the best pass defense since 2002.

It wasn’t just that the unit was effective. They also had to carry an inordinate amount of the load for the team to have success. How many teams that have just 12 touchdown passes in a season come within one half of playing in the Super Bowl?

The Jets did have an excellent defensive line and run game that year, but Mark Sanchez was a raw rookie and looked the part for most of that season. Rex Ryan’s defense was so good that the team still had a lot of success.