I was forced to choose a preference. Maybe in the present day when offenses are pretty much guaranteed of driving down the field, perhaps points would be a better measurement. But I think that in the past, if your offense was driving from the 20 to the 20, that was indication you had a really good offense. Teams also scored more on defensive TDs, ST TDs, and there were more turnovers setting up short fields for the offense and you could have Joe Kapp leading an offense to 4.7 yards per play (13th of 16) but being #1 in points scored.sluggermatt15 wrote:Why yards for offenses? Teams could drive from the 20 to the 20 and settle for FGs all the time. That would be misleading.Bryan wrote:Offense = yards
Defense = points
Defense yards allowed can be weird, because teams that get a lead tend to give up more yards through the air with the other team playing catch-up. I like a combination of points allowed and turnovers forced (because as Dick Butkus said, "That's what defense is all about...getting the ball") when evaluating defenses.