Defensive stats get boosted when the offense is good because the offense is able to stay on the field and eat clock time, score points, and doesn’t require a “defensive win” to get a real win.

Conversely, a bad offense can make a good defense look worse since the defense spends more time on the field and needs to take risks to make plays in order to have a shot at winning.

How do you separte them? Well, counterfactuals are hard…