It's easy to look at the Utah defense and say they're only holding teams to 7 below average, therefore they're not that good.
But evaluating the Utah defense requires understanding that the Utah offense is terrible. Which means
- More total drives (and therefore more scoring opportunities)
- Keeping the defense on the field forever
- Opposing offenses starting in great field position
Given all that, the Utah defense is absolutely better than you might expect from the 'only holding teams 7 below average'.
BUT...all those offensive issues that have continually put the Utah defense into no-win spots and explain why they're still allowing that many points despite very strong advanced metrics? Those factors still exist. So even if the Utah defense continues to be very good, their offense is so bad that it may not look that way. Which is why I think we get around 30 as well.