Yards gained and yards allowed do have predictive value, which I think is all Emmz is saying. They're not the end all be all, but if a team is giving up a ton of yards, it stands to reason that the points my follow at some point in the future. It's similar to the correlation between WHIP and ERA. I don't think a team can rely on turnovers and red zone defense, especially in the playoffs, because the best offensive teams aren't going to give the ball away all that often.
On the flip side, yards allowed also has to be taken into context. If a team has a big lead and drops back into a prevent style defense, they're going to allow yards, which they're essentially giving away in order to eat up clock.