All 32 Teams Current Defensive Rankings According To NFL.com

[drawandstrike]

It's Week 14. After teams have played 12-13 games, here's how they rank according to overall defensive game stats:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...OTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1

BOLD: Already eliminated from playoffs
ITALIC: In danger of being eliminated from playoffs

1. Baltimore Ravens 7-5
2. Arizona Cardinals 5-6
3. Minnesota Vikings 6-6
4. Jacksonville Jaguars 2-10
5. Denver Broncos 8-4
6. Houston Texans 6-6
7. Chicago Bears 3-9
8. Seattle Seahawks 8-3
9. New England Patriots 10-2
10. Los Angeles Rams 4-8
11. Philadelphia Eagles 5-7
12. Buffalo Bills 6-6
13. Green Bay Packers 6-6
14. Pittsburgh Steelers 7-5
15. Detroit Lions 8-4
16. New York Jets 3-9
17. New York Giants 8-4
18. Dallas Cowboys 11-1
19. San Diego Chargers 5-7
20. Tennessee Titans 6-6
21. Cincinnati Bengals 4-7
22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-5
23. Carolina Panthers 4-8
24. Washington Commanders 6-5
25. Miami Dolphins 7-5
26. Kansas City Chiefs 10-3
27. New Orleans Saints 5-7
28. Atlanta Falcons 7-5
29. Indianapolis Colts 6-6
30. Oakland Raiders 10-3
31. Cleveland Browns 0-12
32. San Francisco 49ers 1-11

Plenty of people harp on the fact you need a GREAT DEFENSE to have success in the NFL. Actually it's more about team balance. The bolded teams above might have a damn good defense ranking in the top half of the league or the top 10, but they won't even make the playoffs this year. Italicized teams are in the top half of the league but with 4 games to go are in serious jeopardy of still missing the playoffs.

SIX of the teams with defenses in the top 10 could miss the playoffs this year. That's because while these teams have good defenses, they struggle to score points. In fact, if Pittsburgh wins out over the Ravens for the AFC North Division title, that number could climb as high as SEVEN.

The key is finding a balance between a defense that can deny opponents enough points while having an offense of your own that can score enough to stay ahead and win the game.

The only teams in that top ten that has an adequate balance between offense and defense is the Patriots, Broncos and the Seahawks. Despite that recent 5 point outing vs. the Bucs, the Seahawk offense has still managed 40, 26 and 31 points in it's other most recent games. Denver still consistently manages 20+ points a game.

5 teams are having a great year on the defensive side of the ball but it will mean nothing come playoff time: the Jags, Cardinals, Bears, the Rams, and very likely the Vikings. They didn't bring consistent enough offenses to the dance this year.

 

[drawandstrike]

With all the talk about maybe the Raiders or the Chiefs knocking off the Pats and going to the Super Bowl, does anybody notice that both these teams have defenses that rank over 8 spots below ours?

On overall defense Dallas is ranked 18th in the league at the moment. KC is ranked 26th and the Oakland Raiders, who many people are projecting for a Super Bowl run, sit at 30th.

KC may have a hell of a pass rush, as we saw on Thursday night, but that defense gives up a ton of yards and points. It's thriving on the pass rush and turnovers. It's pulling off the trick Marinelli has been trying to do in Dallas with far less talent up front for the past 3 seasons.

Note how many defenses ranked in the top half of the league that Dallas will have played by the end of this season. The Ravens, Vikings, Bears, Eagles, Packers, Steelers, Giants and Lions.

Dallas will have played - and can have beaten - EIGHT teams with defenses ranked in the upper half of the league by the time the playoffs start. And we'll have done it with offense, not defense, something that directly contradicts the conventional wisdom of many league observers.

Early on in the season doubters would state "Well sooner or later Dallas is gunna meet the defense that can stop that offense." Since the opening day loss to the Giants, only one defense managed to hold Dallas under 24 points this season: the Vikings in that last game. And Dallas still won that game, in which turnovers were key for both teams.

Until the playoffs start we won't face another defense in that top 10. The Giants (17th), the Bucs (22nd), the Lions (15th) and the Eagles (11th) aren't nearly as good on the defensive side of the ball as the Vikings (3rd).

The Ravens had the #1 run stopping D in the NFL when we played them. They still have it. And they couldn't stop our offense.

Of the 4 games remaining in the regular season, only 1 team we face has a top 10 rushing defense: the Giants. They rank #5 at stopping the run and we're #2.

We matchup well with the Giants for this next game because NY ranks 31st in the league at running the ball and Eli has been targeting ODB excessively. The game plan is pretty easy. Shut down Beckham and force Eli to go elsewhere with the ball. They can't run.

The Buccaneers rank 25th in the league at stopping the run. The Lions are 13th, the Eagles 16th. There is no reason to switch from the game plan that has gotten the Cowboys to 11-1 thus far. Defenses in this league ares simply not geared to stopping this kind of rushing attack.

 

[StarBoyz83]

With all the talk about maybe the Raiders or the Chiefs knocking off the Pats and going to the Super Bowl, does anybody notice that both these teams have defenses that rank over 8 spots below ours?

On overall defense Dallas is ranked 18th in the league at the moment. KC is ranked 26th and the Oakland Raiders, who many people are projecting for a Super Bowl run, sit at 30th.

KC may have a hell of a pass rush, as we saw on Thursday night, but that defense gives up a ton of yards and points. It's thriving on the pass rush and turnovers. It's pulling off the trick Marinelli has been trying to do in Dallas with far less talent up front for the past 3 seasons.

Note how many defenses ranked in the top half of the league that Dallas will have played by the end of this season. The Ravens, Vikings, Bears, Eagles, Packers, Steelers, Giants and Lions.

Dallas will have played - and can have beaten - EIGHT teams with defenses ranked in the upper half of the league by the time the playoffs start. And we'll have done it with offense, not defense, something that directly contradicts the conventional wisdom of many league observers.

Early on in the season doubters would state "Well sooner or later Dallas is gunna meet the defense that can stop that offense." Since the opening day loss to the Giants, only one defense managed to hold Dallas under 24 points this season: the Vikings in that last game. And Dallas still won that game, in which turnovers were key for both teams.

Until the playoffs start we won't face another defense in that top 10. The Giants (17th), the Bucs (22nd), the Lions (15th) and the Eagles (11th) aren't nearly as good on the defensive side of the ball as the Vikings (3rd).

The Ravens had the #1 run stopping D in the NFL when we played them. They still have it. And they couldn't stop our offense.

Of the 4 games remaining in the regular season, only 1 team we face has a top 10 rushing defense: the Giants. They rank #5 at stopping the run and we're #2.

We matchup well with the Giants for this next game because NY ranks 31st in the league at running the ball and Eli has been targeting ODB excessively. The game plan is pretty easy. Shut down Beckham and force Eli to go elsewhere with the ball. They can't run.

The Buccaneers rank 25th in the league at stopping the run. The Lions are 13th, the Eagles 16th. There is no reason to switch from the game plan that has gotten the Cowboys to 11-1 thus far. Defenses in this league ares simply not geared to stopping this kind of rushing attack.

I don't see the Raiders making the sb. I think they go out in the playoffs. They get way too many penalties.

 

[drawandstrike]

I don't see the Raiders making the sb. I think they go out in the playoffs. They get way too many penalties.

Carr bailed that team out about 4 times this year with some fantastic comeback drives late in games, but in the playoffs you don't get to come back 3-4 scores down when the 4th quarter starts.

The Raiders - and the Chiefs - are the polar opposites of us on defense. Great defensive front sevens, especially DLines, with no secondary.