Sportsnaut
Our weekly NFL defense rankings examine every unit across the league to determine the best defenses in the NFL. With the preseason wrapped up, let’s dive into our evaluations for the worst and best NFL defenses this season. We’ll update our NFL defense rankings, with analysis on all 32 teams, every Sunday night each week.
Our NFL defense rankings are updated as of Tuesday, October 14. We’ve provided analysis on how every defense performed in Week 6. Before that, we’re diving into our Week 7 fantasy defense rankings.
Here is our Week 7 fantasy D/ST rankings. The analysis of the best and worst NFL defenses can be found below this list.
Denver Broncos D/ST vs New York GIants
New England Patriots D/ST vs Tennessee Titans
Seattle Seahawks D/ST vs Houston Texans
Cleveland Browns D/ST vs Miami Dolphins
Kansas City Chiefs D/ST vs Las Vegas Raiders
Carolina Panthers D/ST vs New York Jets
Atlanta Falcons D/ST vs San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers D/ST vs Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams D/ST vs Jacksonville Jaguars
Philadelphia Eagles D/ST vs Minnesota Vikings
Jacksonville Jaguars D/ST vs Los Angeles Rams
Indianapolis Colts D/ST vs Los Angeles Chargers
Minnesota Vikings D/ST vs Philadelphia Eagles
Houston Texans D/ST vs Seattle Seahawks
Miami Dolphins D/ST vs Cleveland Browns
Chicago Bears D/ST vs New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers D/ST vs Detroit Lions
Denver Broncos (1)
Another Sunday with a defensive clinic courtesy of the Denver Broncos. Justin Fields averaged just 2.6 yards per attempt on Sunday morning, finishing with -10 net passing yards on a day when New York mustered just 1.4 yards per play and went 2-for-15 on third down. Over the last three games, Denver’s opponents have gone just 6-for-37 on third-down attempts (16.2 percent) and are averaging just 181 total yards per game. The Broncos’ defense is going to wreak some havoc on Jaxson Dart in Week 7.
Heading into the bye, the Houston Texans defense limited its last three opponents to a 51.2 percent completion rate, 153.7 passing yards per game, 5.4 ypa and a 42.8 passer rating. Unsurprisingly, an edge rushing duo of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. also spearheaded a unit that had the third-best ESPN pass-rush win rate (47 percent) in the NFL. There’s so much talent at edge rusher and cornerback, making Houston’s defense the perfect test for Sam Darnold and Co. in Week 7. It’s a must-see game.
Brian Flores is going to make life very difficult in Week 7 for an Eagles offense that is already struggling. The Minnesota Vikings are top-10 in ESPN pass-rush win rate (45 percent), run-stop win rate (31 percent), and pressure rate (30.2 percent) even with Andrew Van Ginkel sidelined. The one edge Philadelphia has is its receiving duo against the Vikings’ cornerbacks, but the issues...
