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 Monday, January 12. We lead off by rankings the best and worst defenses in the NFL playoffs entering the Divisional Round. After that, the defenses from eliminated teams are ranked with offseason analysis for each of them.
It’s splitting hairs when comparing the best defenses in the NFL playoffs. The Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles have great coaching and a standout defensive line. What the Houston Texans bring is a cornerback tandem that is more than capable of locking down a team’s two best receivers. When you can generate one of the highest pressure rates in the NFL without blitzing and your secondary can shut down passing lanes for a quarterback under duress, you’re an absolute nightmare to face. Expect a defensive clinic from Houston on the road against the Steelers, especially with Derek Stingley able to take away DK Metcalf.
During the regular season, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense held an opponent under 20 points in 11 games. It allowed the second-lowest yards-per-play average (4.6) and scoring rate (28.7 percent) in the NFL. Mike Macdonald has all the chess pieces he needs defensively, with Seattle just as adept at shutting down the run game (3.7 yards per carry, first in the NFL) as it is the passing attack (6.0 yards per attempt, first in the NFL). With two weeks to prepare, this group should look even better. With the 49ers offense now missing George Kittle (Achilles), containing this passing game gets even easier. However, unlike the Week 18 meeting, San Francisco will have All-Pro tackle Trent Williams back on the left side.
As dominant as this Denver Broncos defense was for a majority of the season, it did start to drop off a bit late in the year. From Weeks 10–17, Denver ranked 12th in EPA per play (−0.001) and surrendered 23.2 points per game in the final five contests prior to Week 18. The pass rush has not been quite as dominant, and the reliance on man coverage has seen some battles lost more frequently. This is still a great defense, but it is not the shutdown unit that it used to be.
You can run on the Buffalo Bills. Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten proved that with their 118 combined rushing yards on just 14 carries in the Wild Card Round. With that said, Buffalo also forced a pair of interceptions by Trevor Lawrence and allowed a sub-90 quarterback rating for the 13th time this season. Sean McDermott is finding ways to make this one of the best pass...
