Offense may be all the rage in today’s NFL, but defense still wins championships. Let’s take a look around the league and power ranking every NFL team’s defense thus far!
32. Los Angeles Chargers
Very little has gone right thus far for Brandon Staley and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023. LA has fallen into an 0-2 hole in a very competitive AFC West and its bottom-tier defense is a huge reason why. The Chargers are allowing an astronomical 438.5 yards per game through two games.
31. Seattle Seahawks
Seattle’s defensive line has really struggled to get pressure, recording just one sack in two games. Having allowed 844 yards and 30.5 points per game, the Seahawks need to find some semblance of pass rush, otherwise, they may end up asking Geno and that offense for far more than they can deliver.
Fortunately, they have the Panthers in Week 3 and their porous o-line should offer a good opportunity to get back on track.
30. Indianapolis Colts
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
While the Colts’ counting numbers haven’t been terrible, Indy’s defense has looked terrible on tape. They got eaten up by Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars in Week 1 and looked extremely mediocre against a bad Texans offense that was missing the majority of its starters on the line.
29. Chicago Bears
Chicago is going to have its work cut out for it Week 3, as it tries to right the ship against the defending champion Chiefs. Matt Eberflus needs to do something to get that defense going. It got carved up by Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield—I can only imagine what Mahomes and Kelce are going to do to them.
28. Cincinnati Bengals
Chicago is going to have its work cut out for it Week 3, as it tries to right the ship against the defending champion Chiefs. Matt Eberflus needs to do something to get that defense going. It got carved up by Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield—I can only imagine what Mahomes and Kelce are going to do to them.
27. Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s defense has been terrible so far. Its secondary has gotten eaten alive to the tune of a 68.3% completion rate and the defensive line has really struggled to get pressure.
26. Carolina Panthers
The Panthers didn’t have huge expectations heading into the year, but with Jaycee Horn, the team’s best defensive back, out for an undetermined amount of time, Carolina’s defense is going to have its work cut out for it going forward.
25. New York Giants
The Giants have been up against it so far, as the offense has really struggled to sustain drives, forcing the D into some tough situations, but even so, they haven’t looked great and are dead last in scoring defense despite facing Dak Prescott and Joshua Dobbs.
24. Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders had a decent showing defensively Week 1, but nearly all that good will was undone last week, when the Bills ran roughshod on them to the tune of 450 total yards and 38 points.
23. Los Angeles Rams
Aaron Donald is getting older, but he is still a beast. The rest of the Rams defense, not so much. At least they have a good matchup this week with a struggling Bengals team.
22. Detroit Lions
Detroit’s defense was given a lot of credit after the way they played the Chiefs in the season opener, but now that we’ve seen them get gashed by Geno Smith the way they did down the stretch last week, there are a lot more questions.
21. Houston Texans
2023 is meant to be a “rebuilding year” for Houston, which is essentially code for tanking. The Texans D looks like it will have no problem with that initiative after getting gashed by Gardner Minshew following the Colts starting QB, Anthony Richardson, leaving the game with a concussion.
20. Arizona Cardinals
Arizona’s defense has looked way better than expected heading into the year. First-year coach, Jonathan Gannon has them playing tough, gritty football, but we’ll have to see how they look against some tougher offenses before they climb too high up in the rankings.
19. New England Patriots
New England’s defense deserves a lot of credit for the way that it limited an explosive Dolphins offense to 389 yards and 24 points in the face of their own offensive ineptitude, but the Pats have too many injuries tattered across that defensive group to expect any sort of consistency.
18. Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville has looked good, not great defensively. They did well to bend, but not break against the Chiefs last week, holding them to 17 points, despite surrendering 399 total yards.
17. Green Bay Packers
After blowing a 12-point fourth-quarter lead the Falcons, Green Bay’s defensive unit needs to take a long look in the mirror and find a way to stop the run. They’ve faced two of the best running games in the league so far, Chicago and Atlanta, but you simply can’t let a team run their way back into the lead the way they did last week.
16. Denver Broncos
Denver has done a good job of getting pressure on the quarterback, which has typically been the team’s calling card in recent years, but it will need to sure up the secondary around Patrick Surtain if it wants to establish itself as one of the top groups in the league.
15. Pittsburgh Steelers
With T.J. Watt on the field, anything is possible for Pittsburgh, but his job just got a lot harder with one of the Steelers’ best defensive backs, Minkah Fitzpatrick due to miss time with a chest injury.
14. Tennessee Titans
Tennessee has had one of the best-run defenses in the league in 2023, stifling its opponents to 65 yards on the ground per game. Week 3 against the Browns now projects to be a favorable matchup with star running back Nick Chubb’s absence.
13. Kansas City Chiefs
Now that Chris Jones is back on the field the Chiefs defense is looking revitalized. Kansas City was in the backfield nearly every play last week, finishing with four sacks and seven hits on Trevor Lawrence.
12. Miami Dolphins
Miami’s defense has played surprisingly well against the pass so far, but it needs to find a way to sure up a run defense that has been gouged for 4.9 yards per carry and 323 total thus far.
11. Buffalo Bills
The Bills front seven is scary good, having held last year’s leading rusher, Josh Jacobs to -2 yards on nine carries in Week 2. If the secondary can round into form, we may see this bunch climb into the top-10 and even the top-five by the end of the year.
10. Washington Commanders
Washington’s defensive success starts and ends with its defensive line. That group can really get after the quarterback, but Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio need to find a way to straighten out their defensive secondary.
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
No one predicted a 2-0 start for Tampa Bay, but the Bucs have looked great so far, and Vita Vea and that defense are a big reason why.
8. Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles’ pass defense hasn’t looked great so far, allowing a fairly significant 326 yards through the air per game, but they are battling a lot of injuries, particularly in the secondary. The good news is, that the defensive front is scary good and Jalen Carter looks like he can develop into an absolute game wrecker, even as a rookie.
7. Baltimore Ravens
Granted, the Bengals offense hasn’t been good, let alone great this year, but the Ravens still stifled Joe Burrow’s gang without Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Williams. Once they get fully healthy, Baltimore might have the best defense in the league.
6. Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta has been a pleasant surprise this year, surrendering just 17 points per game. The Falcons play great complementary football with a strong running game and highly effective defensive group. After seeing the way they stifled the Packers down the stretch of that comeback win in Week 2, expectations are continuing to rise.
5. Cleveland Browns
Myles Garrett is really starting to establish himself as one of the most unstoppable forces in the game and it is paying dividends for Cleveland’s D. The Browns are allowing just 65 rushing yards per game and have the fifth-best quarterback knockdown rate through two games.
4. New York Jets
After seeing what New York did to Josh Allen and the Bills Week 1, there is no doubt that this defense is for real. We just need to see if Robert Saleh can keep morale high enough now that Rodgers has gone down for the year.
3. San Francisco 49ers
San Fran has playmakers all over the field on defense and is allowing just 15 points per game. That number might creep even lower after this week’s matchup with a Saquon Barkley-less New York Giants side.
2. New Orleans Saints
The Saints’ defense is allowing just 16 points per game through two games and has somehow looked even better than that on tape. Dennis Allen has done a great job with this D, it is allowing an average of 160 passing yards and should continue to be among the tops in the league all year.
1. Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys defense is an absolute buzzsaw. Micah Parsons is an early front-runner for DPOY and they have talent all over the map. Granted, they’ve face the two New York teams so far, which don’t exactly have top-notch offenses, but when you allow just five points per game, you are going to get respect regardless of who you’ve played.
