With Week 3 in the books, let’s take a look around the league and see where every NFL team’s defense stands!
32. Denver Broncos (Last Week #16)
This was not the Denver Broncos week. They were humiliated by the high-flying Dolphins offense in grand fashion surrendering 70 points. This group had some excitement around it heading into the year, but with a performance like that they have to be dead last.
31. Chicago Bears (Last Week #29)
Chicago really struggled this week across the board. The Chiefs hung 41 on them, which may seem pedestrian compared to what Miami did to Denver, but make no mistake about it, Kansas City was scoring at will. The Bears defense looks scary bad.
30. Carolina Panthers (Last Week #26)
The Panthers defense has had its work cut out for it this season personnel-wise, as there really isn’t a ton of talent across the board beyond Brian Burns. After seeing Seattle score 37 points on them and run for an effortless 146 yards, the suits in Charlotte might want to reconsider that strategy.
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29. New York Giants (Last Week #25)
Granted, no one has had much luck stopping Brock Purdy and that silky smooth 49ers offense, but the Giants D looked particularly bad trying. Think about this, the Giants are among the tops in the league in terms of percentage of blitzes, yet they are 26th in pressure rate.
Not where you want to be.
28. Jacksonville Jaguars (Last Week #18)
While Tank Dell is a solid, young wide receiver, he isn’t on the short list of guys you want your team to give up five catches for 145 yards and a touchdown to. Jacksonville had nothing for Dell, CJ Stroud, and the rest of a usually underwhelming Texans offense that dropped 37 on them this week.
27. Las Vegas Raiders (Last Week #24)
The Raiders have been a dumpster fire since Josh McDaniels took over and this week was no exception. The defense looked spineless against a weak Steelers offense that bullied them on the ground going for over 100 yards without any real threat of a passing attack.
26. Tennessee Titans (Last Week #14)
Week 3 was a big letdown for a usually sound Titans defense that surrendered 27 points to a Nick Chubb-less Browns team. Not to mention, Deshaun Watson had far and away his best game as a Brown against them, which is grounds for dropping from 14 to 26 if you ask me.
25. Seattle Seahawks (Last Week #31)
Seattle’s defense has really struggled to contain opposing passers this year, as evidenced by the revitalized performance we saw out of Andy Dalton this past week.
24. Los Angeles Chargers (Last Week #32)
The Charges defense has been among the worst in the league through three weeks. LA has given up over 450 yards per game, second-worst to only Denver.
23. Minnesota Vikings (Last Week #27)
The Vikings defense has holes all over it that opposing teams are ripping through for an average of 382.3 yards per game thus far. If they have any hope of turning their season around they’ll need to get more out of the secondary going forward.
22. Indianapolis Colts (Last Week #30)
The Colts D made a big leap this week, moving from 30 to 22, on the strength of an epic performance against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
Gus Bradley brought the blitz on nearly a third of their defensive plays and Jackson was befuddled, taking four sacks, and finishing with just 202 passing yards.
21. Washington Commanders (Last Week #10)
Washington’s defense looked great through two weeks, then it ran into Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills and the train went off the tracks. Granted, the offense didn’t do them many favors, but it is tough to make excuses for a group that gave up 37 points.
20. Green Bay Packers (Last Week #17)
The Packers have gotten great individual performances out of guys like Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary thus far, but the group as a whole needs to become more consistent. They’ve been spared by facing weak opposing offenses the first three weeks, but there will be much less room for error for them going forward.
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Last Week #9)
Tampa Bay fell hard this week after getting bullied by the Eagles’ dominant running attack, but then again, so do most teams. The Bucs have had one of the most consistent run defenses over the past couple of years, but they will need to find a way to generate a pass rush if they want to contend.
18. Houston Texans (Last Week #21)
Houston is still lacking a lot of necessary pieces on the defensive side of the ball, but it is clear that DeMeco Ryans is building something—something that Texans fans hope will resemble those nasty defenses he ran in San Francisco in recent years. The team’s performance against Jacksonville this week is a strong indicator that he might be doing just that.
17. Atlanta Falcons (Last Week #6)
Atlanta fell quite a few spots this week after letting Amon-Ra St. Brown run roughshod against what was supposed to be one of the best pass defenses in the league so far this year. The speedy Lions receiver caught nine passes for 102 yards in a convincing Lions win.
16. Arizona Cardinals (Last Week #20)
It was tough to tell what was Dallas’ incompetence or Arizona’s brilliance, but we have to give the Cardinals some credit for taking it to a Cowboys team that looked dominant the first two weeks of the season.
15. New England Patriots (Last Week #19)
The Patriot’s defense has played well enough to win all three games this year—and this week, against the Jets they finally got over the hump. With the exception of one drive they absolutely suffocated Breece Hall, Zach Wilson, and the rest of the New York offense.
14. Cincinnati Bengals (Last Week #28)
Bengals fans can take a sigh of relief. Joe Burrow appears to be on the mend and, perhaps even more importantly, the Bengals defense looked scary good on Monday Night Football. Sam Hubbard was in the backfield what felt like every other play.
13. Los Angeles Rams (Last Week #23)
Los Angeles was impressive this week on the defensive side of the ball against what is usually a tough Bengals offense and they did so despite spending a significant chunk of time on the field, as its offense struggled.
12. Detroit Lions (Last Week #22)
The Lions looked fierce on defense this week against what’s been a solid Atlanta Falcons offense so far in 2023. Detroit allowed just 183 total yards and six points in a big win.
11. Miami Dolphins (Last Week #12)
Unsurprisingly, people weren’t lining up to talk about the Dolphins defense after what their offense did the Broncos last week, but Vic Fangio has this group playing great football—even in spite of the injury to its top cornerback, Jalen Ramsey.
10. Pittsburgh Steelers (Last Week #15)
As long as TJ Watt stays healthy the Steelers should have one of the better defenses in the league. Pittsburgh got after Jimmy G all game in Week 3. If they can find more consistency in the secondary, we could see them continue to climb in the rankings.
9. Baltimore Ravens (Last Week #11)
Baltimore has been floating around the top 10 in most defensive metrics and to their credit, they played well enough to win against Indy in Week 3 without Marlon Humphrey. It was just the offense that let them down.
8. New Orleans Saints (Last Week #2)
The Saints defense has looked like one of the best in the league this year through two games and three quarters, but when you surrender such a late 17-point lead like that the drop is only fair.
7. Dallas Cowboys (Last Week #1)
Six spots is quite a tumble, but a well-deserved one after getting clowned by Joshua Dobbs and the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3.
It will be interesting to see how “for real” the Cowboys defense really is now that they aren’t just playing New York teams every week—and, perhaps more so, now that Trevon Diggs is out for the year.
6. Kansas City Chiefs (Last Week #13)
The Chiefs have sneaky had one of the best defenses across the league so far this year. They’ve allowed just 280.7 yards per game, sixth best in the league, and straight-up punked the Bears in Week 3.
5. Buffalo Bills (Last Week #11)
Granted, they’ve faced Zach Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Sam Howell so far this year, but the Bills defense looks legit. How could they not move up after snagging four picks and giving up just three points this past week against the Commanders?
4. New York Jets (Last Week #4)
The Jets defense has gotten off to a great start despite the team’s offensive woes. They’ve allowed just 4.6 yards per play, which is good enough for 6th in the league—and an 88.1 opposing QB rating.
Mac Jones really struggled against that nasty pass rush last week, completing just 15 of his 29 attempts.
3. Cleveland Browns (Last Week #5)
The Browns defense has continued to dominate, particularly against the run game, where they’ve allowed just 52 rushing yards per game thus far at 2.8 a pop. The pass rush wasn’t too shabby against Tennessee in Week 3 either, besting its season total of four sacks with another five!
2. Philadelphia Eagles (Last Week #8)
The Eagles defense looked scary good on Monday Night Football this week. Jalen Carter is a force to be reckoned with.
After seeing how that defensive front got after Baker Mayfield this week, netting five quarterback hits, this group has all the makings of a top unit across the league.
1. San Francisco 49ers (Last Week #3)
We are running out of words for this Niners defense, they were vicious this week against an admittedly meager Giants offense. San Fran is allowing just 258.3 yards per game thus far and looks poised for a deep postseason run.
