SN predicts 10 best defenses in '14

[TDs3nOut]

The Sporting News published this piece in which it predicts the ten "most dominant" defenses this year:

Stingy and nasty: NFL's 10 most dominant defenses for 2014 - NFL - Sporting News

Here is the list, where the numbers in parentheses are where teams ranked last year in scoring defense:

1. Seattle (1)
2. Carolina (2)
3. NO (4)
4. SF (3)
5. Denver (22)
6. NE (10)
7. TB (20)
8. AZ (7)
9. Houston (20)
10. NYJ (19)

Seems reasonable to me that the top four teams from last year are expected to pretty much remain the same.

One interesting feature that jumps out is that the teams predicted to improve the most, other than TB, are all AFC teams. The NFL has often been called a copycat league. Last year it was pretty clear that the more physical brand of football was played in the NFC, so it will be interesting to see if the AFC this year narrows the "physicality" gap.

What do you think of this list? Teams that are overrated or underrated?

 

[WizardHawk]

NO jumped over SF? Not sure I'm buying that, but won't bitch about it either.

No surprise that denver and ND jump up. They had some major offseason pickups.

Not sure I'm buying Tampa, but we will see.

 

[TDs3nOut]

NO jumped over SF? Not sure I'm buying that, but won't bitch about it either.

No surprise that denver and ND jump up. They had some major offseason pickups.

Not sure I'm buying Tampa, but we will see.

Doesn't seem too unlikely to me. A second year in Ryan's system and the acquisition of Byrd figure to improve NO. The Bowman injury and Justin Smith seemingly not the player he used to be figure to hurt SF.

 

[cdumler7]

San Fran definitely has a lot more question marks this season than over the last few. Bowman's injury is huge. I know he is expected back this season but even when he comes back I doubt he will be completely 100%. It might not be till playoff time that he looks like his old self (which I guess if you want him healthy that is when you want him). Throw in Justin Smith a year older, Aldon Smith suspension news somewhat in the air, lots of new pieces in the secondary (communication is important among these players) it can lead to a person dropping them a bit at this time. I like some of the young players they are going to be leaning on to step up but most of them are very unproven. All that to say I don't have a problem with NO jumping them at this time as I do like many of the moves they made to shore up the problems they had.


Tampa Bay to me seems like a year too early. It is going to take some time to adjust to new players and coaching change. Next year is where I see them pushing for a top-10 maybe top-5 defense.


Houston although they are probably a top-10 defense I could see them dropping out of the top-10 just because the offense can't get off the field. I guess it all depends on what stats you are going off of to calculate the top-10. IF it is total yards then Houston probably won't be there.

 

[Uhsplit]

I am surprised Denver made such a huge jump in the standings and I assumed Stl would have been a top 10 D.

 

[cdumler7]

You have to remember 2 years ago Denver finished 2nd in the league in total defense. Move to this past season and they lost Von Miller, Chris Harris, Rahim Moore, Kevin Vickerson, Champ Bailey, Derek Wolfe, and Quinton Carter. Most of those guys missed a majority of the season. All of those guys have been starters for the team in the last 2 years (Carter only one who didn't start last year because of being injured the whole year before but was expected to start again last year before another injury took him down). You take any team in the league and have 7 starters go down and most likely they are a bottom of the league defense.


I'm guessing for this article they are expecting all of those guys back at full strength (except Champ obviously since he is with another team) with the added bonus of adding Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, and TJ Ward.


Not saying that means they will finish with a top-10 defense but it does show some promise to be one of the top tier defenses this season.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

If the Pats are a legit #10, look out.

 

[iowajerms]

I noticed no NFC North team made it.

 

[cdumler7]

I noticed no NFC North team made it.

Green Bay stands a chance but they have been so injury prone over the last 3 years it is hard to trust that they will stay healthy. They also depend quite a bit on the turnover on defense from what I can tell. This can lead to some big plays both ways.

 

[iowajerms]

In Iowa, everyone seems to be either Green Bay or Chicago fans. All I hear about from them, especially the Bears fans, is how great their defenses are.

 

[noonthirtyjoe]

I noticed no NFC North team made it.

LOL My Bears will be solid and top ten. One off year because of key injury's. We lost little and gained much, plus well have our best players healthy again.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

LOL My Bears will be solid and top ten. One off year because of key injury's. We lost little and gained much, plus well have our best players healthy again.

You seem to be the only Bears fan to think this way... Curious

 

[noonthirtyjoe]

You seem to be the only Bears fan to think this way... Curious

Every Bear fan thinks this way and why would we not. We lost key players all over the def last year, before the injurys hit we were playing good def. We added a bunch of talent and got our vets healthy again. Why would we not be a good to very good def as always. We do have some big offenses in the N now, but this def was good before the injurys and we added some real talent. Not sure what Bear fans you are talking too but most of us are real excited about both sides of the ball.

 

[cdumler7]

Just not seeing the Bears defense better than middle of the pack. 5 starters are now 32 years old or older and most are at best middle of the pack starters for their positions. Throw in if a starter goes down I just don't see the depth behind them unless one of the rookies plays out of their minds. If they can finish middle of the pack then the Bears stand a good chance of fighting for a playoff spot but right now they are the weakness on the team.

 

[ram29jackson]

per NFL.com the Bengals were top 4 not SF which was 5th.

NFL Stats: by Team Category

and the Browns were 9th

what ever..I don't know ?

 

[noonthirtyjoe]

Just not seeing the Bears defense better than middle of the pack. 5 starters are now 32 years old or older and most are at best middle of the pack starters for their positions. Throw in if a starter goes down I just don't see the depth behind them unless one of the rookies plays out of their minds. If they can finish middle of the pack then the Bears stand a good chance of fighting for a playoff spot but right now they are the weakness on the team.

No team has depth anymore. I guess well see who is right soon. Not soon enough, but soon.

 

[cdumler7]

No team has depth anymore. I guess well see who is right soon. Not soon enough, but soon.

Obviously it is hard to judge depth anymore as most teams have a lot of young potential waiting in the wings. And you are right we shall see soon enough. I guess I just look at the age of the defense being so extreme of either really looking like the downhill of their career to that of very unproven potential and just question how well all of that will come together. Also Melton moving on to the Cowboys I think will be a huge blow to the middle of that defense. I know he was gone most of last year anyway but it did show in just not much push/pressure up the middle.

 

[PDay8810]

Just not seeing the Bears defense better than middle of the pack. 5 starters are now 32 years old or older and most are at best middle of the pack starters for their positions. Throw in if a starter goes down I just don't see the depth behind them unless one of the rookies plays out of their minds. If they can finish middle of the pack then the Bears stand a good chance of fighting for a playoff spot but right now they are the weakness on the team.

Great point. This could be said about every team in the NFC east and that means hosting a playoff game.

 

[NinerSickness]

3. NO (4)

 

[HizzleRocker]

If NO and Denver are both top 5 defenses then the rest if th NFL better look out!