It’s time to recalibrate expectations for the Dallas defense. And Philadelphia’s. Even Miami’s, too.
The past week of NFL action featured several defensive-dominated showdowns, but four teams allowed at least 34 points (Bucs, Chargers, Bengals, Cardinals). The Falcons also won’t be getting any awards for allowing Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, who’s had an up-and-down career to this point, to throw for a Carolina-record 448 yards in a 30-27 Atlanta loss.
Ahead of Week 12, here’s my tiered ranking of all 32 NFL defensive units (see Week 11 here):
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Green Bay Packers
Philadelphia Eagles
The top five remains unchanged from last week, but the Eagles climb into the elite tier.
They held the Lions’ juggernaut offense to just nine points on Sunday, a week after limiting the Packers — who also boast one of the league’s better offenses — to seven points. The addition of Jaelan Phillips at the trade deadline and the return of fellow edge rusher Nolan Smith (triceps) have turned an inconsistent defensive front into an ascending force. That, coupled with a deep linebacker core and an elite secondary, gives coordinator Vic Fangio a dominant defense — one that no one should want to play down the stretch.
And here’s the scary part: With Phillips still acclimating to Philly, no other top-end defense may still have more room to grow.
Cleveland Browns
Kansas City Chiefs
Detroit Lions
New England Patriots
Baltimore Ravens
The Lions deserve a lot of credit for their defensive showing against the Eagles, albeit in a loss.
Playing with a banged-up secondary, Detroit held Philadelphia to 124 passing yards (its third-worst mark of the season), including only one completion of 20-plus yards. The Lions also kept the Eagles, who boast the league’s top red-zone offense, to 1-for-3 inside the 20 and 4-for-15 on third down.
Of course, Philly has an inconsistent offense, but the showing marked a big step forward for Detroit’s No. 10-ranked scoring defense, which should get All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph and starting cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Terrion Arnold back at some point.
Indianapolis Colts
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Buffalo Bills
Atlanta Falcons
Los Angeles Chargers
Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers
Pittsburgh Steelers
Minnesota Vikings
No NFL defense has ascended from terrible to competent more drastically over the past couple of weeks than Dallas’, which was a bottom-two unit through nine games. As such, the Cowboys were in my bottom tier last week.
But that was before the Dallas debuts of All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and veteran linebacker Logan Wilson, and the season debuts of standout linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr.
In a 33-16 rout of Las Vegas on Monday night, Dallas looked like a completely different defense. While the Raiders’ offense is terrible, it’s easy to imagine the Cowboys continuing to ascend defensively. Time is not on their side in the playoff race, though, as they sit in 10th place in the NFC with seven weeks left in the regular season.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Chicago Bears
New Orleans Saints
Arizona Cardinals
The Jaguars’ defense had its most complete performance in a rout of the Chargers, who scored a season-low six points. That’s the fewest points that Jacksonville has given up all season. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was also held to a career-low 81 passing yards.
The Jags are still a bit too dependent on takeaways and have very real pass-rush struggles — just two teams have fewer sacks than Jacksonville’s 15 — but a strong performance against an AFC contender with an above-average offense is a step in the right direction for defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile’s unit.
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
Las Vegas Raiders
New York Giants
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep the Dolphins this low. Their overtime victory over the Commanders in Spain marked the third time in four weeks that they’ve held their opponent under 14 points. Miami has six takeaways in that span, helping to fuel its 3-1 record since Week 8. Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who had a season-high 20 tackles against Washington, has been a standout.
Washington Commanders
Tennessee Titans
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals gave up 34 points in last week’s loss to the Steelers, the fourth game in a row they’ve allowed at least 30 points — the longest streak in franchise history. Cincinnati is currently allowing 33.4 points per game, which would be the most in a single season since the 1966 Giants (35.8), according to Next Gen Stats.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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