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We’re already a quarter of the way through the season and not a whole lot about this year is making sense. Jared Goff looks like a new person. The Patriots defense is super bad. Like actually terrible. The Bills might be for real. Seattle finally showed up in a big way on defense. It’s been a rollercoaster season for most teams so far, but let’s take a look at what week 5 may hold for these defense/special teams units.
Teams on bye this week: Atlanta, Denver, New Orleans, Washington
Week 5
| RANK | TEAM |
|---|---|
| RANK | TEAM |
| 1 | Detroit Lions |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 3 | Seattle Seahawks |
| 4 | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 5 | Buffalo Bills |
| 6 | Baltimore Ravens |
| 7 | Houston Texans |
| 8 | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 9 | Los Angeles Rams |
| 10 | Cincinnati Bengals |
| 11 | Kansas City Chiefs |
| 12 | Minnesota Vikings |
| 13 | New York Giants |
| 14 | Arizona Cardinals |
| 15 | Carolina Panthers |
| 16 | Green Bay Packers |
| 17 | Chicago Bears |
| 18 | Oakland Raiders |
| 19 | Tennessee Titans |
| 20 | Dallas Cowboys |
| 21 | Los Angeles Chargers |
| 22 | San Francisco 49ers |
| 23 | Miami Dolphins |
| 24 | New York Jets |
| 25 | Indianapolis Colts |
| 26 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 27 | Cleveland Browns |
| 28 | New England Patriots |
Best bets: Lions, Steelers, Seahawks, Jaguars and Bills
Okay, 3 out of those 5 best bets are not 3 teams I thought would all be in this position this early on in the season. The Lions, especially. But they’ve put together a strong season so far as the leading fantasy point scorer and being an opportunistic defense. They have 3 D/ST TD’s and their special teams has been one of the better units in football.
The Steelers have a matchup that might benefit them against the Jaguars because I’m still not sold that Blake Bortles may have turned the corner. The Steelers have only let up 59 points in 4 games and if they lock down Leonard Fournette, they could hold the Jags down.
The Seahawks follow up their dominant performance against the Colts with a game in Los Angeles against what might be the best offense in football. That’s right, the Rams might have the best offense in football! Exercise caution here. Maybe this is the team that can bring Jared Goff back to his rookie season self.
The Jaguars have a fun defense to watch. They get sacks (still leading the league with 18), they fly to the ball (also lead the league in fumble recoveries with 5), and they really don’t allow a whole lot of points. They play a Steeler team this week and I feel like we’ve been saying how good the Steelers offense could be for 3 years now. Jalen Ramsey vs. Antonio Brown is a heavyweight bout.
I’m caping up for the Bills not just as a defense/special teams, but as a team overall! I think they’re good and I think Sean McDermott has been great there. Their corners are playing top notch defense despite Tre’Davious White being a rookie. They’re not dominating the league in turnovers, but they do lead the league in points allowed with an impressive 54. They play the Bengals this week and they carry the same risk the Seahawks do. They need to make Andy Dalton and the rest of Cincinnati regress to their same offensive output in Weeks 1 and 2.