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In a word, last week was: rough. It was hard to see the Patriots defense fall flat on their faces and who could’ve predicted explosions from the Jags defense or Rams defense? Well, I had the Rams and Jaguars at 9 and 11, respectively, but even I didn’t think they could’ve done what they did.
This week, we have a better idea of how teams look. It’s still rough to determine, but match up will play a bigger role than it did in Week 1.
Let’s take a look at what we got:
D/ST Rankings
| RANK | TEAM |
|---|---|
| RANK | TEAM |
| 1 | Seattle Seahawks |
| 2 | Baltimore Ravens |
| 3 | Houston Texans |
| 4 | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 5 | Kansas City Chiefs |
| 6 | Denver Broncos |
| 7 | Minnesota Vikings |
| 8 | Los Angeles Rams |
| 9 | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 10 | Arizona Cardinals |
| 11 | Los Angeles Chargers |
| 12 | New York Giants |
| 13 | New England Patriots |
| 14 | Carolina Panthers |
| 15 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 16 | Green Bay Packers |
| 17 | Oakland Raiders |
| 18 | Tennessee Titans |
| 19 | Atlanta Falcons |
| 20 | Dallas Cowboys |
| 21 | Chicago Bears |
| 22 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 23 | Buffalo Bills |
| 24 | Miami Dolphins |
| 25 | Washington Redskins |
| 26 | Detroit Lions |
| 27 | Cincinnati Bengals |
| 28 | Cleveland Browns |
| 29 | New York Jets |
| 30 | Indianapolis Colts |
| 31 | San Francisco 49ers |
| 32 | New Orleans Saints |
Best bets: Seahawks, Ravens, Texans, Eagles, Chiefs
Last week, the Seahawks had to face Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense. They happened to lose starting corner, Jeremy Lane, to an ejection as well. This week should be better. If you missed my column, I said the Seahawks would have the top defense and I still believe that. This week, they play the 49ers so they’ll look more like it.
I like what the Ravens are doing. They’re near the top of the league in total yards allowed (4th) and passing yards allowed (5th). Yes, it’s early, but they also play the Browns. A rookie QB playing on the road in Baltimore is a good place to be for this defense.
Okay, yes the Texans looked bad in Week 1. That was their whole team that looked awful though. In a short week, playing the weak defensive line of the Bengals and the Texans should look better. Don’t expect a lot of points scored by either team here.
The Eagles front looks as good as any in football. Now, Washington didn’t necessarily provide the best test, but Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox are monsters. Losing Ronald Darby hurts, but I like them by default as not a whole lot of defenses looked particularly impressive in Week 1.
On the other side of the Eagles-Chiefs matchup, I still like the Chiefs defense to do some things. I want to rank them higher, but losing Eric Berry is huge (more on that). However, if Marcus Peters can shut down Alshon Jeffery, like Josh Norman did, then it’ll be a long day for Philly.
In deeper leagues:
It might be worth kicking the tires on the Chicago Bears. They play a Tampa team that is thrown off schedule after being forced to take a Week 1 bye. The Bears also have a strong front seven and held the Falcons in check quite well. Or the Bucs could be well rested and ready to run all over the field. Exercise caution.
Also, I’m taking a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. They play the Vikings, and I’m not buying the way that offense looked on Monday night against the Saints. Pittsburgh has a good pass rush and the offense on the other side might make the Vikings pass a lot to match.