FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

Team Defense Rankings: Week 15 John Tuvey December 12, 2012 Follow @jtuvey  Print

Rank Team Opponent Comments TIER 1 1 Seahawks at Bills Seattle's D was on fire at home last week; how comfortable will they be in Buffalo? 2 Cowboys vs. Steelers Maybe now the vaunted Cowboys pass rush can make some noise against the banged-up Steelers front line. 3 Bengals at Eagles Cincy's defense is underrated; surely they can offer up more of a challenge than the Bucs' secondary did last year. 4 Titans vs. Jets Hosting Mark Sanchez has its rewards. 5 Patriots vs. 49ers With their offense firing on all cylinders, it's the defense's turn to reduce Colin Kaepernick to tears. 6 Lions at Cardinals At this point the Cards would have trouble scoring or even moving the ball on anyone; Detroit just happens to be next man up. TIER 2 7 Texans vs. Colts Andrew Luck is having a great rookie season; he's also leading the league in interceptions. 8 Chargers vs. Panthers Sometimes Cam is on, and sometimes you wonder what the heck he's thinking. 9 Jets at Titans For all the offensive drama, Rex Ryan's crew can still play some defense. 10 Broncos at Ravens Denver's defense has been a point-producer all season, though a home date with Baltimore isn't the ideal venue. 11 Ravens vs. Broncos It's a classic matchup, and even Peyton Manning gives one away every now and then. 12 Packers at Bears Green Bay's defense has held up despite the injuries, and now they get a return engagement with Jay Cutler. 13 Giants at Falcons Matt Ryan hasn't been particularly icy of late, and the Giants have the kind of pass rush that can instigate turnovers. 14 Bears vs. Packers The Bears are missing enough pieces so as not to be nearly as threatening as before. 15 Falcons vs. Giants On the bright side, the Falcons have generated a bunch of interceptions and Eli has been known to throw more than his share. 16 Panthers at Chargers San Diego's offensive line is all kinds of banged up, and an underrated Panthers' defensive line could make them pay. TIER 3 17 Rams vs. Vikings There's a very good reason why the Vikings limit the number of times Christian Ponder throws the football. 18 49ers at Patriots The Niners D is plenty tough, but no team allows fewer defensive fantasy points than the Patriots. 19 Browns vs. Redskins No offense to the other rookie quarterback, but if it's Kirk Cousins rather than RG3 you can bump the Browns up a bit. 20 Vikings at Rams Teams don't have to take chances against the glacial Vikings offense, which limits their defensive opportunities. 21 Dolphins vs. Jaguars The Jags don't have much left to threaten anyone offensively; even Miami might be able to make them pay 22 Cardinals vs. Lions Tough to trust a unit that just gave up 58 points, but Arizona's defense has for the most part been solid this season 23 Jaguars at Dolphins Not that the Dolphins are all that, but Jacksonville's defense threatens no one. 24 Steelers at Cowboys James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Tony Romo... in other years this would have made a ton of sense; this year, not so much. 25 Bills vs. Seahawks Getting a rookie quarterback out of his elements seems like a good plan... but Russell Wilson isn't playing like a rookie. 26 Buccaneers at Saints A shaky secondary against the Saints is not exactly the recipe you're looking for at this point of the season. TIER 4 27 Saints vs. Buccaneers The Saints may have pick-sixed Eli last week, but only the Patriots have turned the ball over less frequently than the Bucs. 28 Redskins at Browns Washington's D has backslid as the season progressed, the injuries to key personnel catching up with them. 29 Colts at Texans No team has generated fewer takeaways than the Colts. And Houston doesn't turn the ball over anyway. 30 Chiefs at Raiders The Chiefs have just 11 takeaways; they wouldn't know what to do with a Carson Palmer pick if they got one. 31 Eagles vs. Bengals Okay, so we've established it wasn't the defensive coordinator's fault, right? 32 Raiders vs. Chiefs If only Oakland were any threat to do something with the turnover-prone Chiefs.  Print