It’s time to rank the top 5 NFL defenses after another week of football. Say it isn’t so, the Kansas City Chiefs now have a great defense. Is it the best of the Patrick Mahomes era?
Kansas City Chiefs
For a team built on offense, the Chiefs have been inconsistent in that department. While, the numbers say they’re playing well, the eye test says different.
Picking up the slack has been the rising Chiefs defense, which came on late last season in the team’s run to their second Super Bowl win.
Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany, K.C.’s defense showed up in a major way against the Miami Dolphins and the league’s top-rated offense.
In their 21-14 win, the Chiefs held the Fins to 292 total yards, which is 143 yards below their 435 yards per game average. They also held them to a 25 percent third-down conversion rate, which is 16 percent below their 41.7 percent clip. But the biggest difference was holding them to 14 points, which is 17 points below their 31 per game average. This is easily the best defense the Chiefs have had since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting QB in 2018. The defense is no longer a bend-but-don’t-break unit. They’re flat-out stopping people.
Tight end Travis Kelce told reporters this about his team’s defense:
“This is the best defense I’ve ever played with.”
Baltimore Ravens
This defense seems to get better each week, and Sunday’s demolition of a very good Seattle Seahawks offense was the latest in a trend of dominating performances against other top teams.
In the 37-3 blowout, the Ravens added four more sacks to their league-leading total of 31 coming into Sunday. They held the Hawks to 1-for-12 on third downs and a paltry 3.2 yards per play, which is a yard better than their play average allowed coming into Sunday.
With linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen controlling the middle of the field, and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Geno Stone (six interceptions, most in NFL) handling the backend this defense is the best in football.
“We’re a bunch of a**holes out there,” Stone said after Sunday’s victory. “It is what it is. We want to be the best defense we can be.”
Cleveland Browns
After giving up a last-second touchdown pass in a Week 8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Browns regained their swagger on defense. Led by star edge rusher Myles Garrett, who’s making a strong case for DPOY with 9.5 sacks and numerous game-changing plays, the Browns shut out the Arizona Cardinals.
This defense under coordinator Jim Schwartz has been more aggressive, and in holding the Cardinals to 58 total yards in the win, they also welcomed QB Clayton Tune to the league with seven sacks.
Pittsburgh Steelers
When a team has been outgained and on average outscored every game, but they’re still 5-3 that’s a direct reflection of the team’s defense, which is one of the best in the league. Weekly, edge rushers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith harass QBs and wreck opposing teams’ offensive game plans. That exactly what happened in the team’s Thursday night win over the Tennessee Titans, where they tallied 24 QB pressures, along with 16 QB hurries, 10 QB hits and four sacks.
Washington Commanders
Just five days after trading the team’s two starting edge rushers, Chase Young and Montez Sweat, Washington’s defense stepped up and slowed the New England Patriots in a 20-17 road win. While the Patriots did move the football, they also went 1-5 in the red zone and finished 3-for-12 on third downs.
Commanders rookie K.J. Henry, who’s now playing more with the aforementioned Young and Sweat gone, recorded his first NFL sack, only to have it taken away for what officials deemed a roughing-the-passer penalty.
