The NFL season is working its way toward November, which means the warm-weather games are largely going to give way to colder-weather games. While the seasons are changing, several defenses are unceasingly playing great football and are establishing themselves as the best in the league. These are the four best in the class for 2016, entering the final weekend of October:
Seattle Seahawks
This might not be the best team in the NFL because the offense is so bad, but the Seahawks have the best defense in the league until proven otherwise. The Seahawks live in an era with more and more passing, more spread offenses and multi-wide receiver sets. The rules against pass interference are much stricter than they used to be. So many aspects of modern football are friendlier to offenses than they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, the Seahawks’ defense manages to set the highest of standards. The Seahawks are the first defense in the Super Bowl era to lead the NFL in fewest points allowed for four straight seasons. The Seahawks are the scoring defense champions and are continuing to thrive in 2016. The Seahawks have limited opponents to 10 points or fewer in three separate games. They have allowed more than 20 points in only one game, never more than 24 points in any game. Moreover, in that 24-point game, which came against the Atlanta Falcons, the Seahawks limited Atlanta to just three points in three of the four quarters. They collapsed in the third quarter, surrendering 21 points. Otherwise, though, they were lights-out. No NFL team has allowed fewer points than the Seahawks, and that’s despite that one bad quarter. One thing which pushes Seattle above Minnesota, which is tied in terms of points allowed with the Seahawks (84 points): Seattle’s defense played a full extra period on Sunday in that 6-6 overtime tie against Arizona. In terms of quarters played, the Seahawks have played one more than the Vikes.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings, as said above, have given up just 84 points, which puts them tied with the Seahawks for the best scoring defense in the NFL. The Vikings deserve so much credit because they are playing without star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and have still started their season with great strength and success. Being able to lock down opposing offenses is in itself an achievement. Doing so when knowing that the offense is without its best quarterback is even more of an accomplishment. The Vikings are not working with a great margin for error. This is why their defensive performance, which is statistically obvious and superb, is even more impressive.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles have allowed just 88 points, right behind Seattle and Minnesota. What the Eagles have done through six games is very similar to what the Vikings have done while playing for Sam Bradford. The Eagles are trying to bring along Carson Wentz, their rookie quarterback who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. A rookie has a learning curve and must make various in-course adjustments. The Eagles’ defense needs to carry a considerable workload so that it can give Wentz good field position and not put too much pressure on him to win games himself. The Eagles’ defense must manage situations to simplify Wentz’s task each week. This past Sunday – against the Vikings, interestingly enough – the Eagles took the ball away from Minnesota on several occasions and did their job. They removed the need for Wentz to take matters into his own hands. The Eagle defense won that game and allowed Wentz to become a peripheral figure in the game.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys are tied with New England for fourth in the league in points allowed, with 107. The thing about Dallas is that rookie quarterback Dak Prescott is finding confidence and a rhythm. He is making many sound plays, but he knows that his defense has his back. The only possible limitation one could place upon the Dallas defense is that the Cowboys’ offense – with Ezekiel Elliott running behind the NFL’s best offensive line- is such a good ball-control offense that the defense doesn’t have to play as many snaps per game. Nevertheless, when put in a good position, the Dallas defense hasn’t messed around or squandered any opportunities.
