Welcome back football fanatics! This weekend proved to be very interesting, especially when the New Orleans Saints came to Foxboro to battle the New England Patriots. I think more action took place in the final 5 minutes then in the entire game! How do you play Tom Brady perfectly through 3 1/2 quarters and then let him do that to you in 1:13?
Pro Player Insiders’ Top 5 continues on with our Top 5 best Defensive Lines in the NFL going into week 7.
We are going to start with a bit of an apology: Although well noted for their stats, the Atlanta Falcons do not make this list. The Falcons are 2nd in the league versus power running (short yardage and third down running), allowing 4.39 yards per carry. Their front has only 9 sacks though and 2 fumbles. Not too bad for their team, just not good enough for our Top 5.
5. The Arizona Cardinals
Great news for DE Calais Campbell; he was let out of the hospital following Sunday’s horrific hit that sent him out of the game on a stretcher. He has 3.5 sacks on the year so far and has a fumble. Combined, the DL has 12 sacks and 2 fumbles on the year. DT Darnell Dockett leads the team with 4 of those sacks and the other fumble. The Cardinals allow 3.5 YPC and are 3rd in the league in stuffs (backs tackled either at the line or behind the line of scrimmage). The remainder of the line consists of Dan Williams, Matt Shaughnessy, Daryl Washington, Karlos Dansby and newly acquired John Abraham. The Cardinals take on the Seattle Seahawks Thursday Night.Check out Calais Campbell with Jim Rome talking Cardinals:
4. The Houston Texans
What a start for this Super Bowl hopeful. Matt Schaub breaks a record, however, it’s for the most consecutive games throwing interceptions returned for touchdowns—not a proud moment! Now that Head Coach Gary Kubiak and Schaub are both on the Hot Seat…the defense is the only thing left to hold on to, and the fact that we are only going into week 7. Houston’s DL is compiled of JJ Watt, Earl Mitchell, Antonio Smith, Brooks Reed, Brian Cushing, Joe Mays and Whitney Mercilus. They have 13 sacks and 2 fumbles on the year, with Mercilus leading the way with 4.5 sacks. Houston allows 3.8 YPC and are 5th in stuff ranking.
3. The NY Jets
The Jets are a confusing team to me; to think that Mark Sanchez would have kept his job had he not been injured is baffling. Head Coach Rex Ryan seems to like the spotlight more than his players and I’m sorry non-believers—Tim Tebow is a better QB than Sanchez. None the less, Geno Smith is the starter and he isn’t doing too badly of a job in NY. Leading the way for the Jets DL is Muhammad Wilkerson with 5 sacks and 2 fumbles. The rest of the team consists of Damon Harrison, Sheldon Richardson, Quinton Coples, Demario Davis, David Harris and Calvin Pace. 8 more sacks and 2 more fumbles combine the team’s totals. The Jets own stats however. They allow an astonishing 2.9 YPC, they are 1st in stuffs, and 2nd in 2nd level yardage (5-10 off the line). They are only giving up 75.7 yards rushing per game. Wilkerson had two sacks on Buffalo’s EJ Manuel 2 weeks ago—and here is one of them:
2. The Denver Broncos
I really wish that I would have played the spread on the NFL’s biggest point difference ever! Going into last week’s game, the Jacksonville Jaguars had a combined 51 points scored. The Broncos had that against the Cowboys and the Eagles each. Denver was favored by 28 points this weekend, but they didn’t even pull ahead until after halftime. It will take another Tony Romo like performance for anybody to beat Peyton Manning at his own game. Revis might have just won rights to “Revis Island”, but Manning doesn’t need a copyright to own the “Best QB” period.
The Broncos are allowing 2.8 YPC and they are 2nd in the stuff ranking. Their DL has 15 sacks, but only 1 fumble. This group of men consists of Derek Wolfe, Kevin Vickerson, Terrance Knighton, Shaun Phillips, Robert Ayers, Wesley Woodyard and Danny Trevathan. We didn’t forget Von Miller, but he is just now coming off of his suspension. The group is led by, who has 5.5 sacks and the fumble.
Our final team is just plain good. They may not be Denver, but they also haven’t played them yet. I can guarantee that no one would have expected this team to be where they are now; considering where they were just one year ago. I can also bet that some members of a certain team wishes they still had this Head Coach! I am talking about ProPlayers #1 Defensive Line of the 2013 Regular Season as of week 6—(drum roll)The Kansas City Chiefs.
Andy Reid was fired in Philadelphia after a couple rocky seasons with the team. It didn’t take long for him to find another home though. What was his first move as HC? Reid traded for San Francisco’s backup (?) Alex Smith. Now Smith is no Hall of Famer, but his stats this year are good enough to compliment the remainder of the team, and to keep them 6-0. KC leads the league in sacks with 31, while Kansas City’s DL has 26 of those sacks! LOLB Justin Houston leads the team with 9.5 sacks and a fumble. The remainder of the DL: Tyson Jackson, Mike Devito, Dontari Poe, Akeem Jordan, Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali are taking care of the rest. The Chiefs are 1st in power D with 19%! Justin Houston leads the League in sacks, and has been named the AFC Defensive player of the week twice:
I personally cannot wait until the Chiefs have to play the Broncos November 17th in Denver—which is right after their BYE week.
That concludes our Top 5 for this week, but we will be back. Next week we will take a look at ………..the NFL Kickers. See you then!
