 Carolina Panthers Tickets Atlanta Falcons Tickets Philadelphia Eagles Tickets NFL Football Tickets |
|
Get your NFL football tickets now at TickCo. They have all team Cardinals tickets, Cowboys tickets, Packers tickets, Colts tickets, Patriots tickets, Titans tickets and more. Get your Super Bowl tickets here! KACSPORTS/PACKERSEDGE 2006 FANTASY RANKINGS - TEAM DEFENSES  1. Chicago – It’s usually kind of hard to guarantee one particular unit to be near the top, but you know a defense is focused when they spend half of training camp purposely trying to knock out their own second-string back just to make sure he doesn’t become the starter. A recent pre-season game also saw Brian Urlacher return an INT for a touchdown as well as a kickoff return for a score. Other memorable plays in recent years have included Mike Brown interceptions for TD’s along with Nathan Vasher’s record return of a missed FG – although I’m not expecting any more coaches to attempt any more 52-yard field goals into a full-force gale. Vasher also picked off eight passes last year while Urlacher and cornerback Charles Tillman also found the end zone. Weak division cements the Bears choice as a #1 defense. 2. Carolina – In my opinion, coach John Fox is fast becoming the latest incarnation of Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick – and it would be no surprise to this reporter if the Panthers win the whole ball of wax this year. Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker have fast become the most dangerous bookends in the game. Once-maligned draft choice Chris Gamble picked off seven passes in his second year, and he and fellow corner Ken Lucas combined for 13 INT’s last season. 3. Pittsburgh – It only seems like six of their 11 defensive players are named Troy Polamalu. Believe me, he is only one player. Last year’s Super Bowl winning unit has lost safety Chris Hope along with Carson Palmer-nemesis Kimo Von Oelhoffen, but those are only minimal losses. Expect plenty of sacks, what keeps the Steelers from the top two are a lack of interceptions. 4. Idianapolis – It has taken a few years, but coach Tony Dungy has slowly molded a very similar unit to the one which he turned around down in Tampa. DE Dwight Freeney has become a special, freakish player and bookend Robert Mathis was double-figures in sacks last year as well. OLB Cato June was pretty good in September through December, intercepting five passes last year and taking two to the house. 5. Jacksonville – You don’t hear a lot about the Jaguars, but their defense may peak this year after improving from 24 to 47 sacks over the last two seasons. Only negative is that the unit does not produce a lot of turnovers, although they did score four times last year. 6. Tampa Bay – After some transitions, old sea salt Monte Kiffin has returned the Bucs defensive crew to near the top of the heap. If you are in a IDP league, make sure to put Simeon Rice near the top of your list, he was a terror with 14 sacks as well as six forced fumbles last year. 7. Baltimore – 2005 was a down year for the normally stout defense in Baltimore, but the team still recorded 42 sacks along with three scores. A return to health by All-World defenders Ray Lewis and Ed Reed would go a long ways to returning the Ravens back into the top tier fantasy wise. 8. Atlanta – Reggie Bush is going to get the idea very quickly that the NFC South is a very rough road to hoe. Everyone knows about the athletic freaks on offense such as Michael Vick, Warren Dunn, and soon rookie RB Jerrious Norwood. However the fastest and best athlete of all may be CB DeAngelo Hall, who picked up nine turnovers last year including a score. Veteran return man Allen Rossum is also good for a score or two every year. Expect this unit to perform better than what you may see on some cheat sheets. 9. Seattle – The selection of undersized linebacker Lofa Tatupu made a developing defense even better, and improved everyone around him up front. This year, the Seahawks invested yet another top draft pick on a defender and also signed free agent Julian Peterson. If Ken Hamlin can return from injury that would be another huge plus. 10. Miami – Nick Saban has already made an impact with an aggressive defensive scheme that produced 49 sacks and 31 turnovers last year alone. Former Panthers/Texans coach Dom Capers takes over as defensive coordinator this year. One concern is that this is in some respects is an aging unit. There was also talk that Jason Taylor’s off-season divorce could have internal ramifications. Taylor was married to the sister of Zach Thomas. I think it is a non-factor myself but I noted it for gossip’s sake. 11. San Diego – My sleeper pick for the season, with a lot of tremendous talent out of players in their second and third seasons. Don’t be surprised if second-year OLB Shawne Merriman leads the league in sacks this year. Luis Castillo and Igor Olshansky are also becoming nice players, just not big sack guys. Early indications are the team has gotten a tremendous value out of rookie corner Antonio Cromartie, who appears recovered from a knee injury that kept him playing for Florida St. last year. Only negative so far is losing return man Darren Sproles for the year due to injury. 12. New England – The Patriots fall in the rankings after an off-year defensively. Six defensive backs were lost due to injury by the end of Week 3 alone last year. As a result, the Pats only recorded 10 INT’s as opposed to 29 just two years earlier. This training camp the linebacking corps was stung by injury, so much so that the Pats coaxed Junior Seau out of retirement. Now the reason to consider New England’s D. First, they play the weak NFC North this year, plus have two games against the offensively challenged Jets and Bills. 13. NY Giants – The first in the NFC Group of Death to be ranked. This defense has some promise, recording 40+ sacks in each of the last three seasons. Linebacker LaVar Arrington leads a slew of off-season acquisitions. Early word out of camp is that the Giants may have gotten a top-ten overall talent in drafting DE Matthias Kiwanuka, who was the final pick in the first round. 14. Cincinnati – Marvin Lewis’ defense was better than this ranking last year, recording a league-leading 44 turnovers including 31 interceptions. It should be noted however that a good percentage of those numbers came against the woeful NFL North. Also the Bengals only got one defensive TD on the year and is also not a big unit it terms of sacks. Cincinnati also did not make a gigantic splash in the free agent market. 15. Denver – All-World CB Champ Bailey is the star of the defense, and this unit should be able to do some damage against division rivals Oakland and San Diego. What will keep the defense from being rated with the elite is the absence of a pass rush, only recording 28 sacks last year. No member of this year’s defense recorded any more than four sacks last year. 16. Dallas – A nice defense with potential, with 2005 Draft picks DeMarcus Ware and Marcus Spears expected to ramp it up. Still, the numbers have not been too spectacular, recording 30-something sacks in each of the last three seasons. 17. Philadelphia – The absence of Terrell Owens and the season-ending injury to Donovan McNabb got much of the ink, but the injury but hit on defense as well – in the process dropping the Eagles from the leagues elite. Safety Brian Dawkins may now be on the downside of his career, but in 2005 he had three interceptions, four forced fumbles, and 3 ½ sacks. Corner Lito Sheppard has developed into one of the leagues best while partner Sheldon Brown took two of his four interceptions to the house. 18. Washington – I kind of hate rating the Skins this low, but this just underscores the point the quality defenses can be had in the final round or two rounds of a typical 12-team league. The defense that coordinator Gregg Williams installed a couple of years back has slowly taken hold. One key will be for safety Sean Taylor to actually stay out of jail for 17 weeks. 19. Minnesota – Thanks to some recent fortifications of the front four in recent drafts, the Vikings defense has improved from downright awful to halfway decent in recent seasons. The Vikes do draw Green Bay in a critical Thursday Week 16 game (critical if your team is in a championship game), they could always pick off Favre another four or five times. The linebacking unit is currently the weak link, a situation not helped when first-round pick Chad Greenway was lost for the year in the very first exhibition game. 20. Arizona – In the fantasy realm, the Cardinals had always offered great IDP options over the years because the defense was on the field way too often. This should be in the process of changing, with the Cards potentially being a workable defensive unit to play, at least in a pinch. Injuries from stud DE Bertrand Berry and rookie corner Antrel Rolle in part kept Arizona from making a real leap last year. 21. Kansas City – Another team working on climbing from the fantasy scrap heap at least into the middle tiers The arrival of new coach Herman Edwards should put much of the Chiefs focus on defense for the first time in years. Linebacker Derrick Johnson proved to be everything that he was billed coming out of Texas last year, if 2006 #1 pick Tamba Hali is just as successful at DE that should go a long ways for this unit. 22. St. Louis – An under-rated pass rush unit, the Rams have recorded 40+ sacks in two of the past three seasons and racked up an astounding 46 turnovers on defense a few years back. The big story in the S-T-L this year is the arrival of former Saints coach Jim Haslett as a defensive coordinator, you can look at that as either a good thing or bad thing. 23. Detroit – After a few years of collecting bust wide receivers early in the NFL Draft, early indications are that the Lions may have something with former Florida State linebacker Ernie Sims. An impressive physical specimen, Sims is expected to start from Day 1. As you are seeing with Chales Rogers and Mike Williams on offence, the new coach regime will spend much of the year trying to weed out some of the bad apples on defense. 24. Cleveland – Now in his second year, coach Romeo Crennel will get it right defensively, and is slowly transforming the defensive unit by bringing in a few of his old New England buddies. Top draft picks Kamerion Wimbley and D’Qwell Jackson will be expected to start and contribute immediately. With the Browns plodding around on offense, it will be up to the D to keep Cleveland in games. 25. Houston – A transitional year for the Texans defensively, as they switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. The team didn’t feature much of a pass rush in 2005, so #1 overall pick Mario Williams is going to have to live up to every bit of his billing, and will get plenty of attention from opposing O-lines. The only reason I don’t have Houston at the very bottom is second-year return man Jerome Mathis. Already billed as the fastest man in the league, chances are Mathis will take at least two or three to the house this year. 26. Tennessee – One thing we have learned from pre-season highlights thus far, Reggie Bush is significantly faster than the Titans secondary. You may want to pick up Tennessee off the waiver wire in weeks in which they play Houston, they got to David Carr 13 times in two games last year, accounting for a good percentage of the team’s 41 total sacks. Second-year corner Pacman Jones should also be good for a score or two on interception as well as kick returns. 27. Buffalo – ILB London Fletcher should be near the top on IDP draft lists, he’s among the league leaders in total tackles on an annual basis and the Bills find themselves on defense a lot. Unhearlded DE Aaron Schobel racked up 12 sacks last year, and the cornerback combination of Nate Clements and Terrence McGee are quickly becoming among the leagues most feared. 28. San Francisco – The top IDP candidate is cornerback Tony Parrish, who intercepted 20 passes from 2002-04, but missed the last portion of last year with a busted leg. The defense has a long ways to go before being considered on a fantasy basis, but did have four defensive scores in 2005. 29. NY Jets – At least a top-15 defense in recent years, the Jets need nearly as much help on the defensive side than on offense. That said, ILB Jonathan Vilma should be near the top of any IDP list, he led the league with 128 total tackles last year. Former top-fiver overall pick DeWayne Robertson has not developed as was expected at DT. 30. Green Bay – If new DT Ryan Pickett can get in the way of defenders like he does oncoming traffic trying to exit the stadium parking lot, that would immensely help the front four. Rookie A.J Hawk is being counted on to eventually become the Wisconsin version of Brian Urlacher. FA pick-up Charles Woodson will be likely to disappoint. Don’t look now, but DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamilia is fast closing in on Reggie White’s team career record for sacks. 31. Oakland – Yes, definitely start LaDainian Tomlinson as well as Larry Johnson when they have their two games v. the Raiders. DE Derrick Burgess had a career year with 16 sacks last year and is likely to be overvalued in IDP drafts. ILB Kirk Morrison, corner Fabian Washington, as well as swift safety Stuart Schweigert are examples of young defenders who are coming along nicely. I just don’t like the leadership situation out in Oakland. 32. New Orleans – If you saw the pre-season game v. Dallas, you quickly realize that this is a unit that still gets shredded apart. 2005 sack (25) and INT (10) totals leave plenty to be desired. |
