What To Watch For in Week 3: The New Defensive NFL

9 of the last 11 Associated Press NFL MVPs have been quarterbacks.

The last truly defensive oriented team to win the Super Bowl was the 2002-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (you could make a case here for the 2007-08 Giants as a defence-first team).

The main faces of the league currently are, in order: Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. 

And yet, heading into week 3, the spread-em’-out NFL seems to be waining, replaced by a hard-nosed, defensive minded league.

With no D to support them, QBs like Drew Brees
and Matt Stafford could struggle this year

You read that right. There seems to be a new era dawning in the NFL. Look at some of the 2-0 teams, and their passing attacks: San Francisco (25th in the league in passing, heading into Sunday), Arizona (30th), and Houston (21st). Even San Diego (14th) and Atlanta (12th) aren’t gearing up to set any single-season passing records. In fact, out of the undefeated teams, only Philadelphia stands near the top of the league in passing, and they spent a lot of time playing from behind.

Conversely, take a peek at the defensive ranking heading into Sunday. Atlanta is the only undefeated team outside the top-15 in yards allowed, and its by a hair— they rank 18th going into Sunday.

So, it’s true. So far this year, the NFL has definitely been a defensive league. Now take a minute to think about that. Lions fans, Oakland fans, (fellow) Saints fans, it could be a very long year. It doesn’t matter that our teams can chuck it up there with the best of them. The fact that there is a seeming violent hatred for defensive skill players on these teams might just mean that they’re already done.

The new face(s) of the NFL?

So, as we head into week 3 of the NFL, keep this in the back of your mind. Personally, I’ll be watching to see if the defense-first teams can keep dominating. I’ll also be hoping for a quick return to the previous era: the time where Drew Brees could throw it 45 times, the Saints could practically check out on defense, and somehow this was considered the team’s best chance for victory.

Three Bets to Take:

San Francisco (-7 1/2) @ Minnesota Vikings:

So far San Fran has undoubtedly looked like the most physical team in the NFL. Essentially, as soon as they get a two-score lead, the game is over, as teams just can’t consistently move the ball against them. Look for the 49ers to get a couple scores early, and then completely shut down the Christian Ponder-led Vikings offense.

Detroit Lions (-4) @ Tennessee Titans

Something is wrong with Chris Johnson. There just has to be. Either that, or he just flat-out isn’t very good. That’s a distinct possibility too. After facing (and getting beat up by) San Francisco’s defense, expect Matt Stafford and co. to put up some big points.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Indianapolis Colts (-3)

For this one, I’m just pretty sure that the Jags are terrible. They barely have a chance with a healthy Blaine Gabbert, and now he’s dealing with an glute injury. It’s either a bruised Gabbert, or a healthy Chad Henne under center on Sunday. Yikes. Andrew Luck looked good enough in last Sunday’s win over the Vikings to believe in the Colts in this one. And, again, Jacksonville is just not a good team. By any stretch.