Top 3 defenses in the NFL

This is another installment of our “Tops” series of rankings for the 2013 NFL season. Today we will be breaking down the top 3 defensive units in the NFL.

#3: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

To say the least the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a disappointing season. Hopes were high coming into 2012 that some, if not all, of the young Buc’s would have that longed for break through season that escalated Tampa Bay to the next level. Unfortunately that never came to be and the most disappointing part of this disappointing team was their defense. The Buc’s have several young talented players on their defensive front but struggled mightily in the passing game. To counter act last season, the Buccaneers have traded for shut down corner back D. Revis from the New York Jets as well as signing star safety D. Golden to a 5 year deal that is sure to make Tampa Bay’s secondary one of the most feared in the league during 2013.

#2: Seattle Seahawks

Wow! What a season the Seattle Seahawks had! The Seahawks in 2012 had their best season since advancing to the Super Bowl in 2006 and much of the credit goes to the players on the defensive side of the ball. Seattle’s secondary was dominant all year long and just seemed to get better as the year went on. I don’t believe I have ever seen such a physically dominating defensive secondary as the one in Seattle this year. The Seahawks have been stock piling draft picks and high potential defensive players for years now and it seems like Coach Pete Carol has finally put the right pieces in the right places. 2013 looks to be very bright for Seattle and their defense.

#1: San Francisco 49ers

Just down the road from Seattle and in the same division are the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers finished the 2012 season with a disappointing near loss in the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens but you can bet that their spirits will not be deterred in 2013. Much like Seattle, the 49ers have been stock piling draft picks and high potential defensive players for the last 4 or 5 years and now you can see why. San Francisco lead the league in almost every statistical category on defense for the past 2 seasons and it wouldn’t be a surprise if 2013 was more of the same.

Top 3 RB's in the NFL

This is another installment of our “Tops” series of rankings for the 2013 NFL season. This week we will be breaking down the top 3 running backs in the NFL.

#3: Ray Rice

One word describes Ray Rice: consistency. Rice has been in the National Football League for 6 years and the only season in his career in which he finished with less than 1,500 all purpose yards was his rookie year in 2008 where he received less than half the carries he has any other season. The problem with playing at that high of a level consistently is that you are then expected to perform at that high level all the time. So how did Rice set 2012 apart from every other year? He simply carried the offense on his back during the entire regular season and playoffs in route to a Super Bowl title.

#2: Arian Foster

Running backs are usually the easiest position to evaluate talent and draft in the National Football League with a low percentage of those picks being draft busts and even fewer draft steals but the Texans got lucky when they signed undrafted free agent Arian Foster. Foster only got the starting job in 2010 after injuries decimated the Texans backfield but Foster rose to the challenge as he put up a career high 2,200 all purpose yards along with 18 total touchdowns. He has been solid ever since and the Texans are looking for even more ground success in 2013 behind Foster.

#1: Adrian Peterson

Adrian Peterson’s nickname in Minnesota is AD for All Day but in 2012 Peterson ran ALL YEAR. After suffering a torn MCL and ACL in the 2^nd to last week of the 2011 season the outlook for 2012 looked bleak. Peterson was known for nagging injuries throughout college and some experts even predicted this to be a career ending injury. Wow were they wrong! Peterson responded to the injury with the most rushing yards of his career, shy of the all time record by just a handful of yards, and 12 rushing touchdowns to back it up. Outside of individual awards Peterson also carried the entire Vikings team to a wildcard playoff spot culminating in a head to head matchup against the rival Packers in a game that the Vikings eventually lost.

Top 3 WR's in the NFL

Here’s a breakdown of the top 3 WR’s in the NFL going into 2013

3. Roddy White:

Roddy White has been in the NFL for 7 years now and he is finally starting to receive the recognition that he deserves. White stands just over 6 feet tall but is currently one of the best possession receivers in the NFL. White was a bit of a late bloomer coming out of college. A lot of receivers breakout year is either 3^rd or 4^th year in the NFL but White waited until year 5 to really show what he was made of. In 2010 Roddy White put up his best numbers yet while leading the league in receptions (115) and leading his team, the Atlanta Falcons, to the best record in the NFC.

2. Brandon Marshall:

I mentioned above that Roddy White is one of the best possession receivers in the NFL, well Brandon Marshall is THE BEST possession receiver in football today. Marshall stands 6’4 and weighs 230 pounds which makes him a nightmare for defensive backs. By nature defensive backs are short and fast to cover the fast receivers but Marshall flips this on its head by being both very big and moderately fast. This was never more apparent than during the 2012 season when Marshall was reunited with his former QB Jay Cutler in Chicago. This lead to a 118 catch season for Marshall along with double digit touchdowns in route to Marshall’s best statistical year of his career.

1. Calvin Johnson:

Well if you haven’t heard the name Calvin Johnson maybe you know him by his alter ego: Megatron. Megatron got his start at Georgia Tech where he had already been on several scouts radars but his Junior season put him in another class. How good was he projected to be coming out of college? Well the Detroit Lions (who ended up drafting him) had already failed on 2 other highly drafted WR’s in the very recent past and were catching a lot of heat for such actions but they still felt it a lock to draft Johnson 2^nd overall in 2007. Megatron has never given the Lions any reason to doubt him since and in 2012 put up his best statistical year of his career and the most receiving yards in NFL history, falling just 36 yards short of being the first 2,000 yard receiver in NFL history.