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Factoid

Top-10 Run Defenses

Patriots, 49ers have annually among the best

The Patriots and 49ers have lost a lot of defensive personnel over the last year or two. In San Francisco's case it's been a steady erosion of injuries, free agent losses, and retirements, while New England comes off a rough offseason. These defenses probably won't be as tough as they once were.

But I'm hesitant to say that suddenly either team will be a pushover. Both have been very good at stopping the run over the past decade. Only Pittsburgh and Baltimore have been consistently better. And that's with personnel changing plenty from season to season.

The table below shows how teams have ranked in run defense in each of the last 10 seasons, sorted by their total of top-10 finishes over that time frame. I think those teams will still be pretty good at the thing they've done best in recent years.

DEFENSE VERSUS THE RUN, 2005-2014
Team'14'13'12'11'10'09'08'07'06'05Top 10s
Pittsburgh621281323339
Baltimore4112025532298
San Francisco744166132218186
New England9309171114159585
Chicago1732852235256115
Dallas8272271241269155
Minnesota2516111192111195
NY Jets5326133872924295
Denver28322312627301124
San Diego26126204201116714
Seattle371015211518122254
Arizona13128213017161015103
Atlanta21312161010252620263
Carolina1621425232220181043
Cincinnati2051210197222114203
Houston1023741311231919323
Miami242413371810328173
NY Giants301425198139813123
Philadelphia151023161694726213
Washington121751826168427133
Detroit1616232425322321242
Jacksonville2729309221913114142
Tampa Bay1915132283219171662
Tennessee3120242420126530222
Green Bay23251714181261412231
Kansas City28222726143030281771
St. Louis14915311727292031281
Buffalo112831283231212428310
Cleveland321819302728282729300
Indianapolis182629292524231532160
New Orleans291932121521171323270
Oakland221318272929313125250

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index