Fantasy Football Rankings 2012, Week 1: Defense/Special Teams
Looking for Week 1 defense/special team rankings? SB Nation Fantasy has all of your Week 1 Rankings to help you win this weekend.
Week 1 also brings us several rookie quarterbacks in their very first NFL starts including Ryan Tannehill, Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III.
Let’s take a look at my Week 1 Defense/Special Teams Rankings:
Rank | Team Name |
1 | Houston |
2 | Chicago |
3 | Philadelphia |
4 | Seattle |
5 | Detroit |
6 | Baltimore |
7 | New York Jets |
8 | New England |
9 | Buffalo |
10 | Pittsburgh |
11 | Atlanta |
12 | Green Bay |
13 | Jacksonville |
14 | San Francisco |
15 | Kansas City |
16 | Arizona |
17 | Cincinnati |
18 | New York Giants |
19 | Miami |
20 | Dallas |
21 | Denver |
22 | Tennessee |
23 | Carolina |
24 | Washington |
25 | Cleveland |
26 | New Orleans |
27 | Minnesota |
28 | San Diego |
29 | Tampa Bay |
30 | Oakland |
31 | St. Louis |
32 | Indianapolis |
Houston battles the Miami Dolphins at home this week, and it gets to face rookie Ryan Tannehill in his first NFL start. I don't see it going too well, as the Texans own one of the best defenses in the league, so this game could get ugly pretty quickly. I expect the Texans D to pick off Tannehill a few times on Sunday and should get a fair number of sacks as well.
The Bears find themselves in a similar position as the Texans, as they are home to the Indianapolis Colts and Andrew Luck in Week 1. I see Luck having more "luck" than Tannehill this week, as I think he is more ready to be an NFL quarterback than any other quarterback to enter the NFL in recent seasons. Man, I just wish I drafted him as my second quarterback in my only fantasy draft last week.
The Bills could actually put up one of the better performances among defense/special teams this week as they get to face the inept New York Jets offense led by quarterback Mark Sanchez. The big question is, will we hear "Tebow Tebow" chants this week at Met Life Stadium? I think we do.
The Eagles get to face the Browns with rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden making his first NFL start on Sunday. The Browns will be without running back Trent Richardson as well, so the Eagles defense should produce plenty of fantasy points this week.
The one rookie quarterback who could have the best season debut in Week 1 is Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. RGIII gets to face the Saints defense that ranked in the bottom 10 in total defense last year, and had the third worst passing defense in the whole league, so he could put up some solid passing yardage numbers on Sunday.
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