Fantasy Index

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Seattle's Super Defense

Tough matchup for Pats tonight

Skimming over the first Fantasy Index Weekly of the season and perusing the initial rankings, I notice it's not too friendly to the Patriots. They're the defending AFC Champs, but they've got a really tough matchup tonight.

New England is at Seattle tonight. They've got a great young quarterback in Drake Maye, they've added a franchise No. 1 wide receiver in A.J. Brown, and they've got some other capable pass catchers -- newcomer Romeo Doubs, and veterans like Hunter Henry and DeMario Douglas.

On the downside, they won't have TreVeyon Henderson (ankle), so their backfield will be just Rhamondre Stevenson and Corey Kiner, acquired from Arizona a week ago. And they're facing a defense that was awfully good last year.

Super Bowl Champion Seattle had the league's No. 1 scoring defense a year ago. They were 6th in yards. And in the 20 games they played, their opponent score more than 20 points just six times. Half of those games were by Matthew Stafford and the Rams. Of their other 17 opponents, only three scored more than 20 points. Mike Macdonald (pictured) knows what he's doing.

Table shows game-by-game points, passing yards, rushing yards and turnovers by Seattle's opponents last season, with the averages at the bottom. Teams listed in bold scored more than 20 against them. Will be tough for New England to join that group tonight.

SEATTLE DEFENSE, 2025
OppPtsPassYRushYTO
San Francisco 49ers172651192
Pittsburgh Steelers17195722
New Orleans Saints13205791
Arizona Cardinals20164892
Tampa Bay Buccaneers38370560
Jacksonville Jaguars12214590
Houston Texans19198561
Washington Commanders141331572
Arizona Cardinals222061292
Los Angeles Rams211301191
Tennessee Titans24232640
Minnesota Vikings096665
Atlanta Falcons91541203
Indianapolis Colts161181021
Los Angeles Rams374571240
Carolina Panthers1040992
San Francisco 49ers3120531
San Francisco 49ers61281083
Los Angeles Rams273651141
New England Patriots13252793
Average17202932

--Andy Richardson

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