Seattle will be a top 3 defense for the entire season. You all are sleeping on them. And for the guy who mentioned picking Arizona defense vs. the Seahawks for week 1....you are in for a rude awakening come Sept. 9th.
I'm super super high on the Seattle D but I think top 3 entire season is over simplifying it. They play too many 2011 top 5 offenses (4 of them actually) in the first 8 weeks to call them top 3 all year. I think they're a top 3 matchup play the first half of the season, and potentially the #1 overall defense the second half of the season.Broken down by opponent, red = 2011 top 8 offense, green = 2011 bottom 8 offense. Ratings by 2011 points scored, over simplistic I know, but generally a solid metric for offensive strength.
@ Arizona Cardinals
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
@ St. Louis Rams
@ Carolina Panthers
New England Patriots
@ San Francisco 49ers
@ Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
New York Jets
Bye Week
@ Miami Dolphins
@ Chicago Bears
Arizona Cardinals
@ Buffalo Bills
San Francisco 49ers
St. Louis Rams
Now basing our 2012 expectations off of 2012 results isn't recommended but combining that with what we've seen in the pre-season, there's no reason to expect GB, CAR, NE or DET to regress significantly, nor is there a lot of hope for AZ and STL to suddenly become offensive juggernauts. The remaining teams were all ranked 10-20 in points scored last year, and it looks like MIA and NYJ could certainly regress into a bottom 25% offense, while the potential exists for DAL and MIN to take a step up and join the upper echelon offensive squads. Even if MIN does step up, it's relatively clear sailing after the bye week.
So while I think the Seahawks have a definite top 5 (on the field and fantasy) defensive unit, you'll get a lot better results if you don't roll them out as your every week starter. Combining them with Cincinnati looks like pure win, and the Minny/SEA combo eliminates a couple of those matchups against elite offenses.
Thanks for posting this thread, streaming D threads are among my favorite shark pool reading.