Dominant defenses still can carry teams in the NFL. The Houston Texans proved it again Thursday night with another smothering performance against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in a 23-19 victory. Despite allowing the Bills to convert a fourth-and-27 on a perfectly executed hook-and-lateral play in the final minute,

As Paul 'Bear' Bryant claimed, "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships." It's one of the oldest adages of gridiron football because it's true.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans knows the difficult task at hand Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills: Slow MVP Josh Allen. Allen is coming off a six-touchdown performance on Sunday, and Ryans said his team will be ready.

They are up there by a decent gap as well, posting a +30.4% DVOA during their 3-7 run so far. Injury is getting added to this insulting output by the unit, as Cincinnati just lost starting cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt for the season and may not have Cam Sample or Trey Hendrickson this weekend against the 8-2 New England Patriots.

Playing with a banged-up secondary, Detroit held Philadelphia to 124 passing yards (its third-worst mark of the season), including only one completion of 20-plus yards. The Lions also kept the Eagles, who boast the league’s top red-zone offense, to 1-for-3 inside the 20 and 4-for-15 on third down.

Versatile players like Kyle Hamilton and Quentin Lake are giving defensive coordinators an advantage in the chess game.

Tennessee is poised for another No. 1 pick come April. There are plenty of routes they could take and here's our latest prediction.

The Iowa State Cyclones' defense has been hit incredibly hard by injuries this season, leading to some up-and-down performances. The secondary has suffered the

Can Green Bay Continue to Depend on Their Defense?