Handing out Grades to Every Defense on NFL Divisional Round Weekend

The San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, Houston Texans and New England Patriots turned in phenomenal defensive efforts this weekend. 

The same cannot be said for the rest of the teams, except maybe the Baltimore Ravens. 

Let's hand out grades for all the defenses in the Divisional Round.

Denver Broncos 

Tom Brady could have easily broken the record for most touchdown passes in a playoff game, instead he just tied it with six TD tosses. 

Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil were completely stymied all evening and their secondary made no adjustments to limit Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker or Aaron Hernandez. 

The Pats racked up 509 of total offense. 

Grade: F 

New England Patriots 

I know the Broncos were dealing with some injuries across their offensive line, but the Patriots' defensive line and pass rush were amazing against Tim Tebow in Gillette on Saturday. They sacked the polarizing quarterback five times and were in the backfield all evening. 

Tebow only completed nine passes and although Denver's receivers dropped a few catchable balls, for the most part, New England's secondary blanketed the Broncos' pass-catchers for the entirety of the beat down. 

Grade: A 

New Orleans Saints 

The Saints' defense wasn't expected to be dominant against the 49ers on Saturday, but San Francisco certainly did what they wanted when they had the football. Alex Smith threw for 299 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and they ran for 143 yards on 22 carries. 

After Drew Brees connected with Jimmy Graham on a 66-yard catch-and-run to put New Orleans up with 1:37 to go, the Saints' defense couldn't hold. 

Grade: D+

San Francisco 49ers 

Although this unit allowed 32 points at home, they played a stellar game against the most prolific offense in football for the overwhelming majority of the contest. 

Drew Brees was sacked three times and pressured into dump offs far more than he would have liked. 

The star quarterback threw for a ridiculous 462 yards, but the 49ers held the Saints' dynamic running back trio—the team's true X-factor—to a pedestrian 37 yards on 14 carries. 

Because they could home in on the passing lanes, San Fran's secondary intercepted Brees twice. About as good as you can expect to play against a team as offensively talented as New Orleans 

Grade: B+

Houston Texans 

You've got to hand it to this Texans' defense. They overcame the loss of leader Mario Williams mid-way through the regular season and were reliably dominant all year. In Baltimore, they confused Joe Flacco and were fantastic against terrorizing runner Ray Rice, allowing him to gain only 80 total yards from scrimmage. 

They had a key fourth-and-goal stop in the final stanza and surrendered a respectable 176 yards through the air. 

Grade: A

Baltimore Ravens 

The Ravens were facing a rookie quarterback, and they certainly took advantage of his inexperience. T.J. Yates tossed three interceptions, one that sealed the victory for Baltimore, and they dropped three other potential INTs in their divisional round win. 

They couldn't corral Arian Foster, running behind Houston's zone blocking scheme, and Andre Johnson caught eight passes for 111 yards. 

Overall, they were good enough and made the plays in crunch time, as usual. 

Grade: B

New York Giants 

For me, the Giants defense had the performance of the weekend. Donald Driver led the Packers with three catches for 45 yards. 

Aaron Rodgers was the team's leading rusher. 

This is against a Green Bay Packers team playing at home. 

You know, the team that scored 35 points per game in 2011 and had 10 different receivers catch a touchdown pass?

Rodgers was sacked four times and dealt with pressure all evening.

They forced four huge turnovers, too.  

Stellar game called by defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and even better execution from his players. 

Grade: A+

Green Bay Packers 

Conversely, the Packers' defense was arguably the worst of the weekend. Their secondary looked utterly confused throughout, allowing the Giants to convert on half of their third downs, and surrendering 330 yards to Eli Manning. 

How about the Hail Mary catch by Hakeem Nicks. 

Anyone covering him? 

They couldn't make the big play in the second half that could have changed the momentum. 

Manning had far too much time to throw the football and was only sacked once. 

Grade: D-

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