5 NFL Defenses That Will Make Big Strides And Improve In The 2012 Season

It's not easy being on defense these days.

NFL offenses, and quarterbacks in particular, assaulted the record books in 2011. Yards were gained and points were scored at a pace this league has never seen, and as a result defenses were shredded like never before.

Four of the six highest single season passing totals occurred in 2011, and both Drew Brees and Tom Brady broke Dan Marino's 27-year old single season yardage record.

The all-time single season NFL marks for passer rating, completions and completion percentage were also set in 2011.

Despite the record-breaking offensive output, 2011 taught us that poor defensive play in the regular season doesn't always result in team failure.

The Packers, Patriots, Saints and Giants were four lowest ranked teams in passing defense yet had a combined regular season record of 50-13. That group includes both Super Bowl participants.

But for all but one of those teams and many others, chronic defensive lapses were their undoing. For some, improving their defense is the key to determining whether they are a legitimate contender this season or fall by the wayside again.

While there's no reason to think that the offensive fireworks will slow down in 2012, some of the teams who got beaten up the worst have made changes to fix their problems on the defensive side of the ball.

Here are the five teams that are poised to improve the most on defense:

Green Bay Packers

For some of the NFL's defenses, you expect to get better just because you can't get any worse.

That's the case with the Green Bay Packers, who finished dead last in total defense and broke the 1995 Falcons' NFL record for passing yards allowed in a season.

That poor performance couldn't keep Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' offense from powering the team to an NFL-best 15-1 regular season record, but the deficiency shone through in the NFC Divisional playoff against the New York Giants.

As the offense faltered, the defense was unable slow down Eli Manning's passing attack and the NFC's top seed fell by a 37-20 margin.

Green Bay addressed the problem by using their first five draft picks on defensive players. Added in with premier players Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews and Tramon Williams, Green Bay's defense has all the talent to be one of the NFL's better units.

Not to mention that they are still coached by Dom Capers, one of the league's best defensive minds.

This group is only one season removed from being ranked fifth in the NFL. Expect them to return to form.

New England Patriots

Just like the Packers, the Patriots should improve mostly because they can't get much worse. New England was ranked 31st in total defense in 2011.

Also, like the Packers, New England's poor passing defense didn't hamper regular season success but was a deciding factor in a playoff loss to Eli Manning's Giants. This time it was for all the marbles, in the Super Bowl.

Injuries in the secondary were a major factor in Bill Belichick's bunch being almost helpless to slow down opposing QBs. It got so bad that wide receivers Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater logged significant time at defensive back.

In April's draft, New England selected two top defensive prospects in DE Chandler Jones and LB Dont'a Hightower and used six out of their seven total picks on defensive players.

With injured veterans returning and an infusion of young talent, the Patriots defense will take a huge leap forward and no longer be such a liability. They will, of course, just hope that they can stay relatively healthy for a whole season.

Buffalo Bills

No team did quite as much to help their defense as the Bills did this offseason.

Buffalo brought in defensive ends Mario Williams and Mark Anderson on big free agent contracts to improve a D-line that already had premier defensive tackles Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus.

They then selected CB Stephon Gilmore 10th overall in April's draft to join an already strong secondary. Along with safeties Jarius Byrd and George Wilson and cornerbacks Terrence McGee and Leodis McKelvin, the Bills will now be able to better contain some of the powerful passing attacks in today's NFL.

Between the two is a solid LB corps that features Nick Barnett, Shawne Merriman and Kelvin Sheppard.

The Bills ranked 26th in total defense and 30th in sacks in 2011. Though the Eagles proved last season that the biggest spenders don't always get the best results, expect both of those rankings to go up considerably for Buffalo.

San Diego Chargers

2010's No.1 defense fell to the middle of the pack in 2011.

Although they put together some fine defensive efforts in the course of the season, San Diego was routinely gashed on the ground and through the air. Five times they gave up 150 yards or more rushing and twice they gave up a 400 yard passing performance.

The loss of defensive coordinator Ron Rivera to Carolina was a factor, and after a year of Greg Manusky the Chargers hired long-time linebackers coach John Pagano to take the coordinator position. Having a familiar guy who had success developing players in San Diego's system will help this unit become more consistent.

San Diego still has a stable of talented players including S Eric Weddle and LB Shaun Phillips and drafted pass-rushing extraordinaire LB Melvin Ingram in the first round of April's draft.

An under-the-radar signing was LB Jarret Johnson, who has been a top-flight run stopper in Baltimore for the past few seasons. There he played under Ravens' D-coordinator Chuck Pagano, who is John's brother.

They may not be the NFL's best defense again in 2012, but expect the Chargers' defense to improve on their standing from last season.

Philadelphia Eagles

Speaking of the Eagles, we come to a team that didn't have all that bad of a season defensively in 2011.

Philly ranked 10th in total yards allowed, but the unit faltered early on and helped ground the season before it could get going.

The Eagles stumbled to a 1-4 start in the face of high expectations after the team signed a number of big-name free agents including Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

The defense eventually got it going and it resulted in a few impressive, but too-little-too-late victories. It'll take a strong effort to continue getting better against a tougher schedule and division newcomer Robert Griffin III in 2012, but Philadelphia has the personnel to meet the task.

Converted O-line coach turned defensive coordinator Juan Castillo has quality players at every position and a year of experience under his belt. 12th overall pick DT Fletcher Cox will solidify the middle and the talent rich secondary will combine with an already league-best pass rush to make it tough for opposing QBs.