Last month we started looking at last season’s statistics for position players in fantasy football land, and today we’ll look at a position many often overlook. That’s fantasy defenses, which can sometimes put up just enough points to earn your team a victory once in a while. It’s always smart to try and grab one of the top units, although as we’ve seen before, things change, sometimes drastically, from year to year with fantasy D’s. Me? I like to grab my defense before my kicker. This list is based on point totals from one of my leagues, so keep in mind that stats vary from year to year.

1. Baltimore Ravens—The Ravens’ defense is perennially awesome, and we’ll find out for sure how much of that was due to former coordinator Rex Ryan, who is now the head honcho for the Jets. Ryan took plenty of players with him too, like LB Bart Scott and S Jim Leonhard, but the Ravens still have Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs. Reed just keeps getting better every year, and his sick nose for the ball is one reason the Ravens had a league high 26 picks. They will keep scoring low as always, but their 34 sacks last season isn’t much to get excited about. Bottom line: The Ravens won’t be a number one this year, but are still top 10.

2. Philadelphia Eagles—Sadly, coordinator Jim Johnson passed away this week, though he was on leave from the team anyway. Look for the Eagles to continue Johnson’s schemes however, which means blitz, blitz and more blitz. What that means to you is sack points, and while Brian Dawkins is now in Denver, the secondary is still strong with corners Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel and safeties Quintin Mikell and Quintin Demps. Bottom line: 48 sacks is a lot, and the Eagles may not match that in ’09, but they aren’t going to suck by any means.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers—You don’t win the Super Bowl without a stout unit, and this won finished second in the league with 51 sacks, led by two awesome linebackers, NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison, and LaMarr Woodley. The Steelers also ranked #1 in points allowed and yard allowed, with 20 picks and three defensive scores. Bottom line: With the front seven intact, this unit may be the top defense taken in many FF drafts.

4. Tennessee Titans—If you live in Nashville like I do, you saw this team play a lot, and let me tell you….their games are pretty boring to watch. Well, unless you like 13-10 scores every week. Punishing DT Albert Haynesworth is now in Washington, but Tony Brown and Kyle Vanden Bosch are no slouches, and CB Cortland Finnegan is a ball hawk like Ed Reed. Bottom line: More boring games for me, more fantasy points for you.

5. Chicago Bears—Their 22 interceptions probably had a lot to do with the Bears finishing as high as they did in 2008, but the Monsters of the Midway with just 28 sacks? To put that in perspective, the Saints also tallied 28 sacks. And besides Brian Urlacher, go ahead try to name five players on this defense. The Bears gave up 350 points in ’08, which is over 100 more than the Titans, Steelers and Ravens. Still, it’s the Bears. Bottom line: You can pick them, but I’m only picking them as a bye week backup.

6. Tampa Bay Bucs—This is not the same unit that ranked in the top 10 in points allowed and yards allowed in 2008, with Jon Gruden gone and Raheem Morris at the helm. Derrick Brooks is gone as are Cato June and Jovan Haye, but the likes of DE Gaines Adams and the ageless CB Ronde Barber remain. How much of Gruden’s mark will be missed? Bottom line: With so much turnover in the front office and on the field, I’m not taking my chances with these guys.

7. Green Bay Packers—Everyone expected big things from the Pack in 2008, but it was their offense, led by QB Aaron Brooks and WR Greg Jennings that were the bright spots on a mediocre team. So now with new D-coordinator Dom Capers and his 3-4 in place, things will look different at Lambeau. Aaron Kampman is now an outside linebacker, and BJ Raji and AJ Hawk are left to clog up the middle. Kampman will likely have more sacks, but how will the 3-4 affect overall fantasy points? Bottom line: I’m going out on a limb—the Pack will be much better defensively, and could be a fantasy sleeper.

8. New York Jets—DT Kris Jenkins is a monster, and Rex Ryan brought along a few toys, like Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard, as we mentioned earlier. Eric Mangini also took some players with him to Cleveland, but the Jets will still keep scores low, rack up sacks, and score on defense (5 defensive TDs in 2008). CB Darrelle Revis had 5 picks and keeps getting better. Bottom line: Proceed with caution, but still a Top 10 D.

9. Indianapolis Colts—Even with Tony Dungy gone and Jim Caldwell running the team, the Colts still give up way too much ground on the ground. Thing is, they are opportunistic, and they have Dwight Freeney attacking the QB and a bunch of under the radar players (like LB Gary Brackett) wreaking havoc (30 forced fumbles and 5 defensive scores in 2008). Bottom line: The Colts’ D will keep them in games, meaning these guys will continue to play hard and put up decent fantasy points.

10. Minnesota Vikings—These guys are damn near as good as the Ravens, led on the line by Jared Allen and DT’s Pat and Kevin Williams (45 team sacks in 2008). 12 picks from this unit is baffling, as is allowing 333 points, but they can be better. Bottom line: The Vikes may not be a true top 10 this season, so I’d take my chances with the revamped Giants or the sack-happy Cowboys before them.

Teams that aren’t on this list you’ll want to draft: New York Giants, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins.

Thanks to Donovan McNabb’s 300-yard passing day, Brian Westbrook’s 71-yard touchdown reception off a screen pass and Jim Johnson’s blistering defense, the Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings 26-14 in their Wild Card playoff game Sunday at the Metrodome.

Had the Vikings won, the Giants would be hosting the Arizona Cardinals next weekend – the same Arizona Cardinals that have played like complete crap on the East Coast all season. But thanks to the Philly’s victory, the G-Men “lucked out” and get the sixth-seeded Eagles. They luck out by getting a team that has already beaten them once at Giants Stadium, has a seasoned playoff quarterback in McNabb, a secondary that rivals any defensive backfield in the league, and will face a defense that blitzes more than Chris Berman stutters through a highlight.

Even though the Eagles have largely been inconsistent this season, they aren’t your typical sixth-seeded playoff team. That said, Philly has to do a better job against the run next week because unlike the Vikings, the Giants have a quarterback in Eli Manning that can make plays in the passing game.

The Eagles allowed Minnesota to rush for 148 total yards and were gashed by a 40-yard Adrian Peterson touchdown run. If they can’t stop the Giants’ dynamic rushing game, Manning will likely strike for big plays via the pass. Philly definitely has the edge in terms of their secondary vs. the Giant wideouts, but it won’t matter if the Eagle safeties have to sell out to stop the run every play and leave the corners on an island. Eventually Manning will pick them apart.

Again though, there’s no doubt the Giants would have rather faced the Cardinals and allowed the Carolina Panthers to take their chances with the Eagles. But with Philly’s win, fans are treated to an NFC East clash with everything on the line. And what makes this matchup even more compelling is that both of these teams know each other so well. It’s going to make for a great week leading up to the contest, and the game itself will likely live up to expectations.

Next weekend couldn’t get here soon enough.

Although not definitively, those questions were answered Sunday when the Vikings fell to the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Eagles 26-14 in the final game of Wild Card weekend.

Jackson wasn’t bad, but he was largely ineffective. He completed 15 of 35 passes for just 164 yards and threw a costly interception in which Philly cornerback Asante Samuel returned for a 43-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Despite having some success using his legs over the past month, Jackson also only attempted to run the ball twice while finishing with 17 yards on those two carries.

Jackson got plenty of help from Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor and the running game, which totaled 148 yards against a solid Philadelphia defense. Peterson also had two touchdowns despite getting dinged up in the first half, and provided a spark early in the second quarter with his 40-yard touchdown run.

But despite only being down 16-14 at halftime, Jackson couldn’t make enough plays in the passing game to produce a single point for Minnesota in the second half. As expected, Philly defensive coordinator Jim Johnson used a variety of blitz packages to confuse the young signal caller and even when the Viking defense produced key scoring opportunities by creating turnovers, Jackson and the offense still couldn’t muster even a field goal.

Not that Jackson looked rattled because he didn’t, but it’s hard for a young quarterback playing in his first playoff game to be extraordinary, which he certainly was not. Brad Childress’s game plan was to run the ball effectively with Peterson and then allow Jackson to take shots in the passing game in hopes Philly’s defense would start to inch closer to the line of scrimmage. Although the running game was good, Eagles’ defensive backs blanketed Viking receivers and limited the big plays by keeping everything in front of them and making sound tackles.

You can’t fault Childress for going with Jackson (I certainly don’t, especially when you consider Gus Frerotte hadn’t played in over a month), because Tarvaris had the hot hand. He was the quarterback that got the Vikings to the playoffs by playing so well down the stretch. But in the end, Jackson’s inexperience doomed Minnesota and some might question why the more seasoned Frerotte wasn’t under center for the Vikes’ most important game of the year.

But nobody could say following their 20-14 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday that the Giants couldn’t have used Burress. Eli Manning was just 13 of 27 for 123 yards and a touchdown, while no Giant receiver had more than four catches or 40 yards.

I don’t want to take anything away from the Eagles’ defense, because they blitzed and swarmed Manning the entire game. They also should have had at least one interception, but Asante Samuel and Brian Dawkins collided with each other and the pass fell to the ground.

That said, Manning looked completely out of sync with his receivers and Domenik Hixon dropped a perfect pass that could have been a touchdown. And once Brandon Jacobs left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter, the Giants could have really used a playmaker like Burress to breathe life into their offense.

Burress doesn’t deserve to be playing right now and it’s only fair he’s being punished for his selfish actions. But the idea that the Giants are a better team without him still remains to be seen and their loss Sunday proves that. They’re still the best team in the league and they will bounce back from their defeat. But it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the offensive woes that were on display on Sunday will reappear in the postseason without Burress in the lineup.

As for the Eagles, this was a massive win and it keeps their slim playoff hopes alive. With the Saints’ win over the Falcons, the final NFC Wild Card spot is up for grabs and if Brian Westbrook (203 total yards, 2 total touchdowns) and the Eagles’ defense plays as well as they did against the Giants, than Philly’s playoff hopes are far from dead.

Below are five of the best acquisitions from the 2008 NFL offseason, as well as five of the worst. Granted, these moves might look differently at the end of the season or in a year or two, but for now, these are the best of the best and the worst of the worst from the 2008 offseason.

Five Best Offseason Acquisitions:

1. Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons handed “The Burner” a six-year, $34.5 million contract in early March and while some pundits loved the move, others thought it was too much for the unproven Turner, who had spent his entire career backing up LaDainian Tomlinson. But the signing has paid huge dividends for a Falcons team that ranks second in the league in rushing thanks to his bruising running style. He’s formed a nice “Thunder and Lighting” combo with Jerious Norwood and more importantly, has taken a lot of pressure off rookie Matt Ryan by demanding opponents to focus on taking away the run. He hasn’t fared well against top defenses this season, which is a concern, but outside of that he’s been everything Atlanta had hoped for. He has rushed for 890 yards on 203 carries and has scored seven times.

2. Asante Samuel, CB, Philadelphia Eagles
There was a lot of talk last offseason that Samuel would never live up to the hype that surrounded him in New England. But through 10 games this season, it’s hard to argue that the former Patriot hasn’t lived up to his big play billing. Samuel has recorded three interceptions on the year and has fit into Jim Johnson’s defense better than most expected. He’s not a shutdown corner, but he plays well in zone and rarely gets burned deep. He has also helped the Eagles rank sixth in the league in pass defense and ninth overall in yardage allowed. He was pricey at just over $57 million for six years, but so far Samuel has been worth the money.

3. Brett Favre, QB, New York Jets
Brett has looked absolutely brutal at times this year, but what he’s meant to the Jets’ organization far exceeds his penchant for turning the ball over…and over, and over, and over, and…He’s given the team a bona fide playmaker at quarterback and while his horrible decision making was obviously earlier in the year as he learned the playbook, he has been hot of late leading the J.E.T.S. to five wins in the past six games. He’s also tied with Kurt Warner for the fourth-most touchdowns (16) and more importantly, his teammates have responded to his energy. They believe that they can win on Sundays and their quarterback won’t hold them back. No offense to Chad Pennington who is playing very well in Miami, but Favre has lifted the Jets this year and might just take them to a playoff berth if they can get past New England.

4. Jared Allen, DE, Minnesota Vikings
Allen has been everything the Vikings wanted since they parted with a first round pick to acquire him from Kansas City. He’s been a monster along Minnesota’s stout defensive line and has brought the true pass-rushing threat that the team has been dying for. He already has nine sacks on the season, including two multi-sack games against the Bears and Texans. Better yet, he’s stayed out of trouble off the field and has been a great motivator for a Vikings team that has leapt back into the playoff chase in the NFC.

5. Alan Faneca, OG, New York Jets
The Steelers didn’t want to pay huge money to an aging guard who could be on the downside of his career. But Faneca has spearheaded a Jets’ rushing attack that ranks ninth in the league and that, for the most part, has kept Brett Favre’s uniform relatively clean. Faneca might be 31, but his level of play hasn’t dropped off in the slightest and he continues to play at a high level. He has also motivated younger teammates D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold – two players that went through a sophomore slump, but who are now playing well again.

Other worthy candidates: Shaun Rogers, DT, Cleveland; Benard Berrian, WR, Minnesota; Jonathan Vilma, LB, New Orleans; Justin Smith, LB/DE Cincinnati; Calvin Pace, LB, NY Jets.

Five Worst Offseason Acquisitions:

1. DeAngelo Hall, CB, Oakland Raiders
There’s no question that Hall was the biggest offseason bust this year, if not in the history of the NFL. The Raiders traded away multiple draft picks (including a second round pick this year) to acquire Hall from Atlanta, then handed him a seven-year, $70 million contract with $24.5 million in guarantees. What Oakland got out of Hall was eight games of lousy play before they eventually decided to waive him. The Raiders wanted someone to play opposite of Nnamdi Asomugha that could hold his own in man-to-man coverage. But Hall excelled in Atlanta playing in a zone scheme that allowed him to freelance. He’s a self-proclaimed “shutdown” corner, but the fact of the matter is that he’s one of the most overrated players in the entire league. That said, it’s still amazing that the Raiders waived him after only eight games. It just goes to show you how bad he really was.

2. Derek Anderson, QB, Cleveland Browns
Anderson wasn’t technically an acquisition since he never left the Browns, but he fits under the “offseason moves” category that I’m referring to. The Browns honored Anderson’s terrific 2008 season by giving him a three-year, $24 million contract in the offseason. But inconsistent play and a few hundred dropped passes by Braylon Edwards doomed Anderson to the bench as he was replaced in Week 10 by second year quarterback Brady Quinn. Romeo Crennel gave Anderson every opportunity to hang on to his job, but in the end he didn’t do enough to remain the starter. Again, it wasn’t all his fault as Edwards has taken a major step back after finally turning in a good season last year and Kellen Winslow Jr. has missed time once again due to injury. It’s hard to fault the Browns for re-signing Anderson in the offseason with how well he played last year and given Quinn’s inexperience, but the team will likely part ways with him next offseason without getting any compensation. That’s a tough pill to swallow considering at one point they were hoping to land multiple draft picks for him.

3. Adam “Pacman” Jones, CB, Dallas Cowboys
It hardly cost the Cowboys anything to acquire Pacman from Tennessee but they still got what they deserved. They used him as their sideshow clown in their freak circus this offseason during the taping of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and therefore shouldn’t have been surprised when he eventually screwed up again and wound up in Roger Goodell’s doghouse. Again, it didn’t cost Dallas much to take a shot on Jones turning his career around, but ultimately it was a decision Jerry Jones is probably regretting, as his team has turned dysfunctional over the past month.

4. Alge Crumpler, TE, Tennessee Titans
The Falcons parted ways with Crumpler this offseason despite his vast leadership and popularity among teammates and fans. But clearly they knew what they were doing because Crumpler has failed to make a dent in the Titans’ offense, and has taken a backseat to Bo Scaife in the process. Highly regarded as the best free agent tight this summer, Crump was supposed to be completely healthy after struggling with knee and back problems over the past couple of years. But he has just 16 catches this year for 169 yards and one touchdown. Tennessee didn’t sign him to a huge contract (5 years, $5.25 million), but still, one would have thought Crumpler would have made more of an impact at this point in the season.

5. Randall Gay, CB, New Orleans Saints
This wasn’t a huge signing in the offseason, but it was one that was supposed to make an impact. The Saints have been searching for a cornerback to play opposite Mike McKenize for years and thought they finally found a solid player in the former New England Patriot. But Gay has been limited to this season due to a nagging hamstring injury and has yet to record an interception. Worse yet, New Orleans ranks near the bottom of the league in passing yards allowed and just lost McKenize for the season due to a knee injury. Maybe Gay will step up, but at this point, he’s largely been a bust since the Saints signed him to a three-year, $13.55 million contract.