Unless most of the teams in your league carry a backup defense, more than half of the league should be available to you every week. Perhaps instead of playing one above average defense every week, regardless of matchup, we should instead target the widely available waiver wire defenses with the best matchups in any particular week? You can always make exceptions if your rent-a-defense gets hot - heck, you might find a team worth starting all year by accident. Even if you don't, good matchups will continue to get greater in number as more QBs get injured or yanked as the season goes on. You can steal some points from bad weather come December. Each week I'll list the startable fantasy defenses on most waiver wires and rank them.
**Miami, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco are assumed to be rostered**
Week 13 Results
Indianapolis (at Tennessee) - 6 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 DET TD
This D/ST is now #2 on the season in typical scoring systems.
A Look Ahead: @CIN PIT @ATL - We’ll ride the Colts into the sunset.
Jacksonville (vs Cincinnati) - 2 sacks, 1 INT
Who knew Jake Browning had this in him? The Bengals did, apparently.
A Look Ahead: @CLE BAL @TB - The Jaguars are a banged-up team going into Cleveland on short rest. Early forecasts are for rain, so this could still be a good play in leagues with points/yards allowed bonuses.
NY Jets (vs Atlanta) - 1 safety, 3 sacks
Atlanta (at NY Jets) - 4 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
This went about as well as we could have hoped. The Falcons made Tim Boyle look so bad that the Jets turned to Trevor Siemian, and the Jets got a safety. Both were among the top 10 D/ST plays in a rough week at the position.
A Look Ahead NYJ: HOU @MIA WAS - Whether to hold the Jets for Week 16 depends on your scoring system and roster size.
A Look Ahead ATL: TB @CAR IND - The Falcons have actually been a good D/ST play IN three of the last four games. We’ll consider them.
Tampa Bay (vs Carolina) - 4 sacks, 1 INT
The Bucs defense didn’t dominate, but they did enough to be a top 10 D/ST play.
A Look Ahead: @ATL @GB JAX - We’ll consider any defense facing Desmond Ridder.
LA Chargers (at New England) - 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 0 pts allowed
A huge success and a reminder to consider any defense facing the Patriots.
A Look Ahead: DEN @LV BUF - Turn out the lights, the Chargers D/ST party is over.
Denver (at Houston) - 5 sacks
Not a terrible performance, but not as good as the other side of this one.
A Look Ahead: @LAC @DET NE - If we have to play the Broncos the next two weeks to get the Patriots game, it’s worth considering.
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
Houston (vs Denver) - 3 sacks, 3 INT
This is what happens when you make the Broncos play from behind.