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.
**Note: Seattle and Denver have good matchups this week, but they are presumed to be owned in most, if not all leagues**
Week 10 Results
Tennessee (vs Jacksonville) - 3 sacks, 2 INT
The Titans did this despite falling behind 13-0 in the game and losing their starting quarterback. Don’t move off of Jacksonville as a good D/ST opponent to target.
A Look Ahead: IND @OAK @IND - The Titans are an opportunistic team and the Colts are licking their wounds. This is a solid back-to-back play, and you might keep rolling with the Titans if they have a good game.
Arizona (vs Houston) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
A defensive score to to open the game on a Case Keenum fumble in the pocket basically accounted for your whole week here. Arizona is still an aggressive and talented defense, which makes them very nice for fantasy, but perhaps we should remove Case Keenum from our quarterbacks to target in D/ST matchups, as he passed yet another test.
A Look Ahead: @JAX IND @PHI - Even though it’s a road game traveling into the eastern time zone, it is hard to overlook the Cardinals this week at Jacksonville.
New Orleans (vs Dallas) - 3 sacks
A dominant offensive performance was not matched by the defense in New Orleans, at least in the ways that matter for fantasy football.
A Look Ahead: SF @ATL SEA - The home game and way Colin Kaepernick struggled last week certainly make this a team to consider, although the Saints haven’t had a takeaway in the last two games.
New York Giants (vs Oakland) - 4 sacks, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 1 ST TD
A battered and banged up Terrelle Pryor and a complete lapse in punt team blocking allowed the Giants to have a big game in the best of the Week 10 rent-a-defenses.
A Look Ahead: GB DAL @WAS - Scott Tolzien was surprisingly effective last week, and I wouldn’t count on the Packers to be as inept as the Raiders with their season starting to hang in the balance.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
St. Louis (at Indianapolis) - 3 sacks, 4 INT, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD, 1 ST TD, 8 pts allowed
The Colts never answered the bell in this one. The Rams are looking like a D/ST that is worth playing in just about any matchup or venue. Remember this after their bye.
Jacksonville (vs Tennessee) - 1 sack, 1 INT, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 DEF TD, 1 safety
A late play when Will Blackmon mugged Ryan Fitzpatrick in the pocket accounted for about half of the Jaguars D/ST production, giving this group their second good D/ST score in 10 games. I wouldn’t wait around for the third.
Oakland (at New York Giants) - 3 sacks, 1 INT, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 DEF TD
Thank Eli Manning for this good outcome. The Raiders are an underrated D/ST, but they are too inconsistent to trust with Terrelle Pryor banged up.
**Note: Seattle and Denver have good matchups this week, but they are presumed to be owned in most, if not all leagues**
Week 11 Candidates
Tennessee (vs Indianapolis)
The Titans D/ST let us down to an extent last week, but playing the team facing the Colts was good for a yahtzee, too. Splitting the difference and rolling with the Titans again isn’t a bad call.
A Look Ahead: @OAK @IND (@DEN ARI @JAX) - Well, lookee here. The Titans have another potentially good matchup next week, and two excellent matchups in week 15/16 in the fantasy playoffs. It’s a good idea to add them to play this week and stash for the future.
Arizona (at Jacksonville)
Playing the defense facing the Jaguars has been a safe bet for at least 6-9 points in any given week, and with the talent the Cardinals have on defense, it could be good for a lot more this week.
A Look Ahead: IND @PHI (STL @TEN @SEA) - The Cardinals might be a good start next week at home against the who knows what you’ll get Colts, but after that, it is likely time to throw them back for the rest of the year.
Green Bay (at New York Giants)
The Giants have been one of the best D/ST matchups all year. Just about every week has been good to the D/ST facing them, so it might be best to play a Packers defense that has not been very dynamic since a week 3 outburst against the Bengals.
A Look Ahead: MIN @DET (ATL @DAL PIT) - This is a one-week special.
Houston (vs Oakland)
Terrelle Pryor is hurt and will either be limited, or maybe even out at some point, giving way to Matt McGloin. The Texans are in shambles compared to expectations, but they still have JJ Watt, who can be a whole D/ST on his own when he is on.
A Look Ahead: JAX NE (@JAX @IND DEN) - The Texans are worth adding and playing this week, just so you’ll have them for the Jaguars matchups.
New Orleans (vs San Francisco)
They didn’t come through for us last week, but if your waiver wire D/ST group has been picked clean, it might be a good idea to go back to the Saints. All of their best defensive games have come in the Superdome this year, and the Panthers were able to sack Colin Kaepernick six times last week.
A Look Ahead: @ATL @SEA (CAR @STL @CAR) - If the Saints come of this game red hot, you might play them at Atlanta, but chances are this will be a D/ST to throw back next week.
Playoffs Preemptive Pickups
If you like to devote two roster spots to a D/ST, or you suspect other teams are going to stream defenses this year, you might want to grab a top option for the playoff weeks to stash away. Here are the best ones to target:
Tennessee (week 15 ARI, week 16 @JAX)
Houston (week 14 @JAX, also week 12 JAX)
St. Louis (week 14 @ARI, week 16 TB)
Detroit (week 16 NYG)
