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.
Week 9 Results
Indianapolis (vs Baltimore) - 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
Lamar Jackson found his game and the Colts defense wasn’t able to make much of a splash for fantasy despite shutting down the Ravens running game.
A Look Ahead: @TEN GB TEN - The Colts defense has been a consistent fantasy factor this year, but it might be time to look elsewhere
Miami (at Arizona) - 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
Kyler Murray was excellent against Miami except for one play where Emmanuel Ogbah separated him from the ball and Shaq Lawson took it back for a score. And that’s enough for a good fantasy week from a defense.
A Look Ahead: LAC @DEN @NYJ - We aren’t going away from the Dolphins any time soon
Seattle (at Buffalo) - 7 sacks
Josh Allen was nearly flawless, but a revived Seahawks pass rush still brought him down seven times, which was enough for a top 10 week in leagues that don’t score points and yards allowed.
A Look Ahead: @LAR ARI @PHI - You could do worse than Seattle’s defense in upcoming weeks, but you can probably do better too
Arizona (vs Miami) - 3 sacks
Tua Tagovailoa did not look like a rookie making his second start against the Cardinals.
A Look Ahead: BUF @SEA @NE - This bird has flown
New England (at New York Jets) - 1 sack, 1 INT
I’ll knock off the Jets, Adam Gase, and Joe Flacco jokes (for now). Flacco had his best game in years and the Jets offense indeed looked better, even functional, once it had all three of its top receivers.
A Look Ahead: BAL @HOU ARI - We’re a long way from 2019 and the Patriots defense as a fantasy difference maker
Green Bay (at San Francisco) **Thursday** - 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT
Nick Mullens didn’t play too badly, but his team was never really in the game, which in turn meant the Packers defense didn’t really press the issue - not that they needed to with the 49ers offense depleted at every position.
A Look Ahead: JAX @IND CHI - Jake Luton’s first trip to Lambeau sounds like a recipe for fantasy success
Washington (at New York Giants) - 5 sacks
Washington’s defensive line got to Daniel Jones, but they couldn’t force any turnovers in a game they trailed most of the way.
A Look Ahead: @DET CIN @DAL - If this is Chase Daniel starting (watch Matthew Stafford’s recovery from a concussion) Washington may get a look as a waiver defense this week
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
Tennessee (vs Chicago) - 3 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 DEF TD
Nick Foles is not good, but it was a David Montgomery fumble that Desmond King scooped and took to the house
Buffalo (vs Seattle) - 5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 DEF TD
The Bills needed every one of those sacks and takeaways to beat Russell Wilson even though they scored 44 points. This result puts the Rams into play as they host Wilson this week.
New York Giants (vs Washington) - 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 INT
A bitter loss for Washington as they barely fell short despite losing the turnover battle 5-0. We had the wrong side of this one.
New Orleans (at Tampa Bay) - 3 sacks, 3 INT, 3 points allowed
Raise your hand if you had the Saints playing their best half of football of the year (of the century? of all time?) at Tampa.
Week 10 Candidates
**Pittsburgh and Baltimore have great matchups but are assumed to be rostered**
Miami (vs Los Angeles Chargers)
No fantasy defense has been better since Week 5. Justin Herbert is imposing, but the Dolphins defense is too hot to go away from
A Look Ahead: @DEN @NYJ CIN - This is part of the reason you stick with Miami this week.
New Orleans (vs San Francisco)
This is pretty elementary. The Saints are red hot, playing at home, and facing Nick Mullens
A Look Ahead: ATL @DEN @ATL - We’ll be sticking with the Saints until at least Thanksgiving
Green Bay (vs Jacksonville)
Another elementary play here as the Packers get rookie sixth round pick Jake Luton in his second NFL start.
A Look Ahead: @IND CHI PHI - If the Packers come through against Luton, it might be worth playing them against Philip Rivers in Week 11 to get the two home matchups against Nick Foles and Carson Wentz
Philadelphia (at New York Giants)
The Eagles defense has been a hit in four of their last six games, with only losses to the Steelers and Ravens coming up as duds. Just three weeks ago against these same Giants they had three takeaways and three sacks.
A Look Ahead: @CLE SEA @GB - We’ll probably look elsewhere in Week 11
Los Angeles Rams (vs Seattle)
The Rams can go on sack binges and they have had two weeks to prepare for Russell Wilson, who just allowed one of the best defense performances of Week 9. The Rams sacked Wilson five times when he came to Los Angeles last year.
A Look Ahead: @TB SF @ARI - If Tom Brady doesn’t come out of his slump this week and the Rams harass Wilson, we might consider them next week
Minnesota (at Chicago)
The Vikings defense is coming on, along with the team. They set a season high with three takeaways last week and Nick Foles is bottoming out. If the Vikings can establish a lead with Dalvin Cook, they can go into attack mode on Foles.
A Look Ahead: DAL CAR JAX - The Vikings had a very favorable run of home games coming up and they might get inspiration from an unlikely run for the last playoff spot.
Week 11 Preemptive Pickups
Los Angeles Chargers (vs New York Jets)
Miami (at Denver)
