The fantasy defense/special teams position, week to week, will impact your fantasy lineup whether you like it or not. When drafting at the beginning of the year, I avoid picking a defense until the last round. Calculating the flux in rankings for them from year to year can leave you on the floor with a brain aneurysm. Also, the best defenses in the game often change from week to week due to the terrible offenses that take the field as opposed to the great defenses. The defensive decision you make when drafting is just the start of the battle, playing match ups weekly is the long term play at winning your fantasy war.
Take it from me that playing the week to week is less of a crap shoot then taking a top 5 ranked defense in your draft and riding on their continued success regardless of opponent. Some examples for just this week are the Bengals, Panthers and Chiefs. All of these squads were likely taken in your draft this year before the final round. Even ahead of guys like Kelvin Benjamin, Steve Smith Sr. and Delanie Walker! Yet playing them this week seriously runs you the risk of ending up with negative points.
Negative points are unacceptable.
This is another piece I will do from week to week to help you with that troubling fantasy defense spot so Monday at work you can have ammo for what I like to call coffee break bragging. (We don’t have a water cooler.)
Week to week some of the best match ups will fall to defenses that were picked up and held on to due to continued or previous success. Usually they will be unattainable so I will mention them and move on. This week its the Seahawks, Cardinals and Ravens. Thier matchups are great but they are likely unavailable.
Every week I will try to bring you at least 3 (dst) spot plays. This week we are blessed to have 5 to choose from. That is great because one will almost assuredly be available to you for your lineup. I’ll give them to you in the order of how I would select them if they were all available to me.
- Buffalo Bills. These guys have been great this year, so they might not be there for you. If they are however, snatch them up with a quick click of the mouse and plug them in this week happily. They are highly skilled on the defensive side of the ball and Minnesota can’t seem to get it together on offense.
- Cleveland Browns. Another surprise defense this year to some. Joe Haden hasn’t been the shining star of past years but the coaching changes have made everyone around him better. They play the Jaguars this week. Need I say more?
- Chicago Bears. These guys are different cause they allow points sometimes which is NOT what you want for your fantasy lineup. They like to hawk the ball though. They allow points because they take chances that can get you big points off turnovers and defensive touchdowns. Their matchup against Miami, and a shaky Ryan Tannehill, could lead to some points, and more points.
- Dallas Cowboys. Funny that starting the year this was the defense everyone said to play all of your fantasy players against because they were so bad that great fantasy numbers would rain down from the sky. This has not at all been the case at all. These guys play ball. They are tough and make teams work for everything they get. The cowboys should score easily and force Eli Manning into catchup mode, and Eli is famous for throwing to the other team.
- Baltimore Ravens. Normally with the weapons for Atlanta I would not suggest any (dst) against them. This team just isn’t the same on the road though. When I add that to the fact that they also don’t play well outside, I feel good about this solid defense against them.
Be the guy who makes the best choice every week to win, lose or tie. Your lineup can be a fickle beast to navigate. Let this list, week by week, make one decision a lot easier for you.
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