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 7 Results
Buffalo (at New York Jets) - 6 sacks, 2 INT
The Bills defense had been lackluster coming into this game and barely let the Jets get anything going, especially in the second half. This won’t discourage us from playing just about any old defense against the Jets going forward.
A Look Ahead: NE SEA @ARI - This becomes a preferred play this week considering the state of the Patriots offense, but we’re going to assume that the Bills were picked up in every league this week, so consider it a bonus play, and then we’ll throw the Bills back before they face Seattle.
Kansas City (at Denver) - 3 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD, 1 ST TD
Yahtzee! The Broncos looked like a team that didn’t belong on the same field as the Chiefs, and they were only about the 4th or 5th most depressing team to watch in Week 7. The Chiefs capitalized more on the Broncos lethargy and miscues than they put together a dominant performance, so, we’ll consider the Broncos opponent going forward.
A Look Ahead: NYJ CAR BYE - They should be rostered in every league just for the anticipation on this Jets matchup.
Philadelphia (vs New York Giants) - 3 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
New York Giants (at Philadelphia) - 3 sacks, 1 INT
The bad NFC East football matchup creates some memorable moments and lots of drama at the end. It also gave us a top five D/ST in the Eagles and an acceptable result from the Giants, who could have done more since they played with the lead in the second half.
A Look Ahead PHI: DAL BYE @NYG - Hello Ben Dinucci. We will keep the Eagles in
A Look Ahead NYG: TB @WAS PHI - Hello Tom Brady. We will throw the Giants back but revisit them as an option in Week 9.
Los Angeles Chargers (vs Jacksonville) - 5 sacks, 1 INT
The Chargers defensive line harassed Gardner Minshew all day, although he didn’t make any huge mistakes. It was still a top 10 D/ST result for Week 7.
A Look Ahead: @DEN LV @MIA - After the Broncos imploded against the Chiefs, we’ll likely keep the Chargers D/ST in.
Washington (vs Dallas) - 1 safety, 6 sacks, 1 INT, 3 pts allowed
Expecting the Cowboys offense to continue their downward slide was the right move for Week 7. Andy Dalton was knocked out of the game on a dirty hit, but the damage was already done before that.
A Look Ahead: BYE NYG @DET - We will come back to Washington in NFC East matchups going forward.
Chicago (at Los Angeles Rams) - 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
It was far from a banner night for the Bears defense, but they were jumping out on the jet sweeps which finally resulted in an Eddie Jackson scoop and score to make them a solid D/ST play
A Look Ahead: NO @TEN MIN - We’ll come back to them later this year, but probably want to stay away for the next two weeks.
Cleveland (at Cincinnati) - 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT
The Browns didn’t knock Joe Burrow around to the extent that they did in the first matchup, but Myles Garrett was still chasing him like something out of a nightmare and the Browns performance was good enough for a top 6-7 D/ST result if your league doesn’t score points/yards allowed.
A Look Ahead: LV BYE HOU - With the Jaguars, Jets, and Giants still left on the schedule, we will come back to Cleveland later in the season.
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
San Francisco (at New England) - 2 sacks, 4 INT
It didn’t matter who the quarterback was, the Patriots just could not move the ball. Cam Newton is playing like he is still under the weather.
Week 8 Candidates
**Buffalo, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay have great matchups but assumed to be rostered**
Philadelphia (vs Dallas)
Even if Andy Dalton is cleared for this game, this is the play of the week. The Eagles pass rush has been a consistent presence and the Cowboys pass blocking has been a consistent absence. If Dalton doesn’t play, the Eagles will be every single DFS lineup.
A Look Ahead: BYE @NYG @CLE - It’s probably not worth holding the Eagles through the bye for the rematch of the game that paid off last week.
Los Angeles Chargers (at Denver)
Melvin Ingram III was back last week, and the hope is that his knee tweak vs. Jacksonville wasn’t too bad. Ingram being in for this one would be gravy over the meal that Drew Lock and the dysfunctional Broncos offense presents for defenses right now.
A Look Ahead: LV @MIA NYJ - If the Chargers come through this week and Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t look good vs the Rams, it will be tempting to hold the Chargers through the Raiders matchup to get them for Miami and the Jets
New England (at Buffalo)
It’s easy to overlook that the Patriots still picked off Jimmy Garoppolo twice and sacked him once in a blowout loss. Last year, they picked off Josh Allen four times and sacked him nine times in their two matchups. This could be a last stand kind of game for the Patriots and their defense could rise to the occasion and force Allen into that danger zone where he presses and tries to do everything himself. The Patriots are likely rostered, but they haven’t done anything special as a D/ST in the last three games, so they might be out there.
A Look Ahead: @NYJ BAL @HOU - The best reason to play the Pats this week is so you can get them in vs. the Jets next week.
Green Bay (vs Minnesota)
In a typical year, the Packers D/ST in Lambeau is a good player. In a year when the VIkings are tanking and the Packers are surging, they are a great play and one that we should feel lucky to get as a consolation if the Eagles and Chargers are rostered.
A Look Ahead: @SF IND @JAX - Santa Clara was the Packers Waterloo last year, and I suspect it could be a site of failure this year, but the Packers schedule after that is worth exploiting.
Los Angeles Rams (at Miami)
Tua Tagovailoa could show that he is more than ready for prime time, but Aaron Donald will have other ideas. There’s always the possibility of a rude “welcome to the NFL) game for the #5 pick, although the Rams are likely rostered in most leagues. If you don’t get a top choice this week, they’ll do.
A Look Ahead: BYE SEA @TB - We’ll come back to the Rams for Week 14 and 15 against the Patriots and Jets.
New Orleans (at Chicago)
It has been a while since the Saints gave us a big D/ST week, but Nick Foles was in a generous mood Monday night, taking sacks and throwing picks, and if they can jump out to a lead, the Saints could reproduce that performance in Week 8 even though the game is on the road.
A Look Ahead: @TB SF ATL - We might come back to the Saints when they play the Falcons
Tennessee (at Cincinnati)
The Titans defense has been far from a shutdown unit, but they do have nine interceptions on the year and the Bengals offensive line suffered two key injuries in Week 7 as Jonah Williams and Trey Hopkins went down. We’ll be monitoring their status this week, but either way the Titans should be playing with a lead and putting Joe Burrow in compromising positions.
A Look Ahead: CHI IND @BAL - Nick Foles is an acceptable quarterback to target with a rent-a-defense if they are warming up… if the Titans come through, we might use them again vs. the Bears and then Philip Rivers at home.
Week 9 Preemptive Pickups
New England (at New York Jets)
Washington (vs New York Giants)