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
New England (vs Chicago) - 4 sacks, 1 INT
It wasn’t a bad showing for a fantasy defense, but it was a terrible showing for the team on Monday night.
A Look Ahead: @NYJ IND BYE - Why do we get the feeling Belichick will take out his frustration on the Jets? Stick with the Pats this week.
NY Jets (at Denver) - 1 sack, 1 INT
The Jets didn’t make Brett Rypien look that much worse than Russell Wilson, and while they got the win and held the Broncos to nine points, the fantasy defense stats were meager.
A Look Ahead: NE BUF BYE - We’ll move on from the suddenly playoff contender Jets squad
Tampa Bay (at Carolina) - 1 sack
P.J. Walker got the first, middle, and last laugh in this one
A Look Ahead: BAL LAR SEA - After a hot start, the Bucs D/ST is off of our candidate list until further notice
Dallas (vs Detroit) - 5 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, 2 INT, 6 pts allowed
Yahtzee #1 of the week. The Cowboys D/ST is an even better play now that Dak Prescott is back
A Look Ahead: CHI BYE @ GB - Justin Fields looks respectable all of the sudden, but we’ll stick with the Cowboys.
Baltimore (vs Cleveland) - 5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries
One Calais Campbell forced fumble on a sack was basically the difference in this one. A good showing for the Ravens D/ST.
A Look Ahead: @TB @NO BYE - Tom Brady hasn’t been turning the ball over, so even though the Buccaneers offense has disappointed, this isn’t a preferred play for Week 8.
Green Bay (at Washington) - 1 sack, 1 INT, 1 DEF TD
Taylor Heinicke easily could have thrown four picks to open, but he settled down and got the win. DeVondre Campbell had a pick-six to make your week if you started the Packers, but this defense is still underperforming expectations.
A Look Ahead: @BUF @DET DAL - We probably won’t be coming back to the Pack for a while.
Arizona (vs New Orleans) - 3 INT, 2 DEF TD
Thank you, Andy Dalton! Yahtzee #2 of the week. Two pick-sixes made the Cardinals a big surprise. Congrats if you counted on them.
A Look Ahead: @MIN SEA @LAR - Can this team keep scoring D/ST touchdowns? They’re up to four.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
Tennessee (vs Indianapolis) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD
The Titans might have done the Colts a favor by making Matt Ryan look so bad that they permanently benched him.
Kansas City (at San Francisco) - 1 safety, 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT
The Chiefs D/ST is warming back up heading into their bye. We’ll be using them later this season.
Week 8 Candidates
Philadelphia (vs Pittsburgh)
The Eagles D/ST should have been held through the bye, but maybe they were dropped. Kenny Pickett will be a matchup that we target going forward.
A Look Ahead: @HOU WAS @IND - Eagles D/ST is an every-week play from here on out