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.
**Philadelphia, Baltimore, New England, Dallas, San Francisco, and Buffalo are assumed to be rostered**
Week 15 Results
Kansas City (at Houston) - 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery
The Texans' quarterback platoon avoided big mistakes, and they were good enough to send the game to overtime and keep the offense out of desperation mode.
A Look Ahead: SEA DEN - The Chiefs have struggled to put away teams at the bottom of the league the last two weeks, but they still have a lot to play for, so they are a consideration this week.
Minnesota (vs Indianapolis) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
Add 33-0 to the Matt Ryan collapse lore, but much like 28-3, this one wasn’t on him. Ryan didn’t go on a turnover spree. Instead, he was part of an offense that shelled up in the second half. Be happy you got this much from the Vikings D/ST.
A Look Ahead: NYG @GB - The Giants defense was playoff quality Sunday night, so the Vikings probably won’t get to pick on Daniel Jones enough to make this a good play.
New Orleans (vs Atlanta) - 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
Desmond Ridder didn’t throw any picks - and the one lost fumble was from Drake London - but he barely moved the offense. This was a successful defensive performance vs. the pass, at least, but it wasn’t completely reflected in the fantasy stats.
A Look Ahead: @CLE @PHI - High winds and bitter cold will make this week a good one in points/yards allowed scoring, but maybe not in scoring that relies on turnovers and sacks.
Washington (vs NY Giants) - Nada. Bupkis. Zilch.
The Giants were able to be hyper-conservative on offense because their defense dominated the game even though the Commanders were coming off of a bye.
A Look Ahead: @SF CLE - That’s curtains for the Commanders D/ST this season.
Carolina (vs Pittsburgh) - 1 sack
The Steelers defense was strong, so they played with a lead and were able to run more twice as often as they passed, limiting Mitchell Trubisky's mistakes.
A Look Ahead: DET @TB - The Panthers go back to the wild for the rest of the season
Detroit (at NY Jets) - 4 sacks, 1 INT, 1 ST TD
Zach Wilson only had one bad interception, but Kalif Raymond busted a punt return for a touchdown to make Detroit one of the best D/ST plays of the week.
A Look Ahead: @CAR CHI - Why go away from the Lions now?
Green Bay (vs LA Rams) - 5 sacks, 1 INT
Baker Mayfield returned to his pre-end-of-fourth-quarter-in-your-first-game-with-your-new-team form at Lambeau
A Look Ahead: @MIA MIN - That’s all for the Packers D/ST this season
Denver (vs Arizona) - 3 sacks, 3 INT
Three was the magic number as the Broncos D/ST posted a strong game once they got to the third-string quarterback Trace McSorley after Colt McCoy suffered a concussion.
A Look Ahead: @LAR @KC - The Rams offense looks very beatable. The Broncos are very much in consideration for Week 16
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
Indianapolis (at Minnesota) - 7 sacks, 1 INT, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 DEF TD, 1 ST TD
How do you lose a game with this kind of defensive and special teams production? Matt Ryan: Hold my Beer.
NY Giants (at Washington) - 3 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 DEF TD
Kayvon Thibodeaux is playing like a Top 10 pick at just the right time for the playoff push and fantasy teams.
Jacksonville (vs Dallas) - 3 sacks, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD
Rayshawn Jenkins had the rare walk-off defensive touchdown… well, except we had two on Sunday
Cleveland (vs Baltimore) - 3 sacks, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovery, 3 pts allowed
Now can we stop the “Ravens shouldn’t pay Lamar Jackson because Tyler Huntley is on a rookie contract” talk?
Arizona (at Denver) - 7 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT
When two bad teams get together in a battle of the backup quarterbacks, both D/STs can hit
Week 16 Candidates