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.
**The Jets and Baltimore have great matchups but are assumed to be rostered**
Week 4 Results
Cleveland (vs Baltimore) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
This one backfired from the get-go once Deshaun Watson was inactive. The Browns defense actually wasn’t a complete dud, but the other side of this matchup is what we wanted.
A Look Ahead: BYE SF @IND - We’ll come back to the Browns later this season.
Cincinnati (at Tennessee) - 3 sacks, 1 INT
Joe Burrow was off of the injury report but played like the same hobbled quarterback we’ve seen all season, and the Bengals defense wasn’t up to carrying them to a victory two weeks in a row. It wasn’t a bust, but we also wanted the other side of this matchup.
A Look Ahead: @ARI SEA BYE - We won’t consider the Bengals again until after their bye.
Indianapolis (vs LA Rams) - 2 sacks, 1 INT
Matthew Stafford’s steady veteran play and the Rams opened up a big lead that they eventually surrendered to send the game to overtime kept this one from being a hit. At least the Rams D/ST wasn’t any better.
A Look Ahead: TEN @JAX CLE - You could do worse than playing the Colts D/ST this week, but they aren’t a preferred play
Tampa Bay (at New Orleans) - 3 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
Derek Carr was ineffective in his return from a shoulder injury, and the Bucs D/ST was one of the rent-a-defense hits of the week.
A Look Ahead: BYE DET ATL - We’ll come back to them in Week 7
LA Chargers (vs Las Vegas) - 7 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
Aidan O’Connell’s line didn’t do him any favors in his debut. This one could be called “The Return of the Mack” as Khalil Mack had six of the seven sacks.
A Look Ahead: BYE DAL @KC - We’ll come back to the Chargers later this year.
Jacksonville (vs Atlanta) **London** - 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD
Our biggest hit of the week as Desmond Ridder’s two poor throws on back-to-back plays led to a Darious Williams pick-six in a performance that has pushed Ridder a few steps out on the plank.
A Look Ahead: @BUF IND @NO - We won’t play the Jags again for at least a few weeks.
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
Seattle (at NY Giants) - 11 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD, 3 pts allowed
Daniel Jones is the kind of quarterback we love to target because he never stops trying, no matter how bad it is going,
Minnesota (at Carolina) - 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
Bryce Young didn’t make any big mistakes as a passer but was under fire all day in the pocket, and eventually, D.J. Wonnum took a fumble back for a score.
Denver (at Chicago) - 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT, 1 DEF TD
The Bears built a 28-7 lead but still surrendered a defensive score as the game slipped away from them.
Carolina (vs Minnesota) - 2 sacks, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD
A 99-yard pick-six still wasn’t enough to keep the Panthers in this game, but you loved Sam Franklin if you had to start them for some reason.
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