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.
**Dallas, Baltimore, and San Francisco are assumed to be rostered**
Week 11 Results
Miami (vs Las Vegas) - 2 sacks, 3 INT
Jaelan Phillips was a one-man wrecking crew in this one, and Jalen Ramsey's return has also helped this D/ST be more relevant for fantasy.
A Look Ahead: @NYJ @WAS TEN - We can stick with the Dolphins for at least the next three weeks.
Kansas City (vs Philadelphia) - 5 sacks, 1 INT
The Chiefs defense held the Eagles in check for most of the night but faltered in the fourth quarter, and then Patrick Mahomes II' pass-catchers dropped the ball in their chance to win.
A Look Ahead: @LV @GB BUF - We'll stick with the Chiefs.
Jacksonville (vs Tennessee) - 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries
This performance was better than the fantasy bottom line indicates. Will Levis is not lost out there, though, so he's not an automatic target with so many teams turning to backups or backup backups.
A Look Ahead: @HOU CIN @CLE - We may come back to the Jaguars after the matchup with C.J. Stroud.
Detroit (vs Chicago) - 1 sack, 1 safety, 2 fumble recoveries
Aidan Hutchinson saved his strip sack for the most important defensive play of the game. Otherwise, Justin Fields was confounding the Lions (again).
A Look Ahead: GB @NO @CHI - The Lions defense could bounce back against Jordan Love, but don't count on it.
Denver (vs Minnesota) - 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
This opportunistic defense won't let up. That's 12 takeaways over the last three games.
A Look Ahead: CLE @HOU @LAC - We'll stick with the Broncos against Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Washington (vs NY Giants) - 9 sacks
Even with five sacks in the first quarter and nine overall (we'll keep targeting the Giants), we had the wrong side of this matchup.
A Look Ahead: @DAL MIA BYE - We may come back to Washington in Week 16 against the Jets, but probably not.
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
NY Giants (at Washington) - 4 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 INT, 1 DEF TD
When Sam Howell is bad, he is very, very bad. Three fumbles from his teammates did not help matters.
Chicago (at Detroit) - 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 3 INT
Jared Goff had a classic Jameis Winston game where he starts the fire in the first quarter but puts it out in the fourth to be the hero.
Arizona (at Houston) - 4 sacks, 3 INT
Leave it to the no-name Cardinals defense (hello, Jonathan Gannon!) to intercept C.J. Stroud more than his career interception total coming into the game.