If you read my article on playing the waiver wire game, you know that it is an essential part of winning your fantasy football league. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? I just told you it’s an essential part of winning your fantasy football league! Why do you hate winning? One of the best ways to maximize your weekly scoring is to stream defenses. This strategy is simple: stop being concerned with finding good defenses, and find defenses that are playing against terrible offenses. Bad offenses are more likely to keep playing poorly because if they knew how to be good, they would already be good. Following this flawless logic, let’s find out who we should stream this week!
Washington Commanders Defense (12% owned) @ Indianapolis Colts
This may be the riskiest play of the week, but it also has the biggest upside. In seven games, the Indianapolis Colts’ defense has been an absolute disaster. The Colts have scored the third-fewest points in the NFL. They lead the NFL in interceptions, are third in overall turnovers and third in sacks. Simply put, the Colts offense is bad. It is so bad that they made the decision to bench Matt Ryan for preseason superstar Sam Ehlinger. One of two things is true. Either Matt Ryan has been holding back an incredible Colts offense from being an elite unit and the only thing that will unlock it is a second-year quarterback who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft, or maybe the Indianapolis Colts just suck.
Las Vegas Raiders Defense (15% owned) @ New Orleans Saints
Honestly, Washington is my favorite start because I am a sucker for a match-up against a backup quarterback whose team already gives up a ton of sacks and turnovers. I don’t blame you if the prospect of starting the Washington defense scares you, but I doubt Las Vegas will make you feel much better. Their defense has been questionable. But so was the Arizona Cardinals defense, aka my week seven Thursday Night special aka the number three fantasy defense of week seven. The nice thing about New Orleans is that they have the most turnovers in football and give up the third-most fantasy points to opposing defenses. Vegas has been quietly improving and the Saints are bad.
Jacksonville Jaguars Defense (36% owned) @ Denver Broncos
Jacksonville started the year strong, but they have fallen off in recent weeks. The good news is that they have a future home game in London this week. The bad news is that Mr. Unlimited spent the entire flight to London keeping his teammates awake by doing leg lifts on the flight and being super annoying. Like the Dangerwich, I am providing the mildest of takes and betting against the Denver Broncos. I can’t help it. They make it too easy. They score the fewest points in football. They give up the third most sacks to opponents. They give up the ninth-most fantasy points to opposing defenses. And they are led by a man completely disconnected from reality. I will keep betting against the Broncos until they show me some level of competence. Unfortunately, with Russell Wilson’s albatross of a contract, that probably won’t be until the 2027 season.
