If you read my article on playing the waiver wire game, you know it is essential to winning your fantasy football league. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? I just told you it’s a necessary part of winning your fantasy football league! Why do you hate winning?
Streaming defenses is oone ofthe best ways to maximize your weekly scoring This strategy is simple – we aren’t as concerned about good defenses, so much as finding defenses that are playing terrible offenses. Bad offenses are more likely to keep playing badly because if they knew how to be good, they would already be good. Because of this flawless logic, I will be pointing out the best streaming options every week.
THURSDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!!
New Orleans Saints DEF (34% owned) @ Denver Broncos DEF
We got our first Thursday Night Special of the week! The Denver Broncos have the 6th most turnovers, the 5th fewest first downs, and score the 8th fewest points per game. On the other side of the ball, we have a Saints team with the 4th most turnovers and the 5th highest amount of drives ending in a turnover. On top of all that, we are playing on Thursday Night, where points are hit at a significantly higher rate. The Saints are also the 8th best fantasy defense on the season. I love the Saints this week.
Cincinnati Bengals DEF (23% owned) @ Cleveland Browns
Let me start by saying that the Bengals’ defense is not very good. Lucky for them, the Cleveland Browns offense is significantly worse. The Browns have given up the 5th most fantasy points to opposing defenses, have the 5th fewest first downs, and the 2nd fewest drives ending in a score. They are also giving up the most sacks in football. By a lot. They have 8 more sacks than the next worst team. Oh, and they traded away their best offensive weapon. The Browns are bad, but man are they good for opposing fantasy defenses.
Jacksonville DEF (8% owned) @ New England
When two bad teams battle, there is usually one good fantasy defense to be found. On paper, Jacksonville should have the better match-up here. New England is giving up the 4th most fantasy points to opposing defenses. Their offense has the 5th fewest first downs, the 9th most turnovers, and the 2nd most sacks. On top of that, they are scoring the 2nd fewest points per game. When you add in an intercontinental flight, this game has the making of a disaster for New England in Old England. My only concern here is that the Jacksonville Jaguars defense is also bad. Which is why….
New England DEF (7% owned) @ Jacksonville
To me, the best way to play the New England/Jacksonville game is to decide which team you think will win this game and pick that defense. New England also has a very interesting match-up. Jacksonville has the 6th most sacks and the 9th fewest points per game. From a pure football standpoint, Jacksonville looks broken, so I can understand why you wouldn’t want to count on them. I will personally stream Jacksonville over New England if those are my only two choices, but I’d also rather start the Bengals or Saints over both options because at least those teams have shown signs of competence. The same cannot be said for Jacksonville OR New England.
