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Defensive Notes

People are often quick to write off certain players, or teams, as too old, past their prime, and headed for a fall. When those players or teams prove you wrong – as the Steelers and Ravens have clearly done – you accept it and act accordingly. That’s why both defenses are both comfortably back in our top 10 – now, and probably for the rest of the season.

The Steelers are impressive in large part because they continually come up with talented, disruptive linebackers for their 3-4 defense. They’ve been without a pair of key defensive linemen the past few weeks, so their linebackers have stepped it up. Outside linebackers James Harrison and Lamarr Woodley occupy two of the top three spots in the league in sacks. (Woodley is tied for 3rd with a former Steeler, Joey Porter.) They helped this defense simply take the running option away from Jacksonville the other night: Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor combined for 15 carries for 26 yards. Yes, the Steelers play a tough schedule this year, but some of their toughest games are behind them – and some of their perceived tough offenses coming up have struggled.

Initially, we were high on the Ravens – viewed it as a likely bounce-back year for them. But as the preseason wore on, it seemed likely that Ed Reed and perhaps Chris McAlister would miss at least some time, and that that would have a ripple effect on the entire defense (as it has in the past). We also worried as it became apparent that rookie Joe Flacco might be forced into the starting lineup before he was ready. Well, turns out that Reed has been plenty healthy enough to play, Ray Lewis still has plenty of energy left in his 33-year-old wheels, and Flacco has been OK – not great, but OK. We’re still a little worried about the offense putting the defense in some bad situations, but thus far it seems that the defense has taken its offensive limitations as a challenge, and stepped things up accordingly. The Ravens get a tough matchup at Indianapolis this week, but don’t count them out – they’re an every-week start right now.

Waiver Wire Defense of the Week: With the Bills, Steelers, Titans and oh yeah Kansas City on a bye this week, a lot of owners will be scrambling to fill out a lineup. Here are a couple of options that may be available in your league.

N.Y. Jets: Only six quarterbacks have been sacked more often than Carson Palmer – and remember, he missed the team’s week 4 game. Nobody has fumbled more than Chris Perry (5 in five games). The Jets had a pretty good pass rush going on before sitting back with a huge lead in their last game, and they’ve also scored defensive touchdowns in two straight weeks. Very good kick return teams, too.

Dolphins: Another AFC East team? It’s not a perfect matchup – in Houston against a Texans team that’s better than its 0-4 record – but Matt Schaub has been erratic, with a great game against Jacksonville and two lousy ones in which he took 8 sacks and turned it over 6 times. Miami is playing with a lot of confidence right now, so as desperate options go, you could do worse.

On the flip side, two highly ranked defenses to think twice about this week include New England, facing the Chargers in San Diego; and Jacksonville, on the road against a very productive Broncos’ offense. Some owners won’t have a better option, but neither team figures to be very highly ranked in our projections this week.

Other news and notes:

- The Vikings have lost linebacker E.J. Henderson (foot) for the year. That’s a major blow to a highly touted defense that has underperformed thus far.

- Buffalo slips a little after struggling mightily in Arizona. They miss cornerback Terrence McGee, certainly, and they’ve also benefited from a favorable schedule thus far.

- Washington looks like it might have a top-10 NFL defense, so you might wonder about their fairly mediocre placement in our rankings. The problem is sacks; they don’t get many. Only four teams have fewer thus far than Washington. In fantasy terms, this is still a middle-of-the-pack group, although their upcoming favorable matchups (Rams, Browns, Lions) should help them in the weeks to come.

—Andy Richardson

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