Defensive Notes
It’s week 11, which means two things: the games are getting more important for some teams, and less important for others. It makes sense to weigh respective motivations when deciding on defensive units, now more than ever.
Take Jets/Rams last week. When New York moved out to a big lead, the Rams appeared to wilt, and the sacks and turnovers quickly followed. Contrast that to a game with two teams vying for playoff spots, the Colts and Steelers – in that one, the hard hits and opportunism continued for both teams from start to finish.
Plenty of bad teams keep playing hard right through to the end of the season, but all things being similar, better to opt for the team with a lot to play for than the one that’s already thinking about Holiday shopping. This week, both ends of the huge Jets-Patriots game look very compelling, as do the participants in Ravens-Giants, Bears-Packers, and Titans-Jaguars.
Then you’ve got the teams whose seasons have slipped away, and may find their emotions heading south with it. Houston, Seattle, New Orleans – teams for whom depression, or frustration, may be starting to take hold. Not clubs to count on for maximum effort the rest of the way.
Waiver Wire Defense of the Week: There are no more bye weeks, which is a relief. But if your defense has a poor matchup, or you’re the type of owner who likes to pick defenses solely based on weekly matchups, here are a couple of one-week options.
San Francisco: St. Louis looked hopeless against the Jets, and while they’re not that bad, they’re not any good, either. The momentary bump they got from the head-coaching switch appears to have subsided. Unless Steven Jackson plays, at which point all bets are off, we have a lot of interest in San Francisco’s defense this week.
Atlanta: The Falcons are home against Denver’s high-powered offense, but their defense is playing extremely well, the team is undefeated at home, and Denver’s offense figures to be rather one-dimensional this week – usually a problem against a team with a pass rusher like John Abraham. We like Jay Cutler, but he was fortunate to only throw 1 interception a week ago, as well. One caveat: If your league penalizes for points allowed, Atlanta is a riskier play.
On the flip side, we’re wary of a Vikings defense playing Tampa Bay on the road; the Bucs tend to play very well at home. We want nothing to do with Dallas, on the road against a Washington team that did a number on them back in week 4 – and that was when Dallas was better on both sides of the ball than they appear right now.
Other news and notes:
- Tough week for some top IDP options. Mike McKenzie (knee), Nick Barnett (knee) and Adalius Thomas (arm) are all out for the season.
- The Jets signed Ty Law, and don’t rule out him having some value. He won’t start but will instead be on the field as a nickel back, which could actually give him a decent amount of opportunities to come up with interceptions.
- Comments [0]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
