Defensive Notes

As the end of the season gets closer and the games get more important, it makes sense to put more thought into defenses than ever before. Nobody wants to lose a game by a point when something like making the right choice on a defense could have prevented it. Some things to think about when making your weekly selection:

Ignore reputations: Some defenses simply aren’t as good, in fantasy terms or otherwise, as they’ve long been billed to be. Jacksonville is struggling. San Diego is, too. The Patriots aren’t making big plays and have lost a lot of players to injuries. Don’t be afraid to go with a “lesser” defense with a better matchup than an underperforming one that’s widely considered to be better.

Keep track of last-minute inactives: Bob Sanders was a late scratch for the Colts last week; their defense is entirely different without him in the lineup. A whole host of defenses can change dramatically without one player, especially if that player is a run-stuffing defensive tackle. If and when the NFL hands down suspensions to Minnesota’s Pat and Kevin Williams – it will come early next week – you can reasonably remove the Vikings defense from starting consideration.

Follow the sacks: This is a good rule of thumb almost any week, but it’s even easier at a point of the season when it’s clear which defenses are best at recording sacks and worst at allowing them. Eagles, Steelers, Jets, Giants – those teams are nearly matchup-proof in terms of being able to start them each week, because they’re always up around 3-4 sacks per game. Bengals, Lions, 49ers, Rams – if you can line up a defense against any of those sack-prone offenses, don’t hesitate.

Waiver Wire Defense of the Week: If you’ve been playing the matchups with defenses each week, there are some attractive choices that may be available on waivers in your league.

Denver: The Broncos are horrible defensively; we know that. Still, at home against a woeful Raiders offense, they might be a nice one-week play. The Broncos are actually slightly above average in terms of sacks, while only four teams have allowed more sacks than the Raiders. Denver blew the Raiders out at Oakland back in week 1.

Cleveland:They’re not any good either, but at home against a very turnover-prone Sage Rosenfels, the Browns can also be picked up and started in many leagues – as long as you’re not penalized for points allowed, that is.

On the flip side, we’re staying away from a Carolina defense that’s struggled at times against the run and will be facing Michael Turner in Atlanta. We’re also cool on Green Bay, which has 9 defensive touchdowns but is in New Orleans against a Saints offense that usually doesn’t allow many sacks or turnovers.

Other news and notes:

- If you watched Jets-Patriots last Thursday, you had to come away impressed with Patriots rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo. But for him making big stop after big stop, there’s little doubt the Jets would have won in regulation. Mayo could be the defensive rookie of the year; he’s probably going to be the leader of that Patriots defense into the future, with many veteran defenders on their last legs.

- The Chargers have a poor matchup this week, home against the Colts. They’re not playing particularly well, and we don’t have them very high in our rankings. Still, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention their favorable history against Peyton Manning. They picked him off 6 times in a regular-season win last year, and they picked him off 2 more times in the postseason (2 times in a 2005 win when the Colts were 13-0 at the time, as well). This Chargers’ defense isn’t nearly as good as those groups, but if you place a lot of weight in history versus most-recent performance, you can at least consider rolling the dice with San Diego this week.

--Andy Richardson

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