NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 12: Defenses

We streamed the Browns last week, and they were amazing with 20 fantasy points against the Eagles. So glad we didn’t panic with Myles Garrett out. The added bonus, of course, was having the Browns again for this week against the Jaguars. Good news is the Browns were still widely available. The bad part is that you’re probably reading this after the waiver wire closed and you either have them or you don’t. But if you do, start them this week.

Hear me out. I know, the Seahawks have been historically bad. We’re starting guys like Dallas Goedert and Travis Fulgham this week. But at the same time, the Eagles have given up so many sacks and turned the ball over so much, that it would be foolish to overlook the Seahawks this week. The crazy thing is the Seahawks are rostered in a lot of leagues. Either habit. Or your buddy auto-picked them and eventually ghosted his team. That happens. But I’m all about the Seahawks this week.

The Dolphins were another popular streamer last week (though we were on the Broncos as well). The Chargers didn’t necessarily have an amazing game against the Jets last week, coming in with nine fantasy points. But if you give me a streamer that is coming close to double digits, I’ll happily take it. And there’s also the possibility of a pop game where you could get 20 points like the Browns did last week.

The Giants have played really hard for Joe Judge. It’s like we have a Brian Flores situation from last year. The only difference here is the Giants could actually still win the division. I’m serious. This is a pretty good team. I mean, by NFC East standards. Which is like the being a pretty good player at your local 9-hole golf course. I mean, it’s great. And you should be happy with that. But don’t act like you’re going to get your Tour card anytime soon. The Bengals have allowed the fifth-most points to opposing defenses. And I’m not going to smite Brandon Allen because I’m starting Giovani Bernard and Tyler Boyd this week in various leagues.

I have the Bucs defense in a few leagues and they have been good. I mean, Monday night wasn’t great. If you score just four fantasy points in a game where you’re going up against Jared Goff, I’m really worried about going up against Patrick Mahomes. And damn, it’s tough watching all of those three-and-outs, which seemed like a ton for the Bucs offense. In fact, after scoring touchdowns in two of their first three drives, they gained more than 25 yards on one of their final nine drives. Shoot, get that Chiefs defense into your lineup.

The good news here is that you likely dropped the Colts last week going up against the Green Bay Packers. Or at least you should have. But you might be surprised to find out the Titans have allowed fewer points to opposing defenses this season than the Packers. Which I guess means Ryan Tannehill is better than Aaron Rodgers. I’m kidding! No seriously, I’m kidding.

Don’t fault me for putting the Patriots on this list. They are still rostered in 75% of leagues. Even though they haven’t scored more than seven points since Week 6. The Cardinals are a dome team on the road on the East Coast. And we love that. But the Cardinals have allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points to opposing defenses this year.

It’s Thanksgiving week, so it’s easy to sleep (because of turkey, get it?) on switching out your defenses this week. And if you had the Chargers last week because of the matchup against the Jets, that worked out all right for you. I mean, nine points is a reasonable expectation. I don’t like this week against the Bills, who haven’t allowed a lot of points to opponents' defenses this year.