NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 9: Defenses

It almost seems unfair to start a defense against Copper or Da Nooch. But you’d better believe that I’m going to be doing that this week. The Steelers scored 18 fantasy points against the Ravens last week. And that’s a good offense. The Steelers have at least 18 fantasy points in two of the last three games.

I think it was either Matt Harmon or James Koh who pointed this out on Monday, that the FT was on a bye week so you could pick it up before waivers started on Tuesday. Which I absolutely did. I added Washington in my Second City league even though I have the Steelers. Just to keep others from adding them. Sometimes you need to play defense yourself. BTW, the Eagles have the Giants next week (the Jets are on a bye) and are not playing.

But if you do miss out on Washington, it’s not a bad idea to look at the other side of the ball here. The Giants defense has played pretty well. Or at least they don’t quit, which I believe is a testament to Joe Judge. The Giants did score four points going up against Tom Brady. And it’s not like Kyle Allen is Tom Brady.

People have soured on the Patriots in recent weeks, which is tough considering they were so good last year. They have scored 14 total points in the last three weeks combined. The Patriots might have been dropped last week, so take a gander at your waiver wire and see if they are available.

The Titans haven’t been putting up a ton of points defensively this season, but they have a great opportunity against the Bears. The offensive line was already a touchy subject in Chicago. It was kind of like secretly liking ketchup on hot dogs. You never talked about it. But with injuries and COVID-related concerns, the Bears offensive line could be pretty thin.

The Seahawks have put together some decent weeks, but the production has been unreliable. Seven points against the 49ers. Nothing against the Cardinals. Seven points against the Vikings. It’s kind of mirroring the madness of Tyler Lockett’s production. The Bills could turn the ball over. But it’s still too big of a risk, especially when you consider that the Seahawks are going to score a lot of points.

The Raiders scored nine fantasy points against the Browns on Sunday. That was their season-high. They haven’t topped more than four fantasy points in any other game this season. And they have been in negative points just as recently as Week 7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are allowing too many yards and I fear Justin Herbert could throw for 500 this week (not that the Chargers would let him).

The Broncos always seem like a decent option. It’s like seeing a BLT on the menu at a diner. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. And it’s pretty hard to ruin a BLT. But the Broncos have scored just seven fantasy points in the last two weeks. That’s half the total they had against New England in Week 6. The Falcons have played much better as a team recently so I’m going to shy away here.

I’m tempted to take the Cardinals in a game against Tua Tagovailoa, who didn’t exactly light it up in his NFL debut. But at the same time, the Cardinals defense hasn’t offered the consistency I’m looking for here. They feasted on the Cowboys in Week 6, but haven’t reached double-digits in any other week over the entire year. Even a potential crush spot against the Washington FT resulted in nine points.