It was a fourth straight successful week on the Streamable Defenses of the Week forefront. Our middle suggestion in the Detroit Lions playing host to the Tennessee Titans led the charge for us with 16 fantasy points. The Los Angeles Chargers playing host to the New Orleans Saints was our top suggestion and was right behind at 12 fantasy points. The under ten-percent owned suggestion was a struggle last week but we finished with three points with the Arizona Cardinals playing the Miami Dolphins. Our top suggestion has now entered the top four of overall D/ST’s and our middle suggestion is currently the D/ST8! Let’s see if we can’t improve some more in Week 9!
I’m one to never invest a high draft stock into team defenses. I play the waiver wire every single week to find my D/ST for the upcoming week. Due to this, I find myself never drafting a defense and waiting for just before the start of Week 1 to grab my first defense of the season. This is where this series comes into play. Every week I will be suggesting my favorite three team defenses that are regularly available on waiver wires across most formats. I will also keep a running total of how my selections measure up across the season below.
The premise of this article is to bring forth three streamable defenses that fantasy football players should look to use for that respective week. To qualify for this series, defenses must be owned in less than 40-percent of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues. At least one of the suggested defenses will be owned in less than 10-percent of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues to cater to as many fantasy players as possible. You can find last week’s results below and previous week’s results at the bottom of this article.
The Chargers, serving as our top suggestion in Week 8, held the visiting New Orleans Saints to just six points while recording five sacks enroute to a 12 fantasy point week. Our middle suggestion was the Detroit Lions playing host to the Tennessee Titans. The Lions allowed 14 points while recording a sack, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries to score 16 fantasy points. The Arizona Cardinals playing the Miami Dolphins were our less than ten-percent owned suggestion. They recorded three fantasy points while allowing 27 points and recording a sack.
Week 8 Results
Los Angeles Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints - 12 Points
Detroit Lions vs. Tennessee Titans - 16 Points
Arizona Cardinals at Miami Dolphins - 3 Points
Overall Results
Top Suggestion - 77 Points (D/ST4)
Middle Suggestion - 64 Points (D/ST8)
Less Than 10-Percent - 55 Points (D/ST12)
Week 9 Suggestions
Washington Commanders at New York Giants (Owned in 13% of Yahoo and 19.7% of ESPN Leagues)
The Commanders are playing motivated football on both sides of the ball. Everything is clicking for them. Outside of allowing 30 points to the Ravens in Week 6, this Commanders defense has not allowed more than 15 points in four of their last five games. Heck, across their last two games, they’ve allowed a combined 22 points to the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears. In those same two games, they have combined for four sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown. As they currently sit at the top of the NFC East with the Eagles half-a-game behind, this young Washington team will be motivated to dominate divisional rival New York. Daniels Jones has also been sacked 25 times, placing him the second most sacked quarterback in the NFL. The Giants have also allowed the sixth most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season.
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Las Vegas Raiders (Owned in 32% of Yahoo and 38.8% of ESPN Leagues)
This Bengals’ defense is hard to predict. Some games they look great, and others (such as last week) they look awful. If we throw out last week’s stomping at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Bengals scored 23 combined fantasy points between weeks 6 and 7. In those same two games they allowed just 21 points while recording six sacks and three interceptions. The combination of Gardner Minshew and Aiden O’Connell have also been sacked 25 times, which would place them as the second most sacked quarterback in the league. The Raiders also only average 288.1 offensive-yards-per-game or the fifth fewest in the league. They have also allowed the second most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season.
Tennessee Titans vs. New England Patriots (Owned in 2% of Yahoo and 2.3% of ESPN Leagues)
All around, the Titans are not a good football team. Their defense does have some good pieces on it however, despite what their recent run of form shows. They were pretty awful in back-to-back weeks against the Bills and Lions but to be fair, they are two of the best offenses in the NFL. The Patriots are nowhere near that standard. The Patriots have allowed the fifth most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season. New England is also last in the NFL in offensive–yards-per-game with just 261. That’s 11.3 yards fewer than the Cleveland Browns, who average the second fewest. Drake Maye is also in the NFL’s concussion protocol after suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit against the New York Jets in Week 8 that saw him leave the game early.
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