Streamable Defenses of the Week - Week 6 (2023)
Following our biggest week of the season for the Streamable Defenses of the Week, we followed it up with our worst week. Our top suggestion recorded negative points in a Thursday Night game against the Chicago Bears. Although we struggled during Week 5, each of our three categories and suggestions rank within the top 14 of the entire season. We’re heading back to the lab to put together a big Week 6!
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 Commanders were our top suggestion last week with their Thursday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears. I always say that I don’t like having any form of ties to Thursday night games but I figured the Bears would continue to struggle. Boy was I wrong. The Commanders allowed 40 points to Justin Fields and company while recording three sacks with zero turnovers. That resulted in negative-one fantasy points. The Detroit Lions were our middle suggestion last week and they led our suggestions with seven fantasy points. They allowed 24 points to the Panthers while recording a sack, two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The Texans were our under-ten percent owned suggestion. They didn’t play badly by any means, allowing just 21 points and recovering two fumbles but that totaled just four fantasy points.
Week 5 Results
Washington Commanders vs. Chicago Bears - -1 Points
Detroit Lions vs. Carolina Panthers - 7 Points
Houston Texans at Atlanta Falcons - 4 Points
Overall Results
Top Suggestion - 43 Points (D/ST11)
Middle Suggestion - 37 Points (D/ST14)
Under 10% Owned Suggestion - 40 Points (D/ST13)
Week 6 Suggestions
Atlanta Falcons vs. Washington Commanders - Owned in 10% of Yahoo and 3% of ESPN Leagues
There are very few plus matchups this week for defenses eligible for this series. We have a few teams with good matchups but the teams themselves have not been great fantasy points wise. We’ll have to hope the selections we make have a spike week and that starts here with the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons defense is not bad by any measures. They’ve allowed less than 24 points to opposing offenses in their five games to start the season. Outside of that Week 2 game against the Packers where they allowed 24 points, they’ve held the other four teams to 20 points or less. Their problem fantasy wise is they don’t record sacks or interceptions, having a combined three each across five games. However, Sam Howell has been the most sacked quarterback through the first five weeks with 29. That’s one more than Daniel Jones and eight more than third place Justin Fields. Howell is also tied for second in the NFL in interceptions thrown at six. The Commanders have also allowed the fourth most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season.
Las Vegas Raiders vs. New England Patriots - Owned in 3% of Yahoo and 1.3% of ESPN Leagues
The Raiders’ defense had a great week last week by allowing just 13 points to the Green Bay Packers. They also intercepted Jordan Love three times and sacked him twice. That was far-and-away their best showing of the young season. Now they get a very good matchup this week in the New England Patriots who have allowed the second most fantasy points to opposing defenses through the first five weeks of the season. Now, Mac Jones does not get sacked a lot, but he has thrown the second most interceptions through five weeks with six. The Patriots also average 1.2 fumbles-per-game on the season. I don’t think this suggestion will be lights out by any means, but I do think it’s a safe floor play.
Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears - Owned in 5% of Yahoo and 2.7% of ESPN Leagues
I don’t think the Minnesota Vikings’ defense is as bad as the paper shows. They’ve had some tough matchups to start the season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. In their lone plus matchup on the season against the Carolina Panthers, the Vikings’ defense posted 17 fantasy points by allowing just seven points, five sacks, a fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown. The Bears have been halfway decent the last two weeks but I still don’t think we can trust this team, namely Justin Fields. The Bears will also be without starting runningback Kahlil Herbert and there is a chance Roschon Johnson misses this game as well. The Bears have also allowed the fifth most fantasy points to opposing defenses to start the season.