Unless most of the teams in your league carry a backup defense, more than half of the league should be available to you every week. Perhaps instead of playing one above average defense every week, regardless of matchup, we should instead target the widely available waiver wire defenses with the best matchups in any particular week? You can always make exceptions if your rent-a-defense gets hot - heck, you might find a team worth starting all year by accident. Even if you don't, good matchups will continue to get greater in number as more QBs get injured or yanked as the season goes on. You can steal some points from bad weather come December. Each week I'll list the startable fantasy defenses on most waiver wires and rank them.
Week 16 Results
Buffalo (vs New England) - 3 sacks
An embarrassing game for the Patriots offense didn’t include any giveaways
Week 17: MIA - The Bills will likely rest key starters, so avoid this one.
Indianapolis (at Pittsburgh) - 1 sack
Ben Roethlisberger was struggling for most of the first half, but the Colts defense couldn’t hold him down in the second half, likely costing them a playoff berth.
Week 17: JAX - A playoff spot is still theoretically on the line, so this is our top D/ST this week.
Cleveland (at New York Jets) - 2 sacks
The Browns gave up a Jamison Crowder touchdown pass and then an uncontested Jamison Crowder touchdown catch. At least they can still make the playoffs if they beat Mason Rudolph.
Week 17: PIT - Did I mention Mason Rudolph is starting?
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