Getty Demario Davis #56 of the New Orleans Saints.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Defense Edition for Week 10 of the NFL season. This week we feature a unit fresh off dominating the G.O.A.T on national TV. Plus, one of the league’s highest-scoring units met with a concerning matchup.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Be sure to also check out our weekly fantasy football defense rankings to better gauge where these start-sit options compare to the rest of the options at the position.
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DEF: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Eagles DEF at NYG
The Ravens are our actual start of the week, but considering they are the highest-scoring D/ST in fantasy, we’ll give the nod to Philly. The Eagles DEF has scored 9.0-plus points in three of their last five games, including a three-sack, three turnover performance against the Giants just two games ago. New York allows an average of 8.56 ppg to opposing defenses, fifth-most in football.
Saints DEF at SF
San Franciso isn’t the most giving offense when it comes to fantasy points. With that said, they’re also not a team to avoid, especially when you have a defensive unit who has averaged 11.5 ppg over the past two weeks. The Niners have allowed an average of 9.8 ppg over five of their last six games to opposing D/STs.
Giants DEF vs. PHI
Giants D/ST has scored 11.0-plus points in three of their last five games and is fresh off a three-interception, two forced fumbles, two-sack performance. The Eagles allow the most sacks (32) in football as well as tossing the most interceptions (12).
Sleeper: Green Bay at JAC
Green Bay has scored 6.0 points in two of their last four games. With that said, in those other two games, they totaled 0.0 points. We’ll still take a swing with the unit this week against rookie Jake Luton. Yes, he performed admirably a week ago, but this week he’ll need to keep pace with Aaron Rodgers, which could quickly turn bad for the sixth-round pick.
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DEF: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Patriots vs. BAL
While Baltimore hasn’t been as high-powered offensively as they were a year ago, they’re still an unwelcoming matchup for defenses. Only one unit has topped 5.0 points against the Ravens since Week 3. The Patriots D/ST has also not topped 3.0 points in back-to-back weeks.
Bills DEF at ARI
Buffalo has scored 12.0-plus points in two of their last three games. With that said, Arizona has allowed a total of 10.0 points to opposing D/ST over their last five games. The ceiling is not high enough, steer clear.
Cardinals DEF vs. BUF
From Week 5 through Week 7, Arizona was DEF3 in fantasy, averaging 9.7 ppg. They came back down to reality a week ago, scoring just 2.0. Since Week 1, Buffalo has allowed just one opposing D/ST to top 5.0 points against them.
Buyers Beware: Colts DEF at TEN
Indianapolis owns the second-highest scoring D/ST in fantasy, averaging 11.3 ppg. However, they’ve also averaged just 5.3 ppg over three of their last five games. Tennessee has not allowed a single defensive unit to top 4.0 points against them this season.