Getty Elijah Lee #47 of the San Francisco 49ers reacts after a defensive stop.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Defense Edition for Week 6 of the NFL season. This week we feature two formerly dominant units falling out of favor in the realm of fantasy. Plus, an under the radar unit tasked with a plus-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: Ravens DEF at PHI
After scoring 7.0 points or fewer in back-to-back weeks, The Ravens bounced back in grand fashion in Week 5, collecting 26.0 fantasy points, the seventh-highest scoring player regardless of position in non-PPR leagues. Don’t expect the league’s second-highest unit in terms of takeaways to slow down against an Eagles offense who has given the football away more than any other team in the NFL this year.
Rams DEF at SF
The Rams D/ST has not scored below 11.0 fantasy points in two straight games. Opposing D/STs have averaged 15.0 points against the Niners over the past two weeks. San Francisco has allowed 18 sacks this season, fourth-most in football. Los Angeles has gotten to the QB 20 times this year, tied for most in the NFL.
Colts DEF vs. CIN
Since Week 2, no D/ST has scored more fantasy points than the Colts, who check in with 13.3 ppg average over that span. Consequently, Cincinnati has allowed an average of 12.25 points to opposing D/STs over four of their five games this season.
Dolphins DEF vs. NYJ
Miami’s D/ST has scored 12.0 fantasy points in two of their last three games. Considering the fact that the Jets allow the second-most fantasy points to defenses this year, the Dolphins have a great shot at pushing that trend forward to three of their last four games.
Sleeper: Giants DEF vs. WAS
Not much has gone right for the Giants this season. However, their defense remains one of their lone bright spots. The NFL’s eighth total ranked defense, New York has averaged a solid 8.3 fantasy points over three of their last four games. Washington has allowed an average of 10.6 points to opposing defenses over their past three games, including 12.0-plus points in two of their last three outings.
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DEF: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Browns DEF at PIT
The third-highest scoring fantasy unit over the past three weeks, Cleveland has piqued the interest of many fantasy owners. While their Week 7 matchup against the Bengals is certainly worthy of a look, the Browns are best left on your bench for this week’s outing. Opposing defenses have totaled just 9.0 points against Pittsburgh this season. Over the past two weeks, the Steelers have literally allowed 0.0 points to D/STs.
Bears DEF at CAR
Chicago has been average this season, averaging just 5.4 ppg. Yet, they still continue to live off of their dominant play from two-plus years ago, as they are owned in 74% of Yahoo leagues. Don’t take the bait. Only one opposing D/ST has topped 4.0 points against the Panthers this season.
Buyers Beware: 49ers DEF vs. LAR
Speaking of living off of their past dominant play, the reigning NFC Champion’s D/ST has now scored 6.0 fantasy points or fewer in all but one game this year. It’s clear that injuries have caught up to the team, and to make matters worse Richard Sherman has suffered a setback in his injury recovery. No opposing defense has scored more than 5.0 points against the Rams all season long.
- *Check out our other Week 6 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Ems to further optimize your lineups
- Start-Sit [QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]
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Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Defense: Week 6