Defenses (DEF) to Start in Week 8: Fantasy Tiers & Rankings

October 21, 2014

Matt Lib analyzes which defenses (DEF) to sit or start, and provides his Week 8 rankings and tiers for all of the NFL defenses. Starting the right defense in fantasy football can be a game changer.

For those of you fantasy football owners out there who are streaming defenses, RotoBaller has got you covered with around-the-league analysis of the Week 8 NFL matchups. Week 8 has some enticing defensive matchups from teams that aren't widely owned, so be sure to stay on top of your league’s free agency pool.

Just like every other week of the fantasy football season, we’re here to give you the insight to help make your defense streaming decisions and Week 8 lineup decisions a bit easier. Some of these defenses may have good matchups, and be sleepers available on your league’s waiver wire, so make sure to take a look at your waiver wire options as well. Good luck in Week 8 RotoBallers!

Teams that have bye weeks in Week 8: San Francisco 49ers & New York Giants

Week 8 Defenses: Tiers & Rankings

Tier 1: Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions

No surprises here with the Seahawks and Texans starting off tier one for Week 8. The Seahawks have been giving up 24 PPG and have been a shell of their former dominant self on the defensive side of the ball, but I still believe they'll be able to figure out how to return to form with the pieces they still have. They take on the Panthers this week who have let up 12 sacks thus far, and are scoring under 23 PPG. Cam Newton always has Greg Olsen as his safety blanker, and Kelvin Benjamin as his red zone darling, but there isn't much else going on with their offense. Jonathan Stewart played last week, but the Carolina running game has been terrible all season.

The Texans travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans, who have only been putting up 17 PPG offensively. Despite last night's showing against the Steelers, Houston has returned to form as of late with 15 takeaways and 13 sacks through their first seven games, and is giving up 21 PPG. Whether it's Charlie Whitehurst or Jake Locker at quarterback, they will have a rough day against J.J. Watt and the Texans while trying to move the offense via Kendall Wright, Justin Hunter, Delanie Walker and Bishop "Bust" Sankey.

Buffalo finally seems to be getting some of the credit they deserve defensively, as they're now owned in 87% of Yahoo leagues, and this week they take on the lowly Jets. The Bills have been letting up 20 PPG and have accrued 12 takeaways to go with their league leading 24 sacks. On the other side of the ball, the Jets have given up 15 sacks and 10 turnovers, making this a juicy matchup to start circling the wagons. Geno Smith isn't a very capable quarterback, but it should be interesting to see what happens with Eric Decker and Percy Harvin on the field together. Chris Ivory has been a bright spot, and Chris Johnson actually had a decent game last week, but this offense is rather dysfunctional and players like Jace Amaro and Jeremy Kerley just aren't cutting it week to week.

The Lions have been an impressively stingy defense so far this year, and they are on pace to put up a historically good year for their front 7. While real world defense doesn't always translate to fantasy land success, the Lions belong firmly in the first tier as they take on the Falcons in Atlanta. Matt Ryan and the offense just isn't looking as explosive the past few weeks, and the Lions should be putting a lot of pressure on him as he tries to get the ball to Julio Jones, Roddy White, Steven Jackson and Antone Smith.

All of these defenses are more than likely owned in your leagues, but if not, please leave this page immediately and pick them up off the Week 8 waiver wire as they're "locks" for this week and most other weeks for the remainder of the season.

Tier 2: New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys

Tier 3: Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets

Tier three starts off with some defenses owned in many leagues, but don't have the best matchups. The Bengals take on the Ravens at home, and while they did get more of a pass rush than we've seen all season while holding the Colts to 27 points this past week, Baltimore has been white hot the past few weeks and will look to avenge their Week 1 loss to Cincy. The Chargers head to Denver on a short week for both teams as they face off on Thursday night. I always try to avoid Thursday night games, and while both of these defenses have been solid this season, this has all the makings of a high-scoring affair.

The Eagles head to Arizona coming off their bye week. LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles (if healthy) may have a long day at the office as Arizona has given up the least amount of rushing yards so far this season. They are much more vulnerable against the pass, ranked 22nd overall in passing yards allowed, so Nick Foles should be looking to pass the pigskin to Jeremy Maclin, Zach Ertz, Riley Cooper and Jordan Matthews. Philadelphia's defense has been pretty good recently, but is only in the middle of the pack in terms of rushing and passing yards allowed. Andre Ellington should be able to rack up plenty of yards, while Carson Palmer should be able to move the ball to Michael Floyd, John Brown and Larry Fitzgerald. Both defenses are decent starts for Week 8, neither having a great or terrible matchup.

The Bears will be taking on a hot Patriots team featuring Tom Brady, Shane Vereen and Rob Gronkowski. It's not a terrible matchup on paper, but if you can avoid using the Bears defense this week, I'd recommend it. The Bears are middle of the pack for passing and rushing yards allowed, but the Patriots have been scoring a lot of points. I would expect this game to be a shootout, more than any sort of defensive battle.

The good new is the Vikings are decent, not terrible, against defending the passing and running games of opposing teams. They're also facing off against the Bucs in Tampa Bay, a team who's offense just hasn't been very good all season. The Vikings have 20 sacks on the season, which could cause an issue for Mike Glennon trying to get the ball to Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, Doug Martin and Bobby Rainey. They are a sneaky play for Week 8 if you're short on options.

The Jets take on the banged up Bills at home this week, who just lost both C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson to injuries. The Jets actually have 20 sacks on the season, and their stout rushing defense should present some issues for Bryce Brown and Anthony Dixon, who will be the new running backs. Kyle Orton may be facing pressure all day when trying to get the ball to Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and Chris Hogan, but the Jets passing defense only has 1 interception on the year and their secondary is vulnerable. The Jets could be a sneaky defense streamer off the Week 8 waiver wire, but I'd prefer many other options before them if possible.

Tier 4: Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers

The Ravens get to face off with the Bengals recently depressed offense in Week 8 with A.J. Green allegedly returning to action. Don't be too scared to use them because they come in as the 8th leading fantasy defense in standard fantasy scoring formats. Some worry about a rebound game for the Bengals offense, thereby making Baltimore a tier 4 start for this week, but Andy Dalton may be in for a long day trying to get the ball to Mohamed Sanu, Brandon Tate, Giovanni Bernard and Jeremy Hill. Bernard should get his carries regardless, but Baltimore's run defense has been stout. This is a solid Week 8 matchup.

The Falcons have been putrid on defense for the better part of 2014 and that is reflected by the fact that they're ranked a mere 18th in overall defensive scoring. Facing the Lions doesn't make the matters better, so keep the Falcons on the waiver wire for Week 8. Calvin Johnson may be back in the lineup, and Golden Tate has been a beast, but either way Matthew Stafford will have Joique Bell and Reggie Bush at his disposal as well to move the offense.

The Rams defense hasn't done it's job in 2014 and should be completely ignored until they start forcing turnovers and pressuring the opposition better on the defensive line. Alex Smith isn't great, but Dwayne Bowe has been better of late and Travis Kelce is always a threat. Jamaal Charles should continue to perform like an RB1 here, so the avoid the Rams defense in Week 8. In Tennessee, the Titans get to face off against a decent Texans offense, so it's best to ignore them until they stop hemorrhaging out 25 points per game and 124 rushing yards on average to opposing running backs. Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins will continue to get targets, while Arian Foster is once again looking like one of the best running backs in football. Stay away from the Titans defense this week if you can.

We all saw what a mess the Carolina Panthers defense looked like in Week 7 versus the high powered Packers offense. Week 8 doesn't appear to be much better for them as they'll face off against a Seattle team that will be on a mission to ground and pound them at their home stadium. With Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Baldwin running the show, we recommend passing on this streamer for Week 8. The Panthers defense is just not what it used to be. Last but not least, the Steelers get a really bad matchup against the Colts and their powerful offense. Andrew Luck has been the best player in football, and even though Reggie Wayne is out T.Y. Hilton should continue to dominate. Dwayne Allen has been a legit red zone threat, and even if Trent Richardson is out Ahmad Bradshaw will be running circles around the Steelers defense. Round out tier 4 by keeping the Pittsburgh defense on ice for another week.

Tier 5: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins