Defenses (DEF) to Start in Week 12: Fantasy Tiers & Rankings

November 18, 2014

Matt Lib analyzes which defenses (DEF) to sit or start, and provides his Week 12 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 12 NFL matchups. Week 12 has some enticing defensive matchups, so be sure to stay on top of your league’s waiver wire options.

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 12 lineup decisions a bit easier. Some of these defenses have good matchups, representing sleeper opportunity 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 12 RotoBallers!

Teams that have byes in Week 12: Pittsburgh Steelers & Carolina Panthers

Week 12 Defenses: Tiers & Rankings

Tier 1: New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts

This week's first tier is a bit trimmer than in other weeks, but we've got three of the better defenses in the league with great matchups. This starts off with the New England Patriots returning home after their thorough beatdown of the Colts, but this week they'll be taking on the Lions. It still baffles me how an offense led by Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and Reggie Bush only puts up 19 PPG. They've turned the ball over 13 times and have allowed 31 sacks on the year, including four this past Sunday against the Cardinals. The Patriots defense has been giving up 22 PPG and has 23 sacks on the year, and they're going against a struggling offensive line. New England also has 19 takeaways, including 11 interceptions, which could add to Stafford's nine on the year.

The Chiefs travel to Oakland where they will face Derek Carr, Darren McFadden, James Jones and Mychal Rivera. The Raiders offense had another poor showing against the Chargers, and there's no reason to expect anything different this week against a Chiefs defense giving up 17 PPG. Maybe they can add to their turnover numbers, only seven on the year, as Oakland has given it up 20 times so far. Oakland has only allowed 11 sacks, but Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Dontari Poe and company will be bringing the pressure like they have all season on their way to racking up 30 sacks so far in 2014.

Indianapolis hosts the other worst offense in football in the Jaguars, who have been putting up just 16 points per game. Blake Bortles, Denard Robinson, Clay Harbor and the rest of Jacksonville's offense have turned the ball over 22 times, and have let up a league-worst 39 sacks. This gives the Colts ample opportunity to boost their stats-- currently at 25 PPG, with 17 turnovers and 24 sacks on the year.

These three teams are must-starts given the matchups, and Indy is a great pickup for this playoff push-- after Jacksonville, they face Washington, Cleveland and then Houston before a tougher test against Dallas in Week 16.

Tier 2: Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, San Diego Chargers

This week's second tier starts off with two NFC West teams clashing as Arizona visits Seattle. The Cardinals defense has been stout all year, giving up 18 points per game with 20 takeaways and 18 sacks. The Seahawks have only turned the ball over nine times all year, but they've allowed 20 sacks. And this Russell Wilson offense just doesn't look as good as it did with Golden Tate and Percy Harvin. He's still got Marshawn Lynch and Doug Baldwin to put up 26 per game, but we've seen a game plan that can beat them several times this year. The Seahawks, on the other hand, will be facing off against Drew Stanton and an Arizona squad that looked good this past week against the Lions, though they certainly weren't lighting things up. They've averaged 24 PPG, have only let up 16 sacks and turned the ball over nine times, but a lot of those numbers came with a better QB leading the offense. Larry Fitzgerald may only be a decoy as he suffered a sprained MCL, leaving Michael Floyd, John Brown and Andre Ellington for Stanton to use.

Buffalo hosts the New York Jets led by Michael Vick, Chris Ivory, Percy Harvin and Eric Decker. The Jets have been putting up a measly 17 PPG, have turned the ball over 18 times, and have let up 29 sacks on the year. Even with the New York having an extra week to prepare, this Bills defense will be able to handle the weaker divisional opponent. They've only been giving up 20 per game and have a league-leading 39 sacks on the year. They will look to feast on the turnover-prone Vick and add to their 21 takeaways on the year. Buffalo is pretty close to being a top-tier option.

The 49ers host a Washington Redskins team that can't seem to get anything going, managing just seven points against a pretty bad Tampa Bay defense. San Francisco has only been allowing 21 PPG, and Washington has only been putting up 20. The Niners have 21 turnovers while the Skins have given up 20, and while the pass rush hasn't quite been there with 17 sacks on the year, Washington's let up 28, including six this past week against Tampa. Aldon Smith and Navarro Bowman returning is only going to help a defense that's still been pretty respectable without a lot of their studs.

Philadelphia hosts the Titans and their nearly league-worst offense, which only managed 16 points per game prior to Monday night against the Steelers. They've only turned the ball over 13 times, but they're allowed 25 sacks. The Eagles have been giving up 25 per game and only have 16 takeaways, but they've certainly made the most out of those takeaways with six returned for touchdowns. They also have 33 sacks on the year, and will look to add to that against a Titan's offensive line that's been giving up a sack on 8.5% of drop backs. We'll see if Zach Mettenberger, Bishop Sankey and Kendall Wright can get it done against an underrated defense.

Next, we have the Packers, who travel to Minnesota to take on Teddy Bridgewater, Greg Jennings, Cordarrelle Patterson and Jerick McKinnon. Green Bay's defense is somewhat underrated as well, only giving up 23 PPG on the year. They've accrued 22 takeaways and will look to add to their 25 sacks against a Vikings offensive line that's given up 32 on the year. The Vikings offense has only been able to manage 18 points per game, and there's no reason to expect anything else this week, as they'll be predictably playing from behind.

To finish out the second tier we have San Diego taking on the St. Louis Rams. Shaun Hill impressed last week with great performances by Kenny Britt and Tre Mason in their win over Denver, but they will more than likely crash back to reality against another pretty good defense in the Chargers. San Diego's defense has given up 19 per game and has managed just 10 takeaways and 17 sacks.  But when your QB is Philip Rivers and you're only giving up 19 per game... how much else can you ask for? The Rams have given up 33 sacks, giving Dwight Freeney and Manti Te'o the opportunity to shine. All of these second-tier teams are solid starts in all 8+ team leagues.

Tier 3: Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, St. Louis Rams

The third tier brings a few scary matchups, but fairly low floors as far as points are concerned. This starts off with the Detroit Lions heading to Foxborough to take on the Patriots. The league's best defense has been giving up 16 per game and has an impressive 26 sacks on the year. They'll be going up against the red-hot Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Jonas Gray ('cuz we all saw that coming), who have been averaging 32 PPG, have only turned the ball over eight times, and have allowed just 16 sacks. There's not much here in favor of the Lions, but they've been doing it all year long.

Miami, led by Ryan Tannehill, Lamar Miller, Mike Wallace and Josh Landry, visits Denver.  The Dolphins have been putting up 25 per game, but they've turned the ball over 16 times and have allowed 25 sacks, including five to Buffalo on Sunday. While Denver hasn't forced many turnovers with 16 on the year, they do have 27 sacks and will be going up a mediocre Bills offensive line. The Broncos should rebound nicely from a tough loss with a strong defensive performance against another team trying to avoid back-to-back losses in the Dolphins.

Houston hosting Cincinnati is another interesting matchup. The Texans have only been giving up 20 per game, and Andy Dalton, AJ Green, Mohamed Sanu, Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard have only been able to muster 22 PPG. Cincy has only turned the ball over 14 times, and has only given up 13 sacks on the year, but the Texans have 23 takeaways and 21 sacks. JJ Watt is a matchup nightmare on both sides of the ball, and he should have another big day against the Bengals. Cincinnati's offense may need to worry about Watt as well, as the Texans have been averaging 23 per game with Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins and Arian Foster. Foster is questionable every week, and even though Ryan Mallett didn't look bad this past week against Cleveland, this is a different test. The Bengals have been giving up 22 per game, and have 15 takeaways as they match up against a Houston offense with 15 giveaways themselves.

Dallas travels to take on the Giants, who are only averaging 21 PPG. Eli Manning, Rashad Jennings and Odell Beckham, Jr. have turned the ball over 21 times, and Big Blue has permitted 22 sacks on the year. The Cowboys have only been allowing opponents to score 21 per game, and have 17 takeaways themselves. They only have 15 sacks on the year, but are coming off the bye week and should reveal some new wrinkles in their gameplan.

The Browns head to Atlanta to take on Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White and the rest of the Falcons. Atlanta has been averaging 24 PPG, has 15 turnovers and 20 sacks allowed. Cleveland has been fairly stingy themselves, giving up 20 per game. They've also racked up 18 turnovers and 20 sacks on the year-- this will be an interesting matchup up front, as the Falcons tend to allow pressure from pretty mediocre pass rushes.

Finishing up the third tier, we find the Rams taking on the Chargers in San Diego. Philip Rivers, Keenan Allen, Antonio Gates and Ryan Matthews have been averaging 22 PPG as they've cooled off as of late. The Rams have been giving up 26 per game, and have started to find a pass rush with 18 of their 19 sacks coming in the past five weeks. The Chargers line has let up 19 sacks themselves, and will up against a formidable test in James Laurinaitis and Robert Quinn.

All of these third tier teams are startable in 10+ team leagues, and will likely be fantasy managers' best options for streaming this week.

Tier 4: Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens

The fourth tier is where things start to get a bit dicey, starting off with Atlanta hosting Cleveland. This Falcons defense has been lackluster so far, giving up 26 PPG and only registering 13 sacks. While they have taken the ball away 18 times, the Browns have only turned it over 10 times. Atlanta's pass rush has left a lot to be desired with just 13 sacks, and the Brown's line doesn't make for a great matchup, as they've only given up 15 sacks on the year. Brian Hoyer gets Josh Gordon back this week, and possibly Jordan Cameron as well, making this even less enticing.

The New York Jets travel to take on divisional foe Bills. This Kyle Orton-led offense has been putting up 20 per game, and has given up 26 sacks, but there's not much else here to get excited about for New York. While they do have 27 sacks, they've been giving up 27 points per game and have only generated seven takeaways, which doesn't bode well against a Buffalo offense that's only given the ball up 14 times.

The Chicago Bears host Luke McCown, Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, who have been averaging 19 PPG for the Buccaneers. They've also turned the ball over 20 times and given up 27 sacks, but it's not in any fantasy manager's best interest to start a defense that's been allowing 29 PPG. The Bears have racked up 22 sacks and 14 turnovers, but with Tampa showing signs of life offensively last week, this isn't the week I'd start having faith in Chicago.

Miami heads to the Mile-High City to take on Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, who may be without Emmanuel Sanders and Julius Thomas due to injury. They have been stellar on offense at 29 PPG, 10 giveaways and only giving up 12 sacks on the year. This Miami defense has been playing lights-out too, though, only giving up 18 PPG. They've generated 19 turnovers and have racked up 30 sacks, but with the Broncos coming off a bad loss, Peyton and company will be ready to storm out of the gates.

Rounding out the fourth tier is the matchup of New Orleans at home against the Baltimore Ravens. The Saints are coming off a bad loss to the Bengals, and have been giving up 25 per game. They've only been able to force 10 turnovers on the year, and will be going up against a Ravens offense putting up 26 per game that has turned it over 14 times. The Saints have racked up 22 sacks, but Baltimore's O-Line has only given up 14 on the year. This week isn't where I'd want to trust in the Saints defense, especially going up against Joe Flacco, Torrey Smith, Steve Smith, and Justin Forsett. On the other side of the ball we have the Ravens defense, permitting an impressive 18 PPG. The only issue is the Saints have been averaging 26 per game, and will look to rebound offensively after only putting up 10 last week. New Orleans has given the ball away 19 times, but the Ravens haven't been able to capitalize as much as they're used to with 15 takeaways. The Ravens pass rush has 25 sacks, but is going up against a good O-Line that's only let up 14.

All of these tier four teams are risky matchups and are only desperation plays for fantasy managers in deep leagues.

Tier 5: Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, New York Giants

We've got a lot of these bottom-of-the-barrel teams this week, starting off with a team familiar to the fifth tier in the Raiders, who host the Kansas City Chiefs. Alex Smith, Jamaal Charles and Travis Kelce just keep getting it done offensively. While their O-Line has given up 25 sacks, the Raiders lack of pass rush has been an issue all season, with only 10 sacks on the season. The Raiders have been giving up 27 PPG, and they haven't been producing in the turnover department, either.

Tennessee heads up to Philly to take on Mark Sanchez, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and Jordan Matthews, who have been lighting it up with 30 PPG. They have turned the ball over 25 times, but the Titans haven't been able to capitalize with only 11 takeaways all year. The Titan's defense has been giving up 25 PPG, and while they have gathered 24 sacks, the Eagle's O-Line has only given up 15.

Mike Zimmer's Vikings host the Packers who are fighting with the Patriots for the hottest team in the league. Aaron Rodgers, Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson and Eddie Lacy have been racking up 33 per game and have only turned the ball over 22 times, but their offensive weak point has been their offensive line play. They've given up 22 sacks so far, and Minnesota has racked up 30 sacks, but there's not much else here in favor of the VIkings.

The Jaguars travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts. Andrew Luck, TY Hilton, Trent Richardson and Dwayne Allen may be without Ahmad Bradshaw this week, but that shouldn't be too much of a hindrance against a defense giving up 28 per game. The Jag's one bright spot has been their pass rush, but this Indy front line has only given up 15 on the year. There's nothing here to suggest the Colt's won't rebound from a blowout to put up at least 40 points this week.

Tampa Bay heads to Chicago to face off against Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett and Alshon Jeffrey. They've only managed to average 22 per game offensively, but looked better last week and clearly has the potential to be great any given week. The Bear's have given up 20 turnovers and let up 25 sacks, but this Buccaneer defense has been giving up 28 per game, and this isn't the week to start trusting them.

The Redskins find themselves in San Francisco to take on the Colin Kaepernick led 49ers. With weapons like Frank Gore, Anquan Boldin, Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis, you would expect more than 21 PPG out of this offense, but they have managed to take care of the football only turning it over 11 times. Their offensive struggles have stemmed from the line play, they've given up 32 sacks, and while Washington has 25 themselves, I wouldn't trust them against Tampa Bay's offense... oh wait, I didn't last week.

Rounding out the fifth tier we have the Giants who host a Cowboys team who's coming off of their bye week. Not much has been going right for New York football this year, other than the Bills surprise season, and facing off against Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and Jason Witten won't make things any easier for the Giants. Dallas has been averaging 26 PPG while the Giants have been giving up that same amount defensively. New York does has shown the ability to turn the ball over this year, but there's not enough here to even consider starting them, or any of these other tier five teams.

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