Last week was a dive into the value of wide receivers based on the potency of their offense and whether they are the first or third option. This week will compare rostering an elite defense or looking for a defense with a good matchup every week, also known as streaming.
The current top five defenses and most commonly drafted defenses were included. For the streaming options, the bottom five offenses identified from last week were the targets. Those were Arizona, Buffalo, Tennessee, Dallas and Jacksonville.
Five top scoring defenses up to date, per week: LA Rams (81 total points), Chicago Bears (71), Houston Texans (70), New England Patriots (68), and Arizona Cardinals (65).
Five commonly top drafted defenses: Jacksonville Jaguars (48), Baltimore Ravens (59), LA Rams (81), LA Chargers (39, had a bye week 6), and New Orleans Saints (33, had a bye week 6).
The bottom five offenses and the points they are surrendering to defenses: Arizona Cardinals (98), Buffalo Bills (117), Tennessee Titans (65, had a bye week 8), Dallas Cowboys (52, had a bye week 8), and Jacksonville Jaguars (80).
Streaming defenses against the worst offenses yields much more points than having the best defenses. It is also much more reliable following those offenses week to week.
The Rams are very impressive but chasing the defenses playing against the Cardinals and the Bills results in more points. Following the Jaguars only has one fewer point than owning the Rams.
The turnover rate is also important to be aware of, the Cowboys are not scoring many points or gaining a lot of yards but they protect the ball much better than the other terrible offenses in the league.
That is why the Bills have given up the most amount of points to opposing defenses, they throw a lot of interceptions.
Streaming defense of the week: Dallas Cowboys. It will be a low scoring game, it is against the Titans, and Dallas is coming off a bye week.
Mark Jacobson is a freelance sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s and women’s golf, but also contributes content for various other sports. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @aztwoabq.
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