It’s Week 10, and the season has spiraled out of total control. The weekend saw even more star players injured, and quarterbacks were left with uncertainty heading into this upcoming weekend. At the time of writing this, Gardner Minshew is staring down a rest-of-season injury after getting his first chance to start this past week. J.J. McCarthy will go into Week 10 with a hip pointer injury. We’ll jump in below in the hopes of finding another week of solid defensive starts, but let’s first look through what we got out of our defenses this past week.
The Chicago Bears went up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while giving up 24 points, the Bears defense was able to pile up some points on the backs of a pick-6 by Jaylon Johnson, who was able to take the interception back 67 yards on a Cade Otton misfire. Between the pick-six and a four-sack day, the Bears were able to show up in a week where they saw their ownership level boosted 30% before their matchup.
The New Orleans Saints had a decent but unexciting win against the Cleveland Browns, giving up 22 points in an overtime finish that saw Harold Fannin Jr. shorten their fantasy output with an overtime rumble for 39 yards, winning on the missed conversion. While the game output wasn’t the most exciting for fantasy owners, five points from five sacks isn’t the worst you can get from a streaming defense.
The Detroit Lions were our final stream last week, and they came up a close second in streaming value to the Bears. Detroit faced the lowly Dolphins and held Miami to just 9 points, rallying after last week’s loss of Jack Campbell to a tragic on-field injury. The Lions allowed only 3 field goals, keeping Malik Willis and company to a paltry output, and backed up their line with 3 sacks and an interception. A successful week of streaming was had! Let’s see what we can find for ourselves in Week 10.
Baltimore Ravens
ESPN Rostered: 47%
Yahoo Rostered: 38%
The Baltimore Ravens have had a difficult season anchored to a Lamar Jackson injury that will likely put their entire offseason in a bit of disarray. While this could be a lost season for this Ravens squad, they’re in the grip of one of the toughest schedule segments a team could be asked to play. Over the past three games, the Ravens have played the Bengals, Bills, and Jaguars. What could be a better remedy than the offensive black hole known as the Los Angeles Chargers? The Chargers and Ravens will face off Monday night in a battle that looked a lot more enticing before the season began. While the Ravens are ready to play this game without their #1 signal caller, the Chargers are looking at Justin Herbert‘s X-rays at the start of this week, as he’s dealing with a jammed finger on his non-throwing hand. Herbert has been an absolute abomination at quarterback, and per PFF is rated as the 54th-best quarterback in passing metrics, sandwiched between Daniel Jones and Jack Strand. It’s hard not to wonder if the injury was a way to hopefully find a reason for the quality of play they’ve received so far from the position, and unfortunately the X-rays came back negative.
While the Ravens aren’t a stout defense, they have been above average in six of their nine games played against the run, and that is one facet of the Chargers’ offense that has shown brief glimpses in the past calendar year and will likely be the style of play the Chargers will continue to try to squeeze blood from the rock. This could be a game where Herbert airmails another interception and the Chargers find themselves without a touchdown to speak of.
Green Bay Packers
ESPN Rostered: 19%
Yahoo Rostered: 17%
As a noted Patriots fan, it’s safe to say out loud that this Packers defense may be one of the most exciting and underrated defenses currently in the league. Bolstered by two star safeties in Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams, the Packers play a suffocating style of football that causes offenses to make mistakes, and this upcoming game could be the one that plenty of national game eyeballs will be focused on, as the Vikings and Packers have combined for only 4 losses. While the Vikings have the edge in the win-loss department, many would argue that, with the way the Packers are playing currently, they are a far more talented and capable team.
The Vikings are currently sitting at a 6-2 record, but this record can be seen as much smoke and mirrors as any other team in the league. As the team has built its offense to work around Kyler Murray, they could be at more of a crossroads as a team than anyone would realize. In the past four games, the Vikes have averaged 17.25 points and are playing a tough, grind-it-out style of defense that could be compromised against a Packers team that is more than able to stoop to their level and take away their serious threat with their two all-capable safeties.
The secondary of the Packers as a whole isn’t much of a slouch either, as Brandon Cisse has only allowed 57 percent of pass targets for completions, while Javon Bullard has been one of the best rush-defending corners in the league. This could be one of the most watched games of the weekend, only to end up with a score that could likely be under 40 points. Take your unders and your vitamins; this will be one of the best games to watch for defense-minded fans.
New York Giants
ESPN Rostered: 50%
Yahoo Rostered: 19%
The Giants spent the offseason loading up on big-name defensive players, and so far they’ve been saved by their defense more times than they can count. In Week 10, we’ll see another divisional rival matchup as the Commanders will go to the Meadowlands and attempt to right their 2-5-1 record so far, as the two teams’ matchup last time ended in a tie. While the Giants left that last matchup giving up 27 points, there seems to be potential for this game to go a bit topsy-turvy.
Coming off a 19-11 win against the drain-circling Eagles, the Giants leaned on a game plan of attacking at the line and were able to put up their best tackling effort of the season. While Saquon Barkley was able to take in a short-yard touchdown against his former team, overall, this game had to excite and showcase what this defense can be when it’s in sync. Arvell Reese had easily one of the best games of his career, compiling three sacks, 12 tackles, and three quarterback hits. Between Reese, Micah McFadden, and Kayvan Thibodeaux, this defense’s ability to terrify and squander opposing offenses from sheer speed and ability could spell trouble if this is a sign of the team finally gelling at another level.
Alternatively, the Commanders are sitting with just 2 wins on the season, and look to be just about ready to wrap up this season and find out what they have for next season in terms of talent. The team is still waiting on Jacory Croskey-Merritt to return, but the team is currently running ancient sage Austin Ekeler into opposing teams’ defenses, with the assist from Rachaad White. Jayden Daniels was able to complete 24 of 35 passes against the Rams, but they were still only able to put away one touchdown pass to “he’s on this team?” Van Jefferson, and it seems as if this Commanders offense may actually be struggling to find consistent footing, as their best offensive metric grade was saved for John Bates, who was able to be the star of the run-blocking squad on Sunday. This is to say while the Commanders don’t look like the worst team in the league, there really isn’t much going on here sans Croskey-Merritt and Terry McLaurin that is going to give the Giants any struggle. If anything, we could see just as much consistent pressure and trouble coming for Daniels and his running backs.
After the Cut
Arizona Cardinals ( E: <1%, Y: <1%) – The Cardinals don’t have a defense with a lot of eye-popping talent, but they’ll be across the field from a struggling Matthew Stafford, sans Davante Adams and Puka Nacua.
Miami Dolphins (E:<1%, Y: 1%) – The Dolphins go up against Daniel Jones and his merry men, and the Colts could be without Jonathan Taylor and/or Josh Downs. Even if they are still with Indy, Daniel Jones gameplay right now still makes them a matchup to capitalize on.