Welcome to Week 6! Last week saw yet another round of debilitating injuries to our fantasy teams as the list continues to grow weekly. Week 5 was good for us on the defensive side of things, at least, as the Broncos, Patriots, and Seahawks all brought in double-digit fantasy points. With that in the books, we now look forward to a new round of bye weeks and decisions that teams will have to make on who to carry through and who to drop. Taking a peek into the matchups this week, we have our eyes on some defenses under the radar coming off their bye week that have some good-looking matchups on paper. Let’s look at the waiver wire to stream some teams that are rostered in around 50 percent of leagues or fewer.
Please note: there’s a decent chance that better teams above this 50 percent threshold are available in your league, but we can’t assume they’re out there for everyone. We have to draw the proverbial line somewhere, so stay active and monitor the league home page; someone might drop a desirable defense after waivers clear.
Philadelphia Eagles
Opponent: vs Cleveland Browns
ESPN % Rostered: 10%
Yahoo % Rostered: 37%
Philadelphia is currently on a three-year winning streak in the game after their bye week. This week, they will be hosting the second-worst offense in terms of points allowed to defense in fantasy. The Eagles don’t bring the flashiest of stats into this one, as they only have two turnovers generated across four games, but looking back, they have faced three tough teams that rank in the top ten of scoring offense in the league. They now find themselves in a reprieve over their next couple of games, with extra time to prepare for this one in particular. Cleveland is bleeding fantasy points to opposing defenses, and after last week, they now have three games out of five in which they have given up six or more sacks. The Browns are in the bottom five in multiple offensive statistics and rank 32nd in total yards on offense. Deshaun Watson has yet to have a single game where he has reached 200 yards passing. It also bears mentioning that he leads the league in sacks taken, and by a decent margin, too.
Los Angeles Chargers
Opponent: @ Denver Broncos
ESPN % Rostered: 17%
Yahoo % Rostered: 14%
There’s always a little volatility when focusing on matchups between division rivals, but I am going with the Chargers here, another team that is also coming off a week of additional rest. They will travel to Denver and face an offense that ranks as the fifth-worst in passing offense and total yards per game. Los Angeles will look to keep their interception streak alive, which is sitting at four games this season against a Bo Nix-led offense. Denver ranks as the fifth-worst offense in both passing and total yards, while the Chargers have the fifth-best rushing yards allowed per attempt with only a 3.9 ypc average. This looks to be a solid matchup for the Chargers’ defense in both phases of the game.
Houston Texans
Opponent: @ New England Patriots
ESPN % Rostered: 21%
Yahoo % Rostered: 43%
There is no shortage of worrisome news for the Patriots as we start Week 6. There are already rumblings of a starting quarterback swap coming as early as this upcoming game against the Texans. It almost always certainly bodes well when a defense lines up against a quarterback making his rookie debut in the NFL. This would be amplified even more when considering the bottom 10 stats across the board for New England’s blocking grades from their offensive line. Even if they decide not to swap QBs at this time, I still like Houston in this matchup. New England has surrendered 15 sacks and 4 turnovers over their last three games. The Texans are a top ten team in the league in QB Pressure rating and sacks generated as well, as boasting the fourth-lowest overall yards per play rating on the season after smothering Buffalo’s passing attack last week. Houston has only allowed a quarterback to throw for over 200 yards once this season, and Jacoby Brissett has only thrown over 160 yards once this season.
Honorable Mentions
Buffalo Bills (E:25% Y!:66%) – Buffalo travels to the Jets for MNF right after the Jets turmoil starts to boil over with the firing of New York’s head coach this week. Will the Jets rally, or will Buffalo pile on to their woes?
Chicago Bears (E:48% Y!:74%) – Chicago takes their top-5 fantasy defense across the pond against the Jaguars and their offense that finally sparked to life only after being backed into a corner this early into the season.
If you see something I don’t, leave a comment or hit me up with feedback @MikeoftheFF on Twitter or find me on Reddit!
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by Kyle Ross / Icon Sportswire