Welcome to Week 6! Last week saw an insane amount of ups and downs, capped by the third-highest number of targets by a single player in the history of the NFL on Monday night. I shudder to think of the number of teams that were ahead by almost 40 points heading into the final game of the week with their opponents having Puka going for them. Condolences, if that is what happened to you. Something to cheer you up, though: you (yes again, you!) scored more fantasy points this past weekend than Tyler Shough. (And a hearty “oof” to those teams who started him over Bryce Young on his bye week or just left the quarterback position empty) Things were a roller coaster for us here as the Jaguars sputtered their way to a minimal performance in their first game of the year in England. However, the Bengals stood tall, delivering a solid box score for the week, only for the Cowboys to deliver an absolute stinker at home to an undrafted rookie quarterback making his second start ever. At least if you took part in the alternative matchup provided, you made out with double-digit fantasy points regardless of which defense you chose, as Jets and Browns both beat each other up defensively. This week we have a top-tier defense on bye in addition to a popular streaming candidate from last week. The waiver wire will be hot this week, so keep an eye out for who will be dropped and which defenses are available in around 50 percent of leagues or fewer.
Please note that 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 available to 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.
New England Patriots
Opponent: vs. New York Jets
ESPN Rostered: 50%
Yahoo Rostered: 52%
The Patriots have faced top-10 scoring offenses for two weeks straight now, which includes the number one team, Buffalo. They averaged 5.5 fantasy points across those two matchups and now get to host the Jets. While New York is middle of the road in offenses to stream against so far this season, the numbers are skewed a little bit as they performed quite admirably in week one, against the Titans. Since then, they have afforded defenses a decent amount of points in fantasy each and every week after that. Breece Hall is still listed as week-to-week after missing the previous game, but we have not gotten an injury update for Week 6 as of this writing. The Jets have surrendered 16 sacks, making Geno Smith the third-highest sacked quarterback of the season. New England has the sixth-highest blitz rate in the league and will look to put that to work for this game. The bottom line here is a top-five defense in fewest points allowed takes on a bottom-five scoring offense.
Kansas City Chiefs
Opponent: vs. Los Angeles Chargers
ESPN Rostered: 34%
Yahoo Rostered: 27%
Fresh off their early bye week, the Chiefs get to host their division rival and the current top offense to stream a defense against, the Chargers. Kansas City is in the middle of an ongoing interception streak, having one in every game this season while averaging 1.75 turnovers generated per game on defense. This trend looks to continue as Los Angeles is on a five-game streak of at least one interception thrown as they are averaging a staggering 2.6 giveaways on offense per game. This looks to be a get-right game for the Chiefs’ pass rush as Justin Herbert is the second-most sacked quarterback in the league with 17 through five games. They rank just above the aforementioned Patriots in blitz rate in the league. I went to look at the injury report for the Chargers, but I do not have the column space to include it all here. There is a plethora of “O” and “IR” symbols next to multiple key position players, and we will stay tuned to see what carries over later into this week’s practice window. But as of now, things are looking bleak already.
San Francisco 49ers
Opponent: vs. Washington Commanders
ESPN Rostered: 36%
Yahoo Rostered: 27%
If you had told me to point to one game in the first five weeks that the 49ers would put up 20 fantasy points against, the Seahawks last week would not have been my first choice (or second, or…) especially on the road. Nevertheless, here we stand with San Francisco bounding up the overall defensive rankings for the year and will now host the Commanders this week. Even if you take away the defensive touchdown last week, they would still have double-digit fantasy points scored. While Dre Greenlaw will sit this game out after applying his head to task, I would counter that Washington does not have a Jaxon Smith-Njigba going for them either. Rather, they have a roughed-up receiving corps, as Stefon Diggs has yet to practice since his injury back in Week 4 and Terry McLaurin is playing at less than 100% with a hamstring injury. Jayden Daniels‘ huge ground game performance last week boosted the team up to the ninth-worst rushing offense for the season, though they will have a tall task at hand facing San Francisco. The 49ers have the third-highest quarterback pressure rating to go with the sixth-fewest yards allowed per game and the third-best scoring defense in the NFL currently.
After the Cut
Baltimore Ravens (E:66% Y!:59%) – If they are still available in your league, the Browns just allowed EIGHT sacks in last week’s game alone. Cleveland has been one of the safer floors to stream against this season.
Indianapolis Colts (E:3% Y!:6%) – This week in Titanwatch, the Colts host their division rival as Tennessee is currently rated as the fifth-best offense to stream against this season. Be advised, however, Indianapolis is one of the bottom-rated fantasy defenses this season.
If you see something I don’t, leave a comment here or hit me up with feedback on Reddit!
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by Nick Wosika/ Icon Sportswire