Last week was a wild one for fantasy football defenses, with 9 different teams scoring at least one touchdown on defense or special teams. 12 different teams scored at least 10 fantasy points, which would have qualified as a top-5 defense in Week 1 or 2. With the league QB landscape stabilizing and some favorable matchups for several good defenses, his could very well be another big week for those of us who want to see quarterbacks fail.
With Brock Purdy and maybe Justin Fields returning to action this week, the biggest news in the world of quarterback matchups is the Giants. After another dud from Mr. Unlimited Russell Wilson and fans chanting for change, rookie Jaxson Dart will make his first regular-season start. There is plenty of reason for optimism from Giants fans. Aside from the fact that it can’t get much worse than last week, the 25th overall pick looked good in the preseason and his performance in college doesn’t raise any major red flags. While we may turn out well in the long term, like all rookie QBs, Dart will have to prove it before we’re anything but excited to start opposing defenses in fantasy. The principle of “always target rookie QBs” has worked out well so far, with the Titans and 1st overall pick Cam Ward being the best one of the best defense matchups in the league through 3 weeks.
Streaming Defenses: Fantasy Football Waiver Wire & Start/Sit Advice (Week 4)
This feels like a good streaming week in the sense that it’s unusual to have 5 different teams in my top tier, but you do have to dig a little deeper to find a defense that’s available in most leagues. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Bluesky.
Matchups
- HOU vs TEN: Cam Ward continued to be a gift for opposing defenses last week. He threw a pick-six to the Colts – his first interception of the season – on the third play of the game, and went on to take four sacks. The Texans are well-equipped to take advantage of Ward’s propensity towards sacks, and have held much better offenses to 20 points or fewer. I expect the Panthers to develop into less of an A+ matchup at some point this season, but it hasn’t happened yet.
- BUF vs NO: After a strong Week 2, Saints QB Spencer Rattler came back down to earth against a good Seahawks defense, leading the team to just 13 points in a blowout and throwing his first interception of the season. The Bills’ defense turned in a dud for fantasy last week due to a total lack of sacks against the Dolphins, but I see a home game against the Saints as a strong bounce-back opportunity. Vegas agrees, with an implied point total of just 16 for the Saints. That would be the lowest on the board in most weeks.
- DEN vs CIN: Jake Browning‘s first start of the season was a disaster for the Bengals. A pick-six from Browning and a fumble-six from Noah Fant made the Vikings the #1 fantasy defense in a week where several defenses put up big numbers. The Broncos may have ultimately fallen to the Chargers last week, but turned in a solid fantasy day nonetheless thanks to 5 sacks of MVP frontrunner Justin Herbert. The Bengals may get more serious about trading for a quarterback after last week, but it’s hard to imagine them being anything but a great matchup while Joe Burrow is sidelined.
- LAC @ NYG: Russell Wilson turned back into a pumpkin last week, following up his 450-yard Week 2 explosion with a measly 9 points and 2 interceptions against the Chiefs. That was enough for the Giants to promote late-first-round rookie Jaxson Dart to the starting role. Giants fans have reason to be optimistic about Dart after a solid preseason, but a rookie QB in his first start is a rookie QB in his first start, especially against a good defense like Los Angeles. I’m happy to start lesser defenses than the Chargers against Dart until he proves we shouldn’t.
- DET vs CLE: The Lions’ defense was extremely impressive on Monday night against the Ravens, sacking 2-time MVP Lamar Jackson an incredible 7 times, and forcing 2 fumbles from future hall-of-famer Derrick Henry. It was an excellent illustration of what Detroit was missing with Aidan Hutchinson sidelined last year. This year for the Browns, Joe Flacco makes for a good but not great matchup due to his modest sack numbers relative to the overall weakness of the offense, which has yet to reach 20 points in a game. But if the Lions can get to Lamar that many times, I have no doubt that they can terrorize Flacco. Detroit is an excellent 2-week streamer, with the Jake Browning Bengals on deck in Week 5.
- NE vs CAR: Bryce Young played the cleanest game of his career last week with no turnovers and just a single sack – it helps to be on the right side of a shutout. Just like how Young’s 5 turnovers on the season included 0 last week, New England’s defense had 9 sacks in the first two weeks before recording 0 against the Steelers in Week 3. I expect the Patriots’ pass rush to get back to form against a Panthers’ offense that probably won’t have the luxury of playing so conservatively.
- MIN @ PIT: The Vikings’ defense went absolutely nuts against the Bengals last week, with 5 total turnovers and Isaiah Rodgers personally recording two defensive touchdowns in the first half: a pick-six and a self-recovered forced fumble. After a strong revenge game against the Jets in Week 1, Aaron Rodgers has been closer to what we expected for the Steelers. In the 2 games since he’s thrown 3 interceptions and led the team to less than 40 totals points, topping out at 21 in a low-scoring win against the Patriots. You should never expect a defensive touchdown, but the potential is certainly there, and I would not be at all surprised to see the Vikings record 3+ sacks against Rodgers.
- WAS @ ATL: Michael Penix Jr. avoided taking any sacks last week. Unfortunately for him, everything else about that game was a disaster for the the Falcons. Penix’s only touchdown pass was to the opposing defense, and a couple missed field goals meant the falcons were completely shut out by the Panthers of all teams. The Commanders have a stronger defense than the Panthers, and are coming off a 5-sack performance against the Raiders. The Falcons will have an uphill battle trying to bounce back from last week’s collapse.
- GB @ DAL: The Cowboys took a big blow with the injury to Ceedee Lamb. The wheels totally fell off after that, with Dak Prescott throwing 2 interceptions in the fourth quarter. With the game out of hand they brought in backup QB Joe Milton to throw a third interception for good measure. Facing a high-powered Green Bay offense, Dak will probably be forced to play catch-up, increasing the chance for more interceptions. This might be good news for George Pickens, but it’s very good news for the Packers’ defense.
- PIT vs MIN: Carson Wentz will make his second start for the Vikings this week with JJ McCarthy still sidelined. Minnesota has a brutal schedule coming up through at least Week 9, and given his struggles in the first two weeks, it would not surprise me to see them take their time with McCarthy. Wentz played a good game last week, but had the benefit of his defense annihilating the Bengals. He did still take 3 sacks, and now faces a Steelers’ defense that sacked Drake Maye 5 times last week, and forced 4 fumbles.
