Fantasy Football Week 2 Rankings: Top 15 Defense/Special Teams

The fantasy football position that is perhaps most matchup-dependent is the defense/special teams unit. Great defenses might not be solid fantasy plays when they’re going against high-scoring offenses that tend not to make mistakes.

Average defenses, conversely, can have incredible fantasy performances while facing mistake-prone offenses that struggle to put up points.

Other things being equal, I tend to favor defenses that play at home. Accordingly, six of my top nine fantasy defenses for Week 2 will be home teams in their games.

These are my top 15 for Week 2.

1. New England Patriots (vs. Arizona Cardinals). The Patriots get Kevin Kolb to fly east after their strong showing on the road at Tennessee.

2. Cincinnati Bengals (vs. Cleveland Browns). The Browns looked terrible on Sunday. The Bengals were out-gunned on Monday night. Both teams will be angry, but only one of them is playing in its home stadium. The Browns will be without Joe Haden and should be playing from behind. However, they haven’t proven that they’ve got the weapons to do so successfully.

3. Oakland Raiders (at Miami Dolphins). The second of the top-three defensive matchup plays to see a rookie quarterback in Week 2, but they have to do so on the road.

4. Houston Texans (at Jacksonville Jaguars). The Texans sport one of the top defenses in the NFL. Blaine Gabbert’s got some work to do to prove his strong Week 1 performance was no fluke.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. New York Jets). Mark Sanchez also has to fight the one-week wonder tag for the 2012 season. He’ll have to go on the road to Pittsburgh to do so. The Steelers will be returning Ryan Clark for this contest.

6. San Francisco 49ers (vs. Detroit Lions). The Rams forced Matthew Stafford into making some mistakes in Week 1. The 49ers can do the same thing at home.

7. San Diego Chargers (vs. Tennessee Titans). The Raiders just threw the football to their running back every other play in Week 1 against San Diego. If the Titans adopt the same game plan that the Raiders did, it might be difficult for the Chargers defense to make game-breaking plays.

8. Green Bay Packers (vs. Chicago Bears). The Packers defense has to prove itself as more than a liability in its second home game in five days.

9. Dallas Cowboys (at Seattle Seahawks). The Cowboys’ defense looked awfully good on Wednesday night. Now it goes on the road to take on a rookie-led squad in Russell Wilson’s Seahawks.

10. Baltimore Ravens (at Philadelphia Eagles). The emphasis for the Eagles this week will be to correct whatever problems caused Michael Vick’s four interceptions on the road against the Browns in Week 1. He’ll have the home crowd behind him in Week 2, but the Ravens looked downright nasty on Monday Night Football.

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at New York Giants). The Buccaneers shut down the Panthers’ running game in Week 1. That’s no easy task.

12. New York Giants (vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers). The Giants will be the home team again. And the front four still has the ability to get after the quarterback.

13. Miami Dolphins (vs. Oakland Raiders). The Dolphins will have to force Palmer into some mistakes in order to have a chance at home. They can’t rely on the offense to carry the team just yet.

14. St. Louis Rams (vs. Washington Redskins). They now have legitimate pro tape on RG3, who might be without his top receiver in this game.

15. Buffalo Bills (vs. Kansas City Chiefs). The Jets embarrassed the Bills in Week 1. Buffalo draws an underwhelming Chiefs team in Week 2.