2012 Fantasy Football Week 9: Team Defense Rankings / Projections

Another difficult week for defensive rankings and I can’t really say we have a terrific option off the waiver wire. Perhaps you can look to the Chargers, who are fresh off a seven to six loss against the Browns and will face a struggling Chiefs offense at home.

Unfortunately, the Chargers offense puts the defense in difficult situations because of turnovers or, in the case of last week, ineffective play. What makes this option even more of a gamble is that they are playing against a division foe.

No matter the struggles in Kansas City, they know the Chargers very well and we should expect them to run Jamaal Charles up to 25 times after only running him five times this past Sunday.

Then we have the Browns defense that’s played well in recent weeks with Joe Haden back in the lineup. It will be a difficult task to hold down the Ravens offense, but if they find themselves in another defensive struggle, they would make for a decent bye week start. Consider the Browns a roll of the dice option off the waiver wire.

What Did We Learn From Week 8?

- The key for the Seahawks this week is that they play in Seattle. A different team when playing at home, they will need to up their game on the defensive side of the football.

Two weeks ago, I touched on Seattle’s struggles in the secondary that Alex Smith failed to take advantage of early in the game. Matthew Stafford didn’t fail to make them pay and it turned out to be a poor performance for Seattle’s defense in Detroit. Facing a struggling Christian Ponder, Seattle should have a solid performance against the pass, but they will need to slow down Adrian Peterson to be a top five option this week.

- The Broncos defense looked good coming off the bye week holding Drew Brees to under 150 yards passing until late in the game. Cincinnati has talent and Andy Dalton played well against the defense last year in Denver, but the pass rush should get to him, so we could see some big plays as a result.

Sean’s Week 9 Watch List

- We shouldn’t look to the Ravens as an option worth using most weeks going forward. Key injuries will hurt this group, but they are worth using for one week against the Browns.

- Michael Vick is likely to start this week but should he struggle, it’s Nick Foles time. New Orleans isn’t a defense worth considering most weeks, but if you’re desperate, this is a defense worth taking a gamble on.

- Detroit gave up a long touchdown run to Marshawn Lynch but shut him down after that. While the Jaguars have played respectable football in recent weeks, the Lions are worth taking a chance on as it appears they are ready to turn things around.

1	Packers	Cardinals
2	Bears	@ Titans
3	Seahawks	Vikings
4	Texans	Bills
5	Chargers	Chiefs
6	Vikings	@ Seahawks
7	Lions	@ Jaguars
8	Falcons	Cowboys
9	Ravens	@ Browns
10	Giants	Steelers
11	Saints	Eagles
12	Broncos	@ Bengals
13	Browns	Ravens
14	Redskins	Panthers
15	Dolphins	@ Colts
16	Cardinals	@ Packers

Week 9 Standard Rankings – QB | RB | WR | TE | Flex |