Fantasy Football Week 11 Rankings: Top 15 Defenses

There are some pretty good defenses taking on some of the worst offenses in the league in Week 11.  That certainly makes for positive match-ups, doesn’t it?  Let’s take a look at how things look for the upcoming week:

1. Cincinnati Bengals—at Oakland
2. Pittsburgh Steelers—at Kansas City
3. New Orleans Saints—at Tampa Bay
4. Green Bay Packers—vs. San Francisco
5. Minnesota Vikings—vs. Seattle
6. Arizona Cardinals—at St. Louis
7. Dallas Cowboys—vs. Washington
8. Philadelphia Eagles—at Chicago
9. New England Patriots—vs. New York Jets
10. Indianapolis Colts—at Baltimore
11. New York Giants—vs. Atlanta
12. Cleveland Browns—at Detroit
13. Carolina Panthers—vs. Miami
14. Jacksonville Jaguars—vs. Buffalo
15. Miami Dolphins—at Carolina

Thoughts:

• The Steelers defense is pretty good to begin with, but this week they appear to be in position to have a very good week.  No Dwayne Bowe,  no Larry Johnson (not that that matters much).  Yes, they have Matt Cassel, but it is impossible to tell if he was a product of the Patriots system or not given the talent around.  Does Chris Chambers invoke much fear?  Stack the box and stop Jamaal Charles, that’s the best strategy.
• How will the Falcons fair without Michael Turner?  It’s certainly worth gambling on finding out.
• Ladell Betts is good, but does anyone expect him to be able to repeat his Week Ten performance against the Cowboys?  They allow the tenth fewest yards/game on the ground in the league, as well as just four touchdowns.  If they can stop the ground attack, I just don’t see Jason Campbell beating them.
• Detroit vs. Cleveland?  I wouldn’t really want to touch either one of them, but that game has 9-6 written all over it, no?  Given their performance against the Ravens this past week, I’d probably go with them first.
• Getting to face the Dolphins without Ronnie Brown, which certainly will affect their usage of the Wildcat, is enough to make you consider using Carolina’s defense.  Unfortunately, they just aren’t that good.

What are your thoughts?  Who was left off the list?  Who should be higher?  Who should be lower?

Other Week 11 Rankings:

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs
• Wide Receivers
• Tight Ends
• Kickers

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