Week One Defensive Rankings???

[Warpigs]

Just wondering if Plindsey or any of his posse were continuing the work they completed last year on defensive unit projections for each week. It was great stuff.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Plinds needs a good 4-5 weeks of data before his formula can be used with any certainty, so we wont see those for a month or so.

However - there are certain things you can look for in finding cheap WW defensive options. High powered offenses going up against weak teams is a recipe for fantasy D success as a general rule. Thats why a while back I remember Plindsey liked STL vs. SF in week 1, while I was looking at CIN vs. CLE. Both CIN and STL should be strong candidates to pick up for week 1 spot duty. Another D to look at for week 1 is KC - if the Jets get into a shootout, the KC D could get some nice turnover numbers.

[The_Dude]

hehe... I was just thinking when drafting my defenses in the last two rounds yesterday that I hoped plindsey or someone of similar awesomeness would be around the forms this year doing the nerd-work for those of us too busy or lazy to do it ourselves on defensive matchups.

The lack of data availability in week 1 not withstanding, how do we feel about the defensive matchups for week 1? Leaving out the best teams, I'm thinking the two best available pickups are:

Cincy D @ Cleveland?

Denver D @ Miami?

Any other thoughts?

[moochman]

Dude, ya gotta love the prospects of Denver's D against the Phins{.

[Mercer Boy]

Dude, ya gotta love the prospects of Denver's D against the Phins{.

Absolutely...I thought about using them and still may. I have STL activated for right now.

We did talk about this a little the other day:
http://www.fantasyfootballcafe.com/foru ... p?t=150443

When I get home tonight, I'll try and run some numbers...but they will be off of last year's final 4 games and probably won't have any bearing on what will actually happen this year.

[The_Dude]

Thanks gents... its good to be back in the cafe... I did almost no draft prep this year since I got a new job... it occurred to me last night in rnd 8 when I was about to draft some throwaway defense that I should just play the matchups again.

I'll check out the other threads and will likely see any chat lurkers on Sunday morning...

~Duder~

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Im not sure about DEN v MIA. My biggest concern is the amount of change that has taken place both in DEN as they have obviously added to their D, and also in MIA as they basically go through a complete overhaul offensively.

DEN lost a very good runstopping SS and Im not sure how well Ferguson will do in replacing him. On the flip side though, DEN also now sports Gerard Warren, Brown, and Ekuban on the DLine and Ian Gold returns at LB as well. Thats a massive upgrade on their DLine IMO.

Then again, MIA isnt looking to pound the ball like they have the past few years. With RBrown coming to camp late and the new offensive coordinator trying to go deep more often, this could get a little hazier to predict than it looks on the surface.

Id still go with STL vs. SF and CIN vs. CLE.
The more I think about it, the more I want STL in week 1.

[The_Dude]

thanks for the post Cornbread...

I like where you're going with STL @ SF, but am a little more weary about CIN @ CLE. If one of these games were a home game, then I would say its the obvious choice. However, since none are, I think that the Cleveland crowd atmosphere has the potential to make a terrible Cleveland team competitive against a rival team like Cincy in week 1 of the season.

So, then the choice is STL @ SF or DEN @ MIA... I think its a toss-up as to which will be a bigger stomp... Your push for STL has at least given me something to think about through the weekend.

~Duder~

[kingmillerus]

I agree with Rams defense for week 1, especially since I just picked them up in my league.

Any thoughts on week 2?
GB vs. CLE?
NYJ vs. MIA?

I know I am getting ahead of myself, but it can't hurt to look ahead to see who's available now on the waiver wires.

[petedog9]

Wash vs CHI in week one seems like a nice pick too. A rookie QB making his first ever start is sure to throw a few picks....