Getting Defensive: Week 5

Sunday night in Santa Clara, the unstoppable force meets the immovable object.

For the third time in four games in Week 4, Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys defense was absolutely dominant in dismembering the New England Patriots. The Cowboys logged a sack, three takeaways and two defensive scores in a 38-3 rout. It marked the second time this year that Dallas has scored multiple non-offensive touchdowns.

For the record, the Cowboys have scored as many touchdowns on defense and special teams as the New Orleans Saints have on offense. For reals.

Now, however, the Cowboys face their stiffest test of the season - a San Francisco 49ers offense that ranks second in the NFL in yards per game and third in points per game. Cowboys edge-rusher Micah Parsons believes that the Cowboys can put the clamps on any team in the league - provided they bring their “A” game.

"The sky is the limit," Parsons said, via the team’s website. "This shows that when we prepare and come into games with our energy with who we are, we can be a dominant football team. When we come out soft and underestimate guys and don't play to our standard, anything can happen. I know we have a great chance of winning football games if we play together."

The Cowboys are fantasy football’s No. 1 team defense by a sizable margin. The Niners are dead last in fantasy points allowed to the position. Something has to give. It’s a similar story on the other side. The 49ers are fifth in total defense and third in scoring defense, but they face a Cowboys team surrendering the second-fewest fantasy points to defenses.

Both defenses will be in fantasy lineups. But both are also risky plays in Week 5.

THE NO-DOUBTERS

Baltimore Ravens (at Pittsburgh Steelers)

At 3-1, the Ravens are all alone in first place in the AFC North, and the Baltimore defense just played its best effort of the season - a 28-3 thrashing of a short-handed Cleveland Browns team that included four sacks and three interceptions. Now, the Ravens will face a similarly depleted Steelers team that will likely be without both quarterback Kenny Pickett and tight end Pat Freiermuth. The Steelers were having issues moving the ball even before those injuries hit, and with Mitchell Trubisky under center the matchup just becomes that much more favorable.

New England Patriots (at New Orleans Saints)

It may seem a little odd to call a team a No-Doubter that just got flattened 38-3, especially when said team lost one of its best defensive players in edge-rusher Matthew Judon. But the New England defense is still allowing less than 300 yards per game. This recommendation has less to do with how well the Pats are playing on defense than how badly the Saints are playing on offense. Derek Carr is hurt and wasn’t playing especially well before the injury, and New Orleans is giving up the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing defenses.

Philadelphia Eagles (at Los Angeles Rams)

Along with the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles are one of two undefeated teams remaining in the NFL, but to be honest Philly’s defense faltered a little last week against Washington. However, even after that down game the Eagles remain a top-10 fantasy defense, in large part because of arguably the best defensive front in the NFL. It wasn’t as big a factor in last week’s win over the Colts, but the Rams’ front had all kinds of trouble in Cincinnati two weeks ago, allowing six sacks. With Matthew Stafford (hip) banged-up, expect the Eagles to pin their ears back and come hard at Stafford.

Buffalo Bills (vs. Jacksonville Jaguars)

Last week the Bills did something defensively that seemed impossible just one week prior - they slowed down Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins’ high-octane offense, sacking Tagovailoa four times and notching a pair of turnovers. This week the AFC’s highest-scoring fantasy defense heads across the pond to battle a Jaguars team that is talented but has been inconsistent this season. In fact, the Jags quietly rank just outside the top-10 in fantasy points allowed to defenses. If the Jaguars have one thing going for them, it’s that they have been in the UK all week after winning in London a week ago.

New York Jets (at Denver Broncos)

The New York Jets are reeling once again after a close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but as was the case so many times last year, the New York defense isn’t the problem. Four games into the season, the Jets remain a talented unit that did as well defensively against the Buffalo Bills as any team in the league this year. The Broncos put 31 on the board last week against the Chicago Bears, but this is a whole new level of opposition. The Denver offense has been known to struggle against good defenses the past couple of years, and this could be just such an occasion.

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New Orleans Saints (vs. New England Patriots)

The Saints (as they so often do) are straddling the line between “No Doubter” and streaming play - the defense struggled somewhat against the Buccaneers last week, but New Orleans still ranks a respectable seventh in fantasy points among defenses and faces a quarterback in Mac Jones coming off a nightmarish performance last week in Dallas. Two of Jones’ three Week 4 turnovers were returned for touchdowns, and thanks in large part to that debacle the Patriots have now surrendered the third-most fantasy points to defenses.

Detroit Lions (vs. Carolina Panthers)

In news that may or may not be a harbinger of the Apocalypse, the Detroit Lions have come a long way from last year’s 32nd-ranked defense. As a matter of fact, entering Week 5 edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson and the Lions rank 10th in fantasy points among defenses. This week, the first-place (again, Apocalypse) Lions play host to a struggling Panthers offense that ranks 25th in total offense, 24th in scoring offense and who have surrendered the eighth-most fantasy points to defenses in 2023. Look for the Lions to roll.

Washington Commanders (vs. Chicago Bears)

The Commanders gave the Philadelphia Eagles all they could handle last week before eventually coming up short in overtime. But statistically speaking, Washington is a middle of the pack unit defensively in most categories, including fantasy points. However, this recommendation isn’t about Washington so much as it is a Bears team that has surrendered the second-most fantasy points to defenses this season. As was the case a year ago, the Bears are having all kinds of trouble protecting Justin Fields, and the Commanders have the front four to take advantage of that deficiency.

Miami Dolphins (vs. New York Giants)

This game is a matchup of two teams who badly want to put Week 4 in the rearview mirror. The Dolphins allowed 48 points in a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills, while the Giants were embarrassed on Monday night by the Seattle Seahawks. The Giants have all kinds of issues in both pass protection (11 sacks allowed on Monday night) and in generating offense (dead last in points scored at 11.5 per game). As a result, there isn’t a team in the league that has allowed more fantasy points to defenses, and they appear to be a matchup to target all season long.

Denver Broncos (vs. New York Jets)

You know it’s been a rough year for your defense when it surrenders four passing touchdowns to Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. However, the Broncos also sacked Fields four times, intercepted a pass and scored a defensive touchdown on the way to top-10 fantasy numbers for the week. Last week at least, Zach Wilson spent most of New York’s Sunday night loss looking the part of an actual NFL quarterback. But that doesn’t change the fact that four weeks into the season the Jets are once again a favorable fantasy matchup for defenses.

Green Bay Packers (at Las Vegas Raiders)

The good news for the Las Vegas Raiders is that the team should have starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after he missed Week 4 with a concussion - rookie Aidan O’ Connell flashed at times, but he turned the ball over three times and was sacked seven times - including six by Chargers edge-rusher Khalil Mack. The bad news is that Garoppolo’s return may not make that much difference for the Raiders - Vegas has struggled to move the ball consistently and has given up the sixth-most fantasy points to team defenses in 2023.