Fantasy Football Week 1 - Defensive Team by Committee (DTBC)

For those of you playing fantasy football, I'm sure we are all playing in a league where the stud team defenses like Chicago and Baltimore have been reached for in the 6th round, leaving you no chance of getting your hands on them.

Often a strategy I employ for some of my fantasy teams is to implement a Defensive team by Committee approach. There are a number of ways to do this and either way you choose, it's most likely you can achieve this by using your last 2 or 3 picks to draft your DEF.

Firstly, you can draft 2 teams with complimentary schedules based on their offensive matchups. A couple of combinations that come to mind are IND/GB, OAK/TEN, OAK/JAX & HOU/IND. Looking at the schedules for these combinations, you get some excellent weekly matchups and when one team is facing a more potent offense, more often than not the other is coming up against a more mediocre offensive unit.

For example Looking forward at the JAX/OAK combo, I only see two weeks where I would be slightly concerned which are week 13 & 15

JAC OAK
1 TEN DET
2 ATL @DEN
3 @DEN CLE
4 BYE @MIA
5 @KC BYE
6 HOU @SD
7 IND KC
8 @TB @TEN
9 @NO HOU
10 @TEN CHI
11 SD @MIN
12 BUF @KC
13 @IND DEN
14 CAR @GB
15 @PIT IND
16 OAK JAC

IND & GB combo IMO is even better:

IND GB
1 NO PHI
2 @TEN @NYG
3 @HOU SD
4 DEN @MIN
5 TB CHI
6 BYE WAS
7 JAC BYE
8 @CAR @DEN
9 NE @KC
10 @SD MIN
11 KC CAR
12 @ATL @DET
13 JAC @DAL
14 @BAL OAK
15 @OAK @STL
16 HOU @CHI

I really like the idea of the Packers/Colts combo because that fantasy playoff schedule for both teams is absolute gold. I have both of these Team D's stashed away on a few of my rosters.

When you have a close look at the schedules in combination, you should be able to find at least one (possibly both) of these teams you need on the waiver wire.

The second way to do this is to use the waiver wire each week to play matchups. Granted this is a more challenging way to go but it's a decent way to supplement a 2nd/3rd tier defense that you have drafted late. Probably not really necessary for week 1 because the majority of these defenses have reasonably poor offensive opponents. One of the better Team D's that has a tough match up is Carolina up against St Louis. If I have the Panthers as my starting team D, I would seriously consider putting them on the bench and grabbing either of the below mentioned teams off waivers. If I have rostered Oakland, with their week 1 opponent being Detroit, it's another situation where I would consider this play.

# Washington Redskins - WAS vs MIA
# Houston Texans - HOU vs KC

Miami's offensive looks to be quite very poor this season and I'd feel more confident in playing the Skins against the Dolphins than having Carolina up against the Rams juggernaut.

Very unlikely that Washington is not available on your waiver wire but if not then I would also consider plugging in Houston against KC. Houston have an improving DEF, maybe they won't be an upper tier team D till 2008 but against poorer offenses, I'd take a gamble with them. Kansas City struggled mightily in the preseason. Add to that, LJ might not be getting his 30+ carries this week, Huard recovering from injury and has been plugged into the starting job late in camp, I see KC struggling with Houston's young hungry offense to take advantage. Another plus for Houston is an improving special teams with Jacoby Jones who I think will be this years Devin Hester....I say plug them in this week.

If any of my picks finish in the top 12 of Team DEF's in week 1, I would consider that a victory.....and if they perform better than Carolina and Oakland then they have done the job for your team in Week 1.

Damn you thestos. I do the same thing

Using the nfl.com scoring system as a standard (since the STUN league is here), I was reasonably happy with Week 1's predictions.

My sleeper Team DEF choices were Houston & Washington. The Texans ran amok against an impotent Chiefs offense posting 29 points as the 2nd best team Def in Week 1. They held KC to 3 points & 219 yards while grabbing 2 INT's, 2 FR's and 3 sacks.

Washington were less impressive on the stats sheet bringing in 12 points which ranked 17th. While they were successful in keeping Miami to 13 points, they were only able to generate 2 sacks, 1 FR and 0 INT's.....a stat line I'm a little surprised by since Trent Green was the QB. They also managed 273 yards which bumped them down a touch.

Since both of these teams were available on waivers, playing them certainly shouldn't have lost you any games last week.

The two team defenses which I recommended benching were Carolina & Oakland.

Carolina faced off against St Louis and showed why they are a top 10 DEF, containing the Rams to 13 points as well, 1 sack, 2 FR, 0 INT's & 238 yards.......a very similar stat line to the Redskins but this totalled 15 fantasy points for your team, ranking 12th in the league.

Oakland had to contend with the rampant Lions offense coming to town and if you benched them this week you were rewarded. While Kitna threw 2 INT's, only 2 sacks were generated, 0 FR but more importantly, 36 points against and 392 yards against....good enough for 6 fantasy points and a ranking of 26th.

Overall I would say I went 2-2 this week but very happy to call out the 2nd best Team DEF in Week 1, hopefully you benched those Raiders for the Texans and reaped the rewards. Unfortunately I didn't listen to my own advice and left Houston on the bench and plugged in the Cowboys which would have seen a 28 point loss in that particular league have been reduced to being pipped by 4 points.

Week 2 coming soon but in the meantime, go out and grab Indy & Houston if they are still available on your waiver wire, some favourable schedules ahead and both of these defenses are on the rise and will generate some points for your fantasy team.

I am curious about this in our league. We have just 5 bench spots and with 3 starting WR is it really worth *wasting* a bench spot on a defence? Last year I got seriously burned with the 3 starting WR so drafted 5 WR and have no backup for TE, K, or DEF.

Whilst I can see this working is it worth trying to pair a defence with the Packers (my current defence) and lose a spot on the bench?

I was wondering the same thing too, Rockhoppers.

I already tinker with my team way way too much, so I'm gonna go cold turkey and just leave it for a bit and see how it pans out, unless someone gets injured or something.

I'd say it depends on how great a player you have in each position as to whether to draft a reserve. For example, I've got Tom Brady, and if he was 100% healthy I wouldn't have a spare QB, I's just pick one up when it was Brady's bye week.

Same's going for some of my other players. I haven't bothered with a backup K or TE

I gots 6 bench spots and still refuse to waste one on a D.
Used the Vikings last week, and traded them in for the Bengals this week.

It would have been really nice to keep the purple ones... but my worst on the bench is Cotchery and I'd rather keep him!

Even in the NFL.com leagues which only allow 5 bench positions, I don't really see the need to carry more than 4 RB's and 4 WR's. There is no need to carry a 2nd TE or Kicker.....and depending on your QB, it's questionable if you need a 2nd QB.......I know if I had rostered a stud QB like Manning/Palmer/Brady or Brees, I wouldn't bother with a QB2 since I can grab a decent back up off waivers for a bye week.

I don't use this strategy in every league and this nfl.com league is has quite small rosters (14) but I think with careful management you can use this strategy in this league to your advantage. In leagues with 15+ roster spots (and any league to be honest), you really need to weigh up whether that RB5 or WR5/6 is worth rostering since they are very unlikely to make it off the bench. That coupled with what level of talent will always be available on waivers at those positions which then should give you an opportunity for a 2nd DEF.

I drafted the Vikings in the STUN league and they will put up good points most weeks......but they have to play the Lions twice a season so there are two weeks I don't want to plug them in. There is no way I would release them since they are a quality DEF, so I'm happy to have rostered another team DEF like Indy to cover those poor matchup weeks.

Minnesota's schedule has the following possible holes:
Week 2 - @ DET
Week 5 - BYE
Week 7 - @ DAL
Week 9 - SD
Week 13 - DET

I've chosen Indy to fill those holes:
Week 2 - @ TEN
Week 5 - TB
Week 7 - @ JAX
Week 9 - NE
Week 13 - JAX

Another solid option would have been Houston
Week 2 - @ CAR
Week 5 - MIA
Week 7 - TEN
Week 9 - @ OAK
Week 13 - @ TEN

I got Kitna and being unsure whether to believe the hype backed him up.

I guess I just remember last year (my first time of playing) getting seriously burnt at WR, I think I lost one of my starters and I couldn't find anyone on waivers who would get me anywhere near double figures each week. This year I took a punt on LenDale White with my final pick (giving me 4RB) and was wondering whether to bag another defence.

That said, as you are not only in my league but in my division I will take your advice with a large pinch of salt