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In my team defense week 12 rankings there is a new team in the top spot and I really believe they could finish the season there.
With fantasy playoffs coming up in 2 weeks I am starting to get a lot of questions about what defense people should go with for weeks 14, 15, and 16. My answer is week 12's number 1 team the Denver Broncos. With games versus Oakland, Baltimore and Cleveland the Bronco's defense would be a nice element to have on your squad for your playoff run.
Before I get to the team defense week 12 rankings I just want to use this space to wish everyone who reads this a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your day of food and football.
1. Denver Broncos - Broncos have a pass rush that is just nasty and have 35 sacks to show for it. It helps when your QB allows you to play with a lead like Peyton Manning has this season. KC is just flat out bad and Denver should have no problem shutting them down and creating turnovers.
2. New England Patriots - Thanksgiving match up vs. a Jets offense that doesn't really scare anybody. With the addition of Aqib Talib New England's secondary got the shot in the arm in needed. This is usually the time when the Patriots start to pull away from the competition.
3. Chicago Bears - The Bears flat out got beat up on Monday night in SF. This week is a much more favorable match up vs. the Vikings at home. The Bears are going to come out on Sunday and try to show the rest of the league what happen on Monday Night was a 1 time thing. As long as they can contain (because no one can really stop) Adrian Peterson the Bears can do some damage to Christian Ponder.
4. San Diego Chargers - Chargers defense has not been satisfied with just creating turn overs they look to score and that is huge in fantasy football. This week SD host a Baltimore team who has a lot of trouble getting it going on the road, especially the quaterback, Joe Flacco. Flacco is a different player away from Baltimore and SD's secondary can take advantage.
5. Houston Texans - Basically in the same boat as the Bears after last week, except it was a bad Jacksonville team that was putting up points against the Texans. Tougher match up at Detroit this week but if the Texans, more importantly J. J. Watt, can get to Matthew Stafford the Texans can definitely put up some fantasy points this week.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers - Still not the Steelers from years past but the defense has improved. Good match up this week at Cleveland. The Browns offense is not as bad as it once was but it is still in the lower half of the league. Pittsburgh is a solid play this week.
7. Seattle Seahawks - I would have put Seattle in the top three if this weeks game was in Seattle. The Seahawks head to Miami but Seattle's secondary seems to be clicking on all cylinders. I can definitely see a scenario in which the Seattle's DBs bait Ryan Tannehill into throwing some picks.
8. St. Louis Rams - The Rams have a pretty good defense that not a lot of people are talking about. Jeff Fisher, like in the past, has he defense playing at a high level. Good match up this week at Arizona. The Cardinals can't figure out who should be their QB let alone an offensive game plan so I like St. Louis to be a good plug and play this week.
9. Baltimore Ravens - Flacco hasn't been good on the road but Baltimore's defense has remained on point. Philip Rivers seems to have gotten over his earlier bad habit of throwing terrible passes for INTs but with Ed Reed back in action this week I see a lot of opportunities for turn overs here.
10. San Francisco 49ers - I understand if your surprised to see the 9ers this low on the list. Especially after the great MNF performance but it's a whole different beast going into New Orleans and facing a red hot Drew Brees. Brees has the Saints offense running like a well oiled machine as of late and it is going to be a tough task for any defense to go down to the Bayou and shut it down.
11. Arizona Cardinals - After picking Matt Ryan off 5 times last week Arizona's secondary is chomping at the bit to see Sam Bradford on Sunday. The Cards defense is really the only thing keeping this team alive right now and they will have to have a big game vs. St. Louis to pull out a victory.
12. Cincinnati Bengals - The Bengals get Oakland at home this week. The Raiders aren't winning games but it isn't due to lack of offense. If you need to play the Bengals this week it is high risk high reward type situation. I see it going one of two ways either Carson Palmer lights them up or the Bengals come to play and that leads to sacks and picks.
13. Minnesota Vikings - At this point any defense vs. the Bears offense is a good play. Jay Cutler isn't 100% sure if he is playing on Sunday and the Bears offense looks like it's stuck in the mud right now. Jared Allen should be eating good this week vs. a terrible offensive line.
14. New York Giants - Tough match up against Aaron Rodgers this week. Green Bay has allowed Rodgers to get sacked more than anyone else in the NFL and the Giants front four should be able to get the pressure they need on Rodgers. Somehow Rodgers always seems to still make it work.
15. Carolina Panthers - No Vick, No McCoy this week for Eagles. If Philadelphia can make Washington's pass defense look decent, Carolina has potential to have a good day vs. the Eagles.
16. Atlanta Falcons - Tampa Bay has been putting up points behind Doug Martin and Josh Freeman. This is a tough match up in Tampa Bay but I still think Atlanta would be a decent start this week. If you have to play Atlanta I wouldn't stress about it.
17. Miami Dolphins - Ideal match up getting Seattle outside of the pacific northwest. The Dolphins have potential to have a pretty good week 12 fantasy football wise. Russell Wilson is another QB with a bad QB rating on the road.
18. Green Bay Packers - Eli Manning needs to get things together for the Giants. This could be the week. Green Bay surprised me with how well they played in week 11 and I had them ranked low. Lets see if they can put it together for two weeks.
19. Tampa Bay Bucs - Matt Ryan threw 5 picks last week, I don't think that will happen again. This is a big game for the Bucs and their D is going to have to step up to give them a shot in this one.
20. Dallas Cowboys - We'll see if the Cowboys show up on Thanksgiving. I lost a lot of confidence in Dallas after that performance vs. Cleveland last week. Still a good pass defense and Robert Griffin III will be busy.
Once again Happy Thanksgiving and be sure to be here at www.fantasyknuckleheads.com on Sunday morning 90 minutes before kick off to get your questions answered.
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