As games get more critical, defense and kicker choices become (or at least seem) more important. If you have a big game this week, you're pretty happy if the defense you have starting is the Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas leads the NFL in sacks and ranks 10th in interceptions. This week it hosts the Houston Texans, who lead the NFL in interceptions thrown and are 8th in terms of taking sacks. It's not a huge spoiler to say that Dallas is our top defense this week.
The Texans are going back to Davis Mills at quarterback, who will maybe be a little less awful than Kyle Allen was the last two weeks. Maybe. They've both been defense friendly, and the Cowboys get this week's bounty.
The table below shows all the Offense-Defense matchups this week in those two key areas, sacks and interceptions. It's sorted by the sack total between the sides for each defense. But Dallas would also be at the top of the list if it were sorted by interceptions. If you also want to factor in Houston allowing 5 defensive and special teams touchdowns over the last three weeks, more good news for Dallas.
If you're in a FanDuel or DraftKings type competition and can choose Dallas, it's worth the extra salary cap dollars this week. The Eagles, Kansas City, Patriots and Ravens are the other teams that look great for sacks, while both ends of the Bills-Patriots and Steelers-Ravens games look good for interceptions.
WEEK 14 DEFENSES (SACKS AND INTERCEPTIONS) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Defense (Recorded) | Int | Sk | Offense (Allowed) | Int | Sk | Int(Tot) | Sk(Tot) |
Dallas Cowboys | 10 | 48 | Houston Texans | 15 | 33 | 25 | 81 |
Philadelphia Eagles | 15 | 42 | New York Giants | 5 | 37 | 20 | 79 |
Kansas City | 6 | 36 | Denver Broncos | 6 | 38 | 12 | 74 |
New England Patriots | 12 | 39 | Arizona Cardinals | 9 | 31 | 21 | 70 |
Baltimore Ravens | 11 | 37 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 10 | 32 | 21 | 69 |
Las Vegas Raiders | 4 | 21 | Los Angeles Rams | 13 | 42 | 17 | 63 |
New York Jets | 12 | 36 | Buffalo Bills | 11 | 25 | 23 | 61 |
Cleveland Browns | 5 | 25 | Cincinnati Bengals | 8 | 36 | 13 | 61 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 7 | 38 | San Francisco 49ers | 7 | 23 | 14 | 61 |
Seattle Seahawks | 11 | 32 | Carolina Panthers | 10 | 26 | 21 | 58 |
Buffalo Bills | 13 | 31 | New York Jets | 10 | 27 | 23 | 58 |
Tennessee Titans | 9 | 33 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 6 | 23 | 15 | 56 |
Miami Dolphins | 7 | 29 | Los Angeles Chargers | 7 | 27 | 14 | 56 |
Carolina Panthers | 8 | 25 | Seattle Seahawks | 7 | 31 | 15 | 56 |
Arizona Cardinals | 7 | 23 | New England Patriots | 10 | 32 | 17 | 55 |
New York Giants | 4 | 25 | Philadelphia Eagles | 3 | 30 | 7 | 55 |
San Francisco 49ers | 12 | 36 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4 | 18 | 16 | 54 |
Detroit Lions | 9 | 22 | Minnesota Vikings | 9 | 30 | 18 | 52 |
Pittsburgh Steelers | 14 | 23 | Baltimore Ravens | 9 | 28 | 23 | 51 |
Jacksonville Jaguars | 9 | 19 | Tennessee Titans | 5 | 31 | 14 | 50 |
Minnesota Vikings | 12 | 30 | Detroit Lions | 7 | 19 | 19 | 49 |
Denver Broncos | 8 | 30 | Kansas City | 8 | 19 | 16 | 49 |
Los Angeles Rams | 7 | 26 | Las Vegas Raiders | 8 | 23 | 15 | 49 |
Los Angeles Chargers | 9 | 22 | Miami Dolphins | 10 | 26 | 19 | 48 |
Cincinnati Bengals | 8 | 19 | Cleveland Browns | 8 | 25 | 16 | 44 |
Houston Texans | 8 | 28 | Dallas Cowboys | 10 | 15 | 18 | 43 |
--Andy Richardson