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Defensive Notes

Eyes on Texas for Defense

Dallas big problem for Houston

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)IntSkOffense (Allowed)IntSkInt(Tot)Sk(Tot)
Dallas Cowboys1048Houston Texans15332581
Philadelphia Eagles1542New York Giants5372079
Kansas City636Denver Broncos6381274
New England Patriots1239Arizona Cardinals9312170
Baltimore Ravens1137Pittsburgh Steelers10322169
Las Vegas Raiders421Los Angeles Rams13421763
New York Jets1236Buffalo Bills11252361
Cleveland Browns525Cincinnati Bengals8361361
Tampa Bay Buccaneers738San Francisco 49ers7231461
Seattle Seahawks1132Carolina Panthers10262158
Buffalo Bills1331New York Jets10272358
Tennessee Titans933Jacksonville Jaguars6231556
Miami Dolphins729Los Angeles Chargers7271456
Carolina Panthers825Seattle Seahawks7311556
Arizona Cardinals723New England Patriots10321755
New York Giants425Philadelphia Eagles330755
San Francisco 49ers1236Tampa Bay Buccaneers4181654
Detroit Lions922Minnesota Vikings9301852
Pittsburgh Steelers1423Baltimore Ravens9282351
Jacksonville Jaguars919Tennessee Titans5311450
Minnesota Vikings1230Detroit Lions7191949
Denver Broncos830Kansas City8191649
Los Angeles Rams726Las Vegas Raiders8231549
Los Angeles Chargers922Miami Dolphins10261948
Cincinnati Bengals819Cleveland Browns8251644
Houston Texans828Dallas Cowboys10151843

--Andy Richardson

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