If Clay Matthews isn’t the most fun defensive player to watch in the league, then I don’t know who is. He has been an absolute force this season, and was once again against the hapless Dallas Cowboys last night. The NFL sack leader managed 2 solo tackles, 3 total tackles, a sack, an interception, a pass defended, and a TD. You can’t ask for much more from your IDP than that. Expect his already astronomical 22.9 PFF rating to continue to rise.
The New Orleans defense completely shut down the pitiful Carolina Panthers offense, and had a lot of help from Jabari Greer and Roman Harper. Greer had 3 solo tackles, 4 total tackles, and interception, a pass defended, and a TD, while Harper had 9 tackles, all solo, a sack, and 2 passes defended. Greer has a 5.1 PFF rating on the season, and has actually been putting up pretty solid fantasy numbers from the DB spot, while Harper has a lower PFF rating at 2.2 overall, while out-producing Greer in fantasy numbers. Harper’s the guy to own going forward.
Another one of my favorites, Cameron Wake, had a solid game against the Baltimore Ravens, with 6 solo tackles and 2 sacks. He’s been outstanding this year, and has only really had 2 real duds, while being great in 5 games this year. Wake has been doing his best to keep up with Clay Matthews, as he had a 20.8 PFF rating going into this week, and the two ratings should get closer after this week’s games.
DeAndre Levy showed what he can do when he’s healthy, picking up 10 solo tackles against the New York Jets. After missing basically the 5 of the first 6 games of the season, he’s finally put together back-to-back solid games, but going into this week he only had a negative 2.7 PFF rating to show for it. I’d personally look to see if you could deal him, because I trust his health about as much as I trust Matthew Staffords shoulder at this point.
Recent Pick-Six member, Stewart Bradley, did not disappoint on Sunday. Against Indianapolis, Bradley managed 7 solo tackles, 8 total tackles, and 2 passes defended. Those numbers are surely going to help drag Bradley out from his negative 7.6 PFF rating he’s currently sitting at, and should continue his streak of positive PFF score games.
This week’s other Pick-Six players, Antoine Cason and T.J. Ward also had productive days of their own. Cason managed to get 7 solo tackles, and 8 total tackles against the Houston Texans, while Ward had 7 solo tackles against the New England Patriots. I didn’t watch the games, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the high tackle numbers with no passes defended means that they got pretty much abused by Matt Schaub and Tom Brady respectively. But that’s alright for the fantasy game, as it’s what leads to elite DB production. Cason and Ward could both slip into the negative rating numbers, as Cason’s currently at a 1.0 PFF rating, while Ward is sitting at a 1.5 PFF rating.
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