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The old saying in football is that offense wins games, but defense wins championships.
That's a philosophy for real, on-the-field football. Does it also ring true for fantasy football? In many cases, it does.
While most fantasy owners devote 99 percent of their attention to their individual running backs, receivers and quarterbacks, it's often that team you insert into the Defense/ST slot that can be the difference in winning games and ultimately winning a fantasy football championship.
In any given NFL season, there are typically a handful of consistently productive fantasy defenses, and anyone who doesn't grab and hang onto one in the fantasy draft will rely on playing week-to-week matchups and sometimes swapping defenses several times during the season.
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Even in the deepest fantasy football leagues, you can usually find a defense on the waiver wire that can score a lot of points for your team. That's not often the case with picking up free agent offensive players.
As we approach Week 15 of the NFL season -- with most fantasy leagues in the playoffs now -- here are some defenses to grab if they're available, or to definitely play if you already have them.
(All scores are from the Yahoo! Sports fantasy format.)
Seattle Seahawks (at Washington)
In terms of yardage allowed and costing their team real wins, the Seahawks' defense has been one of the NFL's worst this season. But from a fantasy perspective, Seattle has been solid lately. After producing 31 points in Week 12 against the Eagles, 19 points against the Giants in Week 13, and 25 points against the Jets this past Sunday, the Seahawks have moved up into a top-10 fantasy defense position in Yahoo! Sports. Jamal Adams just set an NFL season record for sacks by a defensive back, and the Seahawks have kept their last three opponents under 20 on the scoreboard. In Week 15, the Seahaws face a Washington team that has won four in a row but doesn't have a particularly explosive offense. And Washington might have to start QB Dwayne Haskins in this game. Seattle's defense could be available in your league and would be a smart pickup this week.
Arizona Cardinals (vs. Eagles)
Not only did the Cardinals rack up 39 fantasy points in Sunday's win over the Giants, but in Week 15 they face the Eagles, who have allowed the most fantasy points to opposing defenses all season.
It looks like a no-brainer, but there's one problem: The Eagles gave up that league-leading amount of fantasy points to opposing defenses when Carson Wentz was the starting quarterback. Wentz leads the NFL in interceptions thrown and total turnovers. Wentz, however, is no longer the Eagles' starting quarterback.
The new QB in Philly is rookie Jalen Hurts. In his first start on Sunday, he faced one of the NFL (and fantasy football's) best defenses in the New Orleans Saints and not only did Hurts lead the Eagles to a win, but the Saints defense only produced six fantasy points against him.
Arizona's defense is riding high after recording eight sacks and three fumble recoveries while surrendering just seven points to the Giants, but the Eagles and Hurts are a different ballgame. It might be best to stay away from the Cardinals defense this week.
Indianapolis Colts (vs. Texans)
This is a fairly low-risk, high-reward option.
The Colts are the 8th-best fantasy football defense. The Texans are squarely middle-of-the-pack in terms of allowing fantasy points to opposing defenses. The Colts scored a solid 17 fantasy points against the Raiders last week. The Texans allowed 39 fantasy points to the Bears last week.
The Texans offense is ailing. Their No. 1 receiver, Will Fuller, is suspended for the rest of the season. Their No. 2 receiver, Brandin Cooks, didn't play last week due to foot and neck injuries. Top running back David Johnson is on the COVID-19 list.
The Colts are playing at home this week, too, so this could be a big week for an accomplished defensive unit.
Pittsburgh Steelers (at Bengals)
Don't get scared off by the Steelers' recent struggles as a team or as a fantasy defense. Hang onto this unit for at least another week.
The Steelers were the NFL's only undefeated team two weeks ago, and now they're 11-2 after back-to-back losses to Washington and the Bills.
The Steelers were the NFL's highest-scoring fantasy defense two weeks ago -- and they still are by a pretty wide margin despite consecutive subpar performances against Washington (17 points) and the Bills (12).
Why hang onto the Steelers? Because this week, they're playing the Bengals.
The Cowboys scored 28 fantasy defensive points against the Bengals last week, and the Cowboys are one of the league's worst fantasy defenses. The Bengals offense has been anemic since rookie QB Joe Burrow went down with a season-ending injury, and there's no reason to believe the Steelers won't bounce back and capitalize on them this week.
