Week 4 of the NFL season brings to us the first set of teams serving their Bye Week. This inevitably means that someone out there is going to be looking for a backup defense they can slide into the lineup that will get them better than zero points. Now if you’re one of those guys who has less respect for a team defense than the you do a wad of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, then you are probably just going to grab whatever free agent defense has the highest stat line.
It’s a sound enough strategy and it’s probably the safest way to keep from getting a goose egg at that position. What if you miss out on that top dog defense in the waiver order? Who should you target next?
My suggestion is the Minnesota Vikings defense!
I know after the Vikings just got beat by the hopeless and hapless Cleveland Browns, it seems like rambling crazy talk to suggest taking their defense to fill in this week.
The thing that makes the Vikings so appealing is the fact that they are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. This offensive line is staffed by a bunch of matadors that let opposing defenders blitz at Ben Roethlisberger so quickly he might as well make a girly scream instead of saying “Hutt” to snap the ball.
The other thing to consider here is that no matter what defense you grab to plug in this week, the chances are good they don’t have the talent to shut anyone down. Where you’ll be looking for points to come from will be things like takeaways, defensive scores and return touchdowns on special teams.
Through three weeks of the season, the Vikings are tied for second most takeaways in the league with 10. One of which has turned in a score. Of course, Jared Allen is still in town and he has the ability to rope in a sack on any down.
They also feature rookie speedster Cordarrelle Patterson in the return game. In Week 3, he showed off his skills in the return game by taking a kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown.
The Vikings are a defensive unit that might even be able to start for you on an average week, but for this week, they’ll do just fine fitting in if you need them to.
Eric Beuning is a Fantasy Football writer for www.RantSports.com.
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