The NFL reaches week six of the 2011 season, which means fantasy football owners are almost halfway through their own regular season. Sit/start projections for these "dog days" of the season are incredibly important, particularly given the bye weeks. Week six byes include Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle and Tennessee. For team defenses and special teams, this removes two particularly solid weapons in the Titans and Chargers. The Titans were whipped by Pittsburgh last week, but overall have been a very solid fantasy option.
Fantasy Football Week 6 Advice: Sit, Start Projections For Defense/Special Teams
As teams deal with byes, it is not quite as simple as the kicker position where you can generally waive most kickers and find a new one moving forward. Some kickers are a little better than others, but there are significantly fewer moving parts at kicker as compared to team defense/special teams. You will likely want to keep some of the top five or six defenses, and then consider your mix and match options further down your roster.
When looking at defense/special teams (DST), you have to factor in things like how many points they will allow, how aggressive they are in forcing turnovers and the potential for return touchdowns from their special teams unit. I generally focus on the scoring and turnovers aspect because return touchdowns are just about impossible to predict.
The Oakland Raiders are an intriguing possibility this week against the Cleveland Browns. The Raiders are solid at forcing turnovers and have averaged two per game. I would also suspect the Browns would not score a whole ton of points in most games, let alone a huge emotional game in Oakland. It is the first Raiders home game since Al Davis passed away. Needless to say, it's going to be intense.
Here are the top 15 defense projections for today. You can view all the projections at numberFire.com. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams. Follow us on twitter @sbnationfantasy.
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