The defensive struggle this week appears to be the Sunday night game between the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans. These two teams are both ranked among the top ten defenses in the league and also are the top two fantasy defenses. I don't think this will be one of those field goal battles but I do think scoring will not come easily. Both Jay Cutler and Matt Schaub will probably be on their backs at some point in the game.
Fantasy Football Week 10 Rankings: Defense/Special Teams
Check out our Week 10 Defense/Special Teams rankings before setting your rosters this week.
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The Bears will probably allow twenty one points but I think they'll make up for that with their turnovers and sacks. Chicago should register two interceptions, one fumble recovery and three sacks. Arian Foster will really keep them on their toes but the Bears should limit him to less than a hundred yards on the ground.
On the other side of the field, the Texans will hold Chicago to twenty points. They’ll pick off one of Cutler’s passes and sack him three times. Brandon Marshall is the player that will frustrate the Texans the most but should only reach the end zone once.
Let’s take a look at the leaders in defensive touchdowns and fantasy scoring through Week 9:
| Player | INT | Safety | Sack | DFR | TD | PA | FPTS |
| Bears | 17 | 0 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 120 | 177 |
| Texans | 9 | 1 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 137 | 132 |
| Giants | 17 | 0 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 185 | 117 |
| Seahawks | 8 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 154 | 111 |
| Chargers | 8 | 0 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 157 | 107 |
| Broncos | 8 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 175 | 106 |
| Cardinals | 9 | 0 | 27 | 7 | 1 | 173 | 105 |
| 49ers | 6 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 103 | 105 |
| Packers | 10 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 187 | 100 |
| Patriots | 9 | 1 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 170 | 98 |
| Falcons | 10 | 0 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 143 | 94 |
| Vikings | 4 | 0 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 197 | 94 |
| Browns | 10 | 0 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 211 | 92 |
| Dolphins | 8 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 149 | 89 |
| Ravens | 9 | 0 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 176 | 87 |
| Panthers | 6 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 180 | 86 |
| Buccaneers | 13 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 185 | 85 |
| Jets | 7 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 200 | 82 |
| Redskins | 10 | 0 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 248 | 80 |
| Steelers | 4 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 164 | 78 |
| Rams | 8 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 186 | 77 |
| Bills | 6 | 1 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 248 | 73 |
| Bengals | 5 | 0 | 24 | 6 | 1 | 218 | 72 |
| Lions | 5 | 0 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 188 | 70 |
| Saints | 4 | 0 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 229 | 64 |
| Cowboys | 3 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 181 | 62 |
| Titans | 6 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 308 | 60 |
| Chiefs | 6 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 240 | 56 |
| Raiders | 5 | 0 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 229 | 55 |
| Eagles | 7 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 183 | 55 |
| Colts | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 191 | 53 |
| Jaguars | 4 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 219 | 44 |
The Giants should be able to force the Bengals into some turnovers and force them to rely on their passing game. Seattle gets the Jets at home and could turn this into an ugly game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jets were shut out. San Diego and Tampa Bay are not worthy of starts this week because their offenses will probably turn this game into a high scoring match. The Steelers, Cowboys and Eagles are pretty good starts but with Pittsburgh playing the lowly Chiefs, they would make for the best start of the three teams.
Here are the defenses that have been sacking the quarterback over the last three weeks:
New York Giants - 11
Carolina - 10
Minnesota - 9
If you play in a league that rewards teams that allow the least amount of points, here are the top five defenses in points allowed over the last three weeks:
1. San Francisco - 9
2. San Diego - 20
3. Houston - 22
4. Atlanta - 30
5. Miami - 32
Here are my rankings for Week 10:
| Ranking | Team | Opponent |
| 1 | Chicago | Houston |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | Kansas City |
| 3 | Houston | Chicago |
| 4 | San Francisco | St. Louis |
| 5 | Seattle | NY Jets |
| 6 | New England | Buffalo |
| 7 | NY Giants | Cincinnati |
| 8 | Detroit | Minnesota |
| 9 | Denver | Carolina |
| 10 | Baltimore | Oakland |
| 11 | Miami | Tennessee |
| 12 | Dallas | Philadelphia |
| 13 | Minnesota | Detroit |
| 14 | Tampa Bay | San Diego |
| 15 | NY Jets | Seattle |
| 16 | San Diego | Tampa Bay |
| 17 | Philadelphia | Dallas |
| 18 | Atlanta | New Orleans |
| 19 | Oakland | Baltimore |
| 20 | St. Louis | San Francisco |
| 21 | Jacksonville | Indianapolis |
| 22 | Cincinnati | NY Giants |
| 23 | Tennessee | Miami |
| 24 | Indianapolis | Jacksonville |
| 25 | New Orleans | Atlanta |
| 26 | Carolina | Denver |
| 27 | Kansas City | Pittsburgh |
| 28 | Buffalo | New England |
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