Going into the final week of the season, let’s look at the top five defenses for Week 17:
Fantasy Football Rankings, Week 17: Defense/Special Teams
The 49ers and Seahawks top our defensive rankings once again.
Otto Greule Jr
1. San Francisco 49ers- The 49ers defense has not played its best football the last couple weeks. A date with the Cardinals should fix that and give them a boost going into the post-season. They no longer will have to face a quarterback like Tom Brady but will face off against his former backup, Brian Hoyer.
2. Seattle Seahawks - Staying in the NFC West, Seattle has been playing some especially dominant defense in the month of December. They get to finish at home against St. Louis and should be able to roll over the Rams quite easily. Look for quite a few turnover opportunities also.
3. Denver Broncos- The Broncos held the Chiefs out of the end zone five weeks ago and Kansas City has not improved at all since then. With Brady Quinn at quarterback for the Chiefs, Denver will have a field day and should rack up sacks and turnovers.
4. Chicago Bears - With the playoffs on the line and playing an opponent that seems to have given up, the Bears should provide some great fantasy points. I think they’ll provide a return touchdown and some turnovers for those who start them this week.
5. San Diego Chargers - The Chargers are also facing a team that's a complete mess right now on offense, the Oakland Raiders. With Carson Palmer knocked out, the Raiders will start either Matt Leinart or Terrelle Pryor at quarterback. San Diego is coming off of a game in which they sacked the quarterback eleven times.
Let’s take a look at the leaders in defensive touchdowns and fantasy scoring through Week 16:
| Player | INT | Safety | Sack | DFR | TD | PA | FPTS |
| Bears | 23 | 0 | 40 | 17 | 10 | 253 | 266 |
| Seahawks | 17 | 0 | 36 | 13 | 6 | 232 | 228 |
| Broncos | 16 | 2 | 48 | 8 | 8 | 286 | 222 |
| Texans | 15 | 1 | 44 | 14 | 5 | 303 | 212 |
| Bengals | 13 | 0 | 48 | 16 | 3 | 303 | 202 |
| Patriots | 19 | 1 | 29 | 20 | 7 | 331 | 199 |
| Chargers | 13 | 1 | 38 | 14 | 8 | 329 | 198 |
| 49ers | 13 | 1 | 36 | 10 | 3 | 260 | 198 |
| Packers | 18 | 0 | 46 | 5 | 4 | 299 | 188 |
| Cardinals | 22 | 0 | 37 | 11 | 4 | 330 | 185 |
| Rams | 17 | 1 | 46 | 4 | 5 | 328 | 182 |
| Ravens | 13 | 0 | 35 | 12 | 5 | 321 | 171 |
| Jets | 11 | 1 | 30 | 11 | 5 | 347 | 170 |
| Vikings | 10 | 0 | 39 | 11 | 5 | 314 | 169 |
| Falcons | 19 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 277 | 167 |
| Panthers | 10 | 1 | 37 | 12 | 3 | 325 | 165 |
| Steelers | 9 | 0 | 33 | 7 | 1 | 304 | 163 |
| Browns | 17 | 0 | 36 | 12 | 3 | 344 | 160 |
| Giants | 20 | 0 | 32 | 14 | 3 | 337 | 160 |
| Dolphins | 10 | 0 | 41 | 6 | 3 | 289 | 153 |
| Redskins | 18 | 0 | 30 | 9 | 4 | 370 | 142 |
| Bills | 11 | 1 | 35 | 8 | 3 | 426 | 141 |
| Titans | 16 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 5 | 451 | 140 |
| Buccaneers | 18 | 0 | 25 | 8 | 4 | 377 | 137 |
| Saints | 14 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 4 | 410 | 131 |
| Cowboys | 7 | 0 | 33 | 9 | 4 | 372 | 131 |
| Colts | 10 | 0 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 371 | 128 |
| Lions | 11 | 1 | 32 | 6 | 0 | 411 | 112 |
| Raiders | 11 | 0 | 23 | 8 | 0 | 419 | 109 |
| Chiefs | 7 | 1 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 387 | 99 |
| Jaguars | 12 | 0 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 406 | 98 |
| Eagles | 8 | 0 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 402 | 95 |
Here are a couple of defenses that are sleepers for Week 17:
Buffalo Bills - The Bills are facing a Jets offense in complete disarray. They were planning on starting Greg McElroy but now must turn back to Mark Sanchez. Added to that, the Jets gave up eleven sacks to the Chargers last week. Buffalo will be looking to get revenge for the season opening blow out they received at the hands of the Jets.
Oakland Raiders - This is a team that hasn’t been playing that bad defensively over the last few weeks. The Raiders have finally been generating some turnovers and will look to end 2012 on a high note and at the same time perhaps end the Norv Turner era in San Diego.
Here are the defenses that have been sacking the quarterback over the last three weeks:
San Diego - 15
Green Bay, St. Louis - 12
NY Jets - 11
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. Seattle - 30
2. Carolina - 33
3. Green Bay - 40
4. Miami - 40
5. Minnesota - 42
Here are my rankings for Week 17:
| Ranking | Team | Opponent |
| 1 | San Francisco | Arizona |
| 2 | Seattle | St. Louis |
| 3 | Denver | Kansas City |
| 4 | Chicago | Detroit |
| 5 | San Diego | Oakland |
| 6 | NY Jets | Buffalo |
| 7 | NY Giants | Philadelphia |
| 8 | Pittsburgh | Cleveland |
| 9 | Houston | Indianapolis |
| 10 | Buffalo | NY Jets |
| 11 | New England | Miami |
| 12 | Baltimore | Cincinnati |
| 13 | Cincinnati | Baltimore |
| 14 | Green Bay | Minnesota |
| 15 | Tennessee | Jacksonville |
| 16 | Cleveland | Pittsburgh |
| 17 | Arizona | San Francisco |
| 18 | Washington | Dallas |
| 19 | Oakland | San Diego |
| 20 | Minnesota | Green Bay |
| 21 | Detroit | Chicago |
| 22 | St. Louis | Seattle |
| 23 | Atlanta | Tampa Bay |
| 24 | Jacksonville | Tennessee |
| 25 | Carolina | New Orleans |
| 26 | Tampa Bay | Atlanta |
| 27 | Dallas | Washington |
| 28 | Philadelphia | NY Giants |
| 29 | Miami | New England |
| 30 | Indianapolis | Houston |
| 31 | New Orleans | Carolina |
| 32 | Kansas City | Denver |
