Streaming Defenses: Picking a Week 2 Defense

This article is part of our Streaming Defenses series.

Redskins - Considering how they played last week in Houston, I'm actually somewhat encouraged this unit may not be as bad as they were last season. They held Arian Foster to just 3.8 yards per carry, but looked pretty weak at times against the pass. Still they held the Texans to just three points on two trips to the red zone. This week they take on Toby Gerhart, who suffered an ankle sprain Week 1 at Philly, but was able to return to the game. Behind him are Denard Robinson and Jordan Todman, neither of which should be relied upon to move the chains. In the passing game, everyone is going to be looking to see what Allen Hurns has for an encore, after his 110 yard game with two touchdowns. The thing about his performance though is that it almost all of it came in the first quarter, as he had only one catch for nine yards in the second quarter and no catches in the second half. To me it seems that once the Eagles adjusted to Hurns, he was rendered ineffective. Beyond Hurns, we're going to see Marqise Lee, though he's dealing with a hamstring issue, and most likely the return of Cecil Shorts, though he's also dealing with a hamstring injury. Say what you will about the Eagles defense or lack thereof against the Jags early in that game, but they shut them out for about 70 percent of that game and held them to just 2-of-14 on third downs. If the Redskins can just do some of that, at home, they should be a pretty decent play. The only things that really scares me for this unit are DeAngelo Hall with his utter lack of talent at corner and the special teams, which allowed a blocked punt against the Texans, after being one of, if not the, worst special teams unit in 2013. Vegas has this over/under set at 43.5 with the Redskins favored by six, which puts this at about a 25-19 game. Facing the Jaguars at home, the Redskins defense/special teams have an ownership of eight percent at CBS Sports, 3.0 percent at ESPN, and four percent at Yahoo.

Dolphins - How was that for a 2014 debut at home? The Dolphins held the Patriots to just 315 total yards and an impressive 3.9 yards per play, third best in Week 1. Equally impressive, they sacked Tom Brady four times; hello Cameron Wake. This week though they have to go on the road for another division game, this time in Buffalo. E.J. Manuel does not scare me, though he did play a decent game against the Bears on the road, though I suspect that's a pretty bad Bears defense he went up against. Still, he only took one sack in that game and finished with a respectable 7.9 YPA. Right now the Dolphins are dealing with injuries to linebackers Koa Misi (ankle) and Philip Wheeler (thumb) and that's on top of Dannell Ellerbe (hip), who is on the IR and gone for the season. This worries me because if RB C.J. Spiller gets to the second level of the defense, there might not be much there to stop him. In the passing game, Sammy Watkins is still dealing with a rib injury, leaving Robert Woods to lead the way, as he did last week with a team-high six targets. I'm pretty excited to see what this Dolphins defense has for Week 2, but worry about their three starting linebackers being out and what sort of let down the team might have, after such a big win at home. Vegas has this over/under set at 43 with the Dolphins favored by one, which puts this at about a 22-21 game. Facing the Bills on the road, the Dolphins defense/special teams have an ownership of 33 percent at CBS Sports, 7.5 percent at ESPN, and 18 percent at Yahoo.

Raiders - No real way to sugar-coat it, the Raiders were pretty awful in Week 1 on the road in New York facing the Jets. Considering they haven't won on the East Coast since 2009, and they were playing an early game at that, which is like play at 10am their time, maybe that was to be expected. This week that changes, as they're back at home playing a late afternoon game against the Texans, who gained only 321 total yards in their home opener against the Redskins. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick did well to not take any sacks, in a run first offensive game plan. Speaking of which, stopping the run is going to be critical for the Raiders in this game, as they were exposed by the Jets RBs and will likely be seeing a heavy dose of Arian Foster this week, as the Texans again look for Fitzpatrick to manage the game. As a Texans fan myself, it's hard to be enthusiastic about this offense, when they managed only a field goal in the second half, and that was from 42 yards out, on top of the fact that they went 0-for-2 in the red zone, and only one of their two touchdowns was from the offense, and that was on a blown coverage. QB Derek Carr had a 4.7 YPA, which is pretty sad, but he's a rookie and it was Week 1, so he gets a bit of a pass. The real concern in this game is that J.J. Watt breaks him into tiny pieces and he turns the ball over a couple times, leaving the Texans in scoring range their offense didn't earn. Vegas has this over/under set at 39.5 with the Texans favored by three, which puts this at about a 21-18 game. Facing the Texans at home, the Raiders defense/special teams have an ownership of six percent at CBS Sports, 1.5 percent at ESPN, and one percent at Yahoo.

Giants - This Giants defense has got to be better than what they showed Monday night against the Lions on the road. They did well to hold the Lions to just 2.5 yards per carry, but that matters little when you're giving up 10.8 YPA to Matthew Stafford, who had what looked like a career game. Then again, maybe the Lions offense is just really really good and at home, they're going to be tough for anyone to face there. This week though the Giants get a home game against a feisty Cardinals team. It's somewhat tough to tell how good they are offensively, after facing the Chargers defense at home, a defense that was one of the worst in the league last season. The fear here is that the Cardinals defense manhandles Eli Manning and the Giants offense so badly that they turn the ball over or put the defense on short fields and they never get a chance to catch their breathe. RB Andre Ellington (foot), who seemed to be all but a lock to not play Monday night, in fact did suit up and played well. With more time to heal, he'll be a real concern for the Giants defensive front. The bigger concern though is Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald, the later of which is very likely to get peppered with targets, a week after seeing only four balls thrown his way. I like the idea of betting against Carson Palmer on the road, where he had more interceptions (13) than touchdown passes (12) last season. Another part of the reasoning here to take the Giants defense is that the Cardinals will be traveling to the East Coast for an early game, which will feel like playing at 10am their time. Vegas has this over/under set at 43 with the Cardinals favored by 2.5, which puts this at about a 23-20 game. Facing the Cardinals at home, the Giants defense/special teams have an ownership of 14 percent at CBS Sports, 3.3 percent at ESPN, and eight percent at Yahoo.

Titans - After upsetting the Chiefs on the road in dominating fashion, the Titans get to go home for a matchup against Tony Romo and the Cowboys. Romo is one of the big reasons to like the Titans in this matchup because, if he plays anywhere near the level he did in Week 1, the Cowboys won't need the Titans to play defense as they'll stop themselves from scoring points with idiotic turnovers. It almost makes you wonder if Romo is hurt or masking an injury, as he just didn't look right against the 49ers, lacking the normal mobility we're used to seeing from him. I like the Cowboys offensive line and think DeMarco Murray is in for a big season, but neither can stop Romo from throwing into double coverage. To their own credit, the Titans completely shutdown the Chiefs run game and then shutdown their pass game, sacking Alex Smith four times and intercepting him three times. New defensive coordinator Ray Horton is someone I've grown to like, since he was with the Cardinals from 2011-12 and then the Browns last season, before joining the Titans this offseason. His aggressive style is what may be the difference this season for the Titans. I expect Dez Bryant and Jason Witten to get theirs, but again, what Romo shows up to get them the ball? Vegas has this over/under set at 49.5 with the Titans favored by 3.5, which puts this at about a 27-23 game. Facing the Cowboys at home, the Titans defense/special teams have an ownership of 22 percent at CBS Sports, 5.7 percent at ESPN, and 15 percent at Yahoo.

Here are my rankings for this week, the next four weeks and the remainder of the season:

Finally, heres how the picks from the previous week faired:

Jets (vs Raiders) - 14 points allowed, two sacks

Lions (vs Giants) - 14 points allowed, two sacks, two interceptions

Eagles (vs Jags) - 17 points allowed, thee sacks, one fumble recovery, one touchdown, one blocked kick

Vikings (at Rams) - Six points allowed, five sacks, two interceptions, one touchdown

Raiders (at Jets) - 19 points allowed, two sacks, one interception, one fumble recovery