D/ST rankings for wild card round fantasy football

When you get the best teams in the league facing each other, it’s going to be tough to rank their defenses and special teams units. I can make an argument for all of them except the Vikings, who will have a lot of trouble stopping Drew Brees in New Orleans.

The Patriots have had the best D/ST on the season and take on a team that barely made it into the playoffs, but that team has played some great football and been able to run the ball well with Derrick Henry, making turnovers and sacks even harder to come by. They’re still my No. 1 defense this week, but this group is bunched closely together in upside.

Predicting which teams will trail and be forced to consistently drop back to throw over and over is a good way to force teams into mistakes and the Saints are set up best for that scenario. That doesn’t mean Kirk Cousins won’t be able to put up fantasy points but he also could throw a pick six and take multiple sacks as they desperately try to gain back ground.