This article first appeared on RotoBaller.com

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The dreaded bye weeks strike their mightiest blow in Weeks 8 and 9, so streaming knowledge is important now more than ever! Below are RotoBaller’s Week 9 defense tiers and rankings, or which defenses to stream and start for Week 9 of the NFL and fantasy football season. Our tiered defense rankings are your guide to drafting defenses, making waiver wire pickups/adds to improve your lineups, and to decide which defenses to start, sit, target, avoid or stream for Week 9.

Starting the right defense every week can be a difference-maker, so we have broken out our defense rankings into tiers with analysis on each matchup. Some of these Week 9 defenses have good matchups and are not widely owned, representing fantasy scoring opportunities if they are available on your league’s waiver wire for a Week 9 pickup or add.

I’ve been trying out a new format lately, touching briefly on each team that I have ranked instead of picking just a few to analyze in depth. Let me know what you think on Twitter (@Roto_Dubs). Good luck in Week 9 RotoBallers!

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Week 9 Defenses To Start & Stream: Tiers & Rankings

Teams on bye: Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots

Tier 1 Defenses (The “Duh” DSTs)

1. Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. CIN)

The NFL’s offenses were afforded a week of reprieve from the fiercest defense this side of the Iron Curtain, but the Jags are back for blood in Week 9. They’ll get a home matchup against the Bengals, who are currently tied for second in the NFL for total giveaways (15). As if you needed more incentive to start the Jags, the Bengals have also allowed the ninth-most sacks through eight weeks.

2. Los Angeles Rams (@ NYG)

The Rams DST had ripped off three straight double-digit performances heading into their Week 8 bye, and now they get a crack at the Giants, who currently boast the fourth-worst offense in the league. Eli Manning is still without much in the way of weapons outside of Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, and there is absolutely no run game for the Rams to worry about. This is a high-floor, high-ceiling matchup.

3. Buffalo Bills (@ NYJ)

The Bills are positively rolling right now, and they’ll head into a Thursday night matchup with the division rival Jets tied for the league lead in takeaways. Josh McCown has actually been playing halfway-decent football lately, but throw in the fact that the offense has a short week to prepare and I think the Bills are a slam-dunk here.

Tier 2 Defenses (Rock-Solid Starts)

4. Philadelphia Eagles (vs. DEN)

Pending Monday night’s showdown with the Chiefs, the Broncos offense ranks 24th in average points scored per game. Trevor Siemian simply can’t move the ball, and C.J. Anderson has only shown flashes of excellence over the course of the season. They’re also ceding the ninth-most sacks (again, before the Monday night game), so there is plenty of potential for that as well for the Eagles DST. One of the league’s stingiest run defenses won’t let you down here.

5. Detroit Lions (@ GB)

Brett Hundley had the bye week to continue to acclimate himself to the offense, but given the success Aaron Jones has had on the ground lately I don’t see the Packers asking him to do much more than they have so far. The Lions, like most, faltered against the Steelers offense, but they should get back on track here against the stunted Packers offense.

6. Baltimore Ravens (@ TEN)

The Ravens trounced the hapless Dolphins in Week 8, but they’ll be faced with a tougher test in a healthy Marcus Mariota and the Titans offense. Still, the Ravens are tied with the Bills for the league lead in takeaways, and they should be able to force one or two against Mariota while keeping points off the board.

7. Seattle Seahawks (vs. WAS)

While the Seahawks were shredded on the scoreboard by DeShaun Watson on Sunday evening, they still managed five sacks and three interceptions, one of which they returned for a touchdown. I don’t think Kirk Cousins will be able to come into Seattle and do the same thing. The Seahawks are still top-seven in the league in points allowed per game, which means you can continue to trust their floor in all but the toughest matchups. Home against the Redskins is NOT one of those tough matchups.

8. Houston Texans (vs. IND)

Sure they got reamed by Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, but that offense is a very different animal than Jacoby Brissett‘s impotent Colts squad. The Texans basically have performed as expected this year–well against bad teams, poorly against good teams. For example, vs. KC in Week 5 they had -7. Home vs. the Browns in Week 6? 23. At Seattle last week? -4. The matchup against the Colts falls in the “bad teams” category, so I like the Texans for a big bounce-back performance.

Tier 3 Defenses (Decent Streamers)

9. Arizona Cardinals (@ SF)

The Cardinals DST has disappointed at almost every turn this year, but this matchup is too good to resist. The 49ers enter Week 9 as the 29th-worst scoring offense in the league, and even when Carlos Hyde is playing well there just isn’t any chance that the SF offense explodes, particularly against a team with so much talent. There are very few stats that paint the Cardinals DST in a favorable light, but the only thing that really matters here is who their opponent is.

10. New Orleans Saints (vs. TB)

After an explosive few weeks, the Saints DST has fallen back to Earth a bit. They have, however, posted at least one interception in each of the last five weeks, and will be facing a floundering Tampa Bay offense at home. Jameis Winston may have aggravated his shoulder injury in last week’s contest against the Panthers, so it could very well be Ryan Fitzpatrick that the Saints end up facing. If that’s the case, the Saints will jump into the second tier.

11. Cincinnati Bengals (@ JAX)

The Bengals DST has quietly provided halfway decent value in a majority of weeks, and they should find some success against Jacksonville in Week 9. Blake Bortles is still very capable of a meltdown, but the real factor here is going to be what the game flow looks like. If the Bengals offense is unable to get anything going, the Jags will be able to lean on Leonard Fournette, which will limit the Bengals DST’s upside. The big positive here is that there is almost no chance of an implosion, which means the Bengals should be a good, safe play for those who aren’t really concerned with upside.

12. Carolina Panthers (vs. ATL)

The Panthers DST has three or more sacks in all but one game this season, and they’ve done it against some legitimate offensive lines. They’ll be put to the test against Atlanta, who are 25th in the NFL in total sacks allowed. This is not the same offense that ran the gauntlet to the Super Bowl though, and this could be a low-scoring affair. With Matt Ryan playing at a far-from-explosive level, the Panthers will need to focus on shutting down Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman. I think they’ll keep them in check here, giving the Panthers some streaming appeal.

Tier 4 Defenses (Deep Streamers)

13. Oakland Raiders (@ MIA)
14. Tennessee Titans (vs. BAL)
15. Denver Broncos (@ PHI)
16. Green Bay Packers (vs. DET)
17. Miami Dolphins (vs. OAK)
18. Atlanta Falcons (@ CAR)

Tier 5 Defenses (Desperation Plays)

19. New York Jets (vs. BUF)
20. Kansas City Chiefs (@ DAL)
21. Dallas Cowboys (vs. KC)
22. Washington Redskins (@ SEA)
23. New York Giants (vs. LAR)