Fantasy Football: Week 11 IDP Guide

Welcome back, ID people. At this point in the season you should pretty much have your guys that your starting every week. If you're not, don't worry about it, I still got your back(ers). We have tackled a bunch of other stats in the opening and this time we're going to address how rushing attempts against can help you. Rushing attempts are very nice for IDP because they usually aren't big plays, so the defense stays on the field. Let's see who's getting run on the most and break down those defenses:

1. Indianapolis Colts- This should be about as surprising as hearing that Adam Jones was at a strip club. The Colts have a turnstile for a front four and this allows Pat Angerer to be the leader in the league for tackles and Kavell Conner to come in at 10th. Antoine Bethea is leading all defensive backs in tackles, too. Their offense is about as dry as the Sahara and they can't win a game, but their IDP guys are the most glorious oasis you can imagine. Yes they have a bye this week, but they're 66 carries in front of the...

2. Cleveland Browns- The Browns have an improved defensive line on paper and they might be in the top half of defensive fronts in a few years. The problem is that they're extremely young and have a lot to figure out. They have two rookies on the left side with Jabaal Sheard and Phillip Taylor and a 25-year-old Ahtyba Rubin on the right to go with one of the worst defensive ends in the league with Jayme Mitchell (injured). Emmanuel Stephens could also leapfrog Mitchell as well. Changing gears, D'Qwell Jackson has done a wonderful job as an IDP asset as the seventh-highest scorer in a standard league. SS T.J. Ward is out for a month or so and Mike Adams has split the duties with Usama Young (hip). Young should be able to take the job, but Adams has more value since some of you can use him at CB. Scott Fujita is playing better and is a decent spot-start LB in deep leagues.

3. Kansas City Chiefs- In the past handful of years the Chiefs have spent four high first-round picks in an effort to improve their front seven with Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey, Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali. It hasn't helped much this year since they're 26th against the run this year. From what I've seen, and I'm not a certified expert on the subject, I've noticed that Chiefs have been favoring their edge rushers (OLB and DE) to the outside to allow their opponents to run more downhill by executing plays up the middle. You've probably heard of the "Wide 9" with the Eagles and it has a similar ideology (except it doesn't have a cool name). Derrick Johnson was off to a surprisingly slow start and has since turned it around and even has an AFC Defensive Player of the Week notch on his belt in their win over San Diego. Jovan Belcher is their other ILB and is coming off a doube-digit tackle effort vs. Tebow and co. To be perfectly frank, he's just not talented and most IDP people should ignore him (unless he gets another matchup against a run-happy team). Tamba has got a lot of pressure on the QB, but it hasn't translated into fantasy value with just six sacks and 39 tackles. Long story short, Derrick Johnson is elite, Jon McGraw is a decent option (when healthy) and no other guys should be relied upon for tackle production.

4. Seattle Seahawks- The Seahawks had a tough time getting off the field last year and haven't really improved with the 28th-most plays per game on defense. They have seen their points per game allowed drop from 25.4 in '10 to 22.4 in '11 though. Moreover, it might a bit of a surprise to you that Seattle is ranked fourth in YPC and just 12th in rushing yards per game. So on paper, it doesn't really make much sense that Seattle has seen so many carries outside of the fact that they had never been leading before halftime until Sunday. David Hawthorne was my sleeper of choice in the preseason and hasn't lived up to the billing with injuries and sub-par performance. However, since his bye he has eight tackles per game and two interceptions in those four games. Kam Chancellor has been a top-10 DB in most formats and should continue his strong season as long as his concussion doesn't cause him to miss games; his safety-mate Earl Thomas is also coming on as an IDP asset (more on him below).

5. St. Louis Rams- The Rams are terrible at stopping the run and they're still the worst in the league with 151. yards allowed per game. The last three games have been a horse of a different color with an impressive 83 yards per game. Before you anoint the Rams as the 2000 Ravens D, those games were against the Saints, Cardinals and Browns (all three in the lower half of rushing yards per game). From a personnel standpoint, the Rams D doesn't have much outside of Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Long and James Hall are capable pass rushers, but their defensive-tackle duo of Fred Robbins and Justin Babban is the worst tandem among all of the teams that run a 4-3 scheme. They are getting more pressure on the quarterback with 3.7 sacks per game in those last three, so maybe they can set up better at the second level to limit the 5.1 YPC they're allowing on the ground. As for their IDP guys, Laurinaitis is a high-end LB1 and should continue to be a force. Quintin Mikell and Darian Stewart and also have value with the tackles they make in the secondary ;Long and Hall are also decent plays against teams that pass a lot.

Week 11 IDP Guide is after the jump:

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Linebackers on the Rise

Karlos Dansby- The former Arizona Cardinal reportedly came to camp over his usual playing weight and now claims that he is back and ready to roll. His stats suggest just that with double-digit tackles in three of his last four and an athletic interception on Sunday. The Dolphins get a lot of run-happy teams in the next month and Dansby has a chance to be a top-10 option at this rate. He should be owned in all competitive leagues.

Kameron Wimbley- The Chargers decided to let Wimbley go off with franchise-record 4.0 sacks on Thursday Night Football. That was nice of them, right? Wimbley does have a couple nice games to his credit this season with also with a six-tackle, one-sack outing in Week 9 against the Broncos. He is someone to strongly consider for leagues that count several points for sacks since most of his remaining schedule involves teams that are prone to giving up sacks.

Perry Riley- Riley worked his way into the starting lineup at middle linebacker next to London Fletcher by kicking Rocky McIntosh to the curb. He had a nice game with nine tackles against the Dolphins to get off to hit the ground running. Riley was a fourth-round pick out of LSU as an outside backer and bulked up a bit to be moved inside. His performance from Sunday should be enough to keep McIntosh at bay and he could be someone to try out in deeper leagues.

Colin McCarty- The U product got the start at the Mike with Barrett Ruud unable to give it a go. McCarty had eight tackles and got most of the snaps against the Panthers. After watching that game again, I noticed that the Titans brought more than four players on a pass rush only six times and they dropped McCarty in coverage. This may have been a tactic to keep Cam in check, but if they do resort to this again against the Falcons, McCarty could be responsible for most of the tackles over the middle on Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, Julio Jones (if he plays) and Harry Douglas (14 targets last week). If Ruud is out again, he is a decent spot-start in some formats. Ruud did hit the practice field this week already though, so be sure to check for updates Sunday morning (I'll be updating on Twitter).

Von Miller- The former A&M stud is starting to separate himself from the pack as the best front-seven rookie and is probably the co-leader with Patrick Peterson for D player at this point in the season. Anyone that knows anything about football could have forecast Miller to be a stud with his 4.40 40-yard time and making college offensive tackles looklike Pop Warner guys when trying to block him. He is doing better in pass coverage and had a season-high seven tackles last week against KC. Andre Carter ripped the Jets for 4.5 sack lunches and Miller might wreak havoc on Wayne Hunter and co. once again.

Spencer Larsen- I threw Larsen in there for fun. He is LB eligible in ESPN leagues and got six carries last week. If your league has very low IDP scoring (no points for non-solo tackles and one point per sack or something), it's something to think about. If Jeremiah Johnson, signed from the practice squad, and Willis McGahee don't suit up, Larsen may get some carries again. Could you imagine how pissed your opponent would be if you started Larsen at LB and he scores? He's not ranked and he will need a perfect storm to score more than five points.

Start(s) of the Week

David Harris- Tebow and the Broncos should be attacking the middle of the defense with reckless abandon and Harris is playing just about every snap for the Jets. If I know the Jets (and I'm pretty sure I do since they're my team), head coach Rex Ryan and defensive play caller Mike Pettine are going to blitz the A and B gaps more than you may have ever seen in a game. That means the Harris could luck into a sack if he doesn't fall for a play fake. The two Kansas City starting middle linebackers,  Jovan Belcher and Derrick Johnson, put up 19 tackles against the Denver Tebows. The Jets rotate Bart Scott and Josh Mauga next to Harris, but expect Harris to have a monster game.

Daryl Washington- I had to throw in a second guy here because has such a great matchup. D-Dub is locked into the being the man in the middle for the Cardinals and is clearly improving. He has 9.5 tackles per game over his last two and he added his third sack of the season on Sunday. Washington is being more aggressive in the run game and meeting at the point of attack before most of his teammates. The Niners figure to run a ton at U of P Stadium and Washington might want to take Gore and Hunter out to a nice seafood dinner since they should get very familiar with each other. Calling them again is optional.

Defensive Backs on the Rise

Kurt Coleman- Coleman has been in this section several times this year and he had another big game on Sunday. He tallied 11 tackles with no defense against the Cardinals. This was his second game in a row (12 tackles in Week 9) and there's no doubt that he will get an overwhelming majority of the snaps now that the Eagles have waived Jarrad Page. The Eagles couldn't get off the field against the Cardinals and that trend should absolutely continue against Eli.

Earl Thomas- Thomas is starting to round into form with his third game in a row with eight tackles or more. He surprisingly only has one pick on the year and that should be changing at some point. What's more, Kam Chancellor, a tackling machine in the secondary, could miss Sunday's game with the Rams. That means that Thomas could have more responsibilities in the middle of zones and rack up some tackles against Pettis in the slot or Stephen Jackson on screens or swing passes.

David Caldwell- Caldwell hasn't quite strung together some games, but his last two out of three weren't bad with 11 tackles on Sunday and nine in Week 8. The Colts are getting shredded over the middle, wait a second, who am I kidding? Colts are getting shredded everywhere. Their opponents get to the second level constantly a nice chunk of Caldwell's tackles were in the run game. He's on a bye this week, so maybe add him to your watch list.

Da'Norris Searcy- IDP mega-stud George Wilson is dealing with stinger and he is currently questionable for Sunday's date in Miami. Searcy filled in for Buffalo and accounted for five tackles in close to a half of action. The beauty of Searcy is that he is a CB-eligible safety and those of you that need to start corners should strongly consider Searcy for this week (if Wilson is out; the Bills have an early game).

Start of the Week

Earl Thomas- This is the very first time all year where a non-SS gets hte start of the week. Thomas has been helpful in the run game more and more and is an integral part of their passing defense. He is a decent bet for a pick with the lack of continuity for Sam Bradford and his receivers.

Defensive Linemen on the Rise

Andre Carter- I've written about Carter more than any other DE since I started this column. He will probably will be written about by every other writer that cares about defense this week since he was the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his 4.5-sack gem against the Jets. He whipped the Jets with the edge rush and even came unblocked a couple times (unforgivable for the QB not to make the pre-snap adjustment). Carter should be a stud for the rest of the season with a schedule so beauty it would be the centerfold if someone had an IDP magazine for defensive linemen.

Ryan Kerrigan- Kerrigan was mentioned for the first two weeks of the season for being an OLB that is DE eligible. The Boilermaker was quiet for a while and he has since picked it up with back-to-back six-tackle games. He also added three sacks in that span and has really proven to be an every-week starter in most formats.

Jeremy Mincey- Mincey is another guy that has been named multiple times and he had himself a big day against the Colts with five tackles and 2.5 sacks. Yes, it's the Colts and there's a very good chance he won't get over two sacks in another game. Mincey does have an eight-tackle game to his credit and is ranked 15th among DL-eligible players with 32. That trend is increasing and he is getting more snaps as he gets more acquinted with his full-time role. He's a DL2 in most formats. If you can help it, DO NOT START HIM THIS WEEK AGAINST JOE THOMAS.

Start of the Week

Julius Peppers- I really hate to take a guy that is probably owned in every league worth a damn, but the Chargers offensive line is soo decimated. Peppers is a very good bet for multiple sacks and looks healthy.

Thanks for reading! You can post your comment below or send them to me on Twitter @MikeSGallagher (please provide league scoring for the best answer). Oh and don't forget to check out the most ridiculous waiver-wire article you'll see all week with Waiver Wire Scoops. You won't regret it!