Playoff Special: Defensive Streamers
With the playoffs (Week 14-Week 16) coming up it’s important to make changes to your roster in order to best enable you to win a championship. While you will likely be rolling with your normal starting lineup, one position that you can often make a change for the better is D/ST. Your starting defense has likely payed off over the season with more good performances than bad, but just one bad game can cost you a championship in your league. Certain matchups for your top defense, such as Bears D vs Rams (Week 14), Texans D vs Colts (Week 14) or Steelers D vs Patriots and Saints (Weeks 15 and 16), should cause people to question whether that D/ST is truly the best play. Worry no more, for we at FFL have comprised a list of the best Defensive Streamer for each week of the playoffs, as well as the best defense overall that you can easily pick up off waivers. Owned Percentages are based on NFL.com leagues.
Week 14: Buffalo Bills D/ST
Rank: 13th
Matchup: vs New York Jets
Owned Percentage: 9%
Available in nearly all leagues, it might be hard to convince yourself to pick up the Bills D considering they looked like a semi-professional team earlier in the season, but since then they have recovered to become the 13th best fantasy defense and the 2nd best Total Defense (305 ypg). Combine that with a matchup against the New York Jets, and the Bills look like a pretty solid option. This game will be held in Buffalo, which is important considering that the Jets have scored just 11.3 PPG on the road since putting 48 on the Lions in Week 1. The Jets are also on a bit of a cold streak, to put it lightly, having yet to see a win since mid-October. One of those many losses includes a game against the Bills in Week 10, when the Bills embarrassed the Jets 41-10 with Matt Barkley leading the way. With Josh Allen back healthy, the Bills Offense should be more consistent and should be more capable at extending drives to give their defense plenty of rest. A staggering result like the Week 10 tilt may be too much to ask for, but expect the Bills to hold the Jets to a low point total, resulting in a good week in fantasy for the Bills Defense.
Week 15: Seattle Seahawks D/ST
Rank: 12th
Matchup: @ San Francisco 49ers
Owned Percentage: 27%
The fact that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the best Total Offense (454.3 ypg), yet are just 4-7 should tell you how bad the Bucs Defense is. The fact that the San Francisco 49ers only managed to put up 9 points on the Bucs last week should tell you even more about the 49ers Offense. The Seahawks D has put up just 8 points total over the last 4 weeks, but this should come as no surprise since the 4 game stretch included games against the Chargers, Rams, Packers, and Panthers. The Hawks are coming off back to back wins against the Packers and Panthers where the defense did enough to get the win, so expect the Seahawks Defense to do well against a not-so-good 49ers Offense. Luckily, we will get a game preview this week with these two teams facing off, which could give a little insight on how good of a play the Seahawks D will be in Week 15.
Week 16: Miami Dolphins D/ST
Rank: 13th
Matchup: vs Jacksonville Jaguars
Owned Percentage: 14%
The Miami Dolphins are one of the more inconsistent teams in the NFL, but they are lined up to face a Jaguars team who has been consistently bad, losing their last 7 games in a row. Whether Cody Kessler or Blake Bortles starts for this game, you shouldn’t expect either to put up a lot of points. The Jaguars Offensive Line injuries keep racking up with the most recent injury to Left Guard Andrew Norwell, which should give the Dolphins plenty of opportunities to get after the quarterback. Injuries to the O-Line should also dampen the Jaguars strength at the running back position. This game should be ugly and low scoring, with the ‘Fins finding a way to pull out a victory while allowing a low point total.
OVERALL: Cleveland Browns D/ST
Rank: 10th
Matchups: Week 14 vs Carolina Panthers, Week 15 @ Denver Broncos, Week 16 vs Cincinnati Bengals
Owned Percentage: 11%
Considering that the Browns Defense is ranked 10th so far through the season, they should be owned in all leagues. The fact that they’re the Cleveland Browns is most likely the reason that their defense is only owned in 11% of leagues, and picking them up for the playoffs could win you a championship. In Week 14 they play the Carolina Panthers, who are not only on a 3 game losing streak, but are 1-4 on the road and score significantly less in away games (20.4 PPG) than they do in their home stadium (30.8 PPG). Week 15 the Browns go on the road to play one of the most inconsistent offenses in the league in Denver and in Week 16 they play a Bengals team that just put their starting QB on IR and have a coach that is on the brink of getting fired. Things are looking up for the Browns Defense in the playoffs so make sure to pick them up in your league before a rival does.