Streaming Defenses - Week 16

Don't know about you all, but in our house this week is just chock full of events, visiting with family, and getting organized for our upcoming time off over the holidays. Lots of scrambling going on around here and attempts to install some sense of gratitude in my boys. What am I grateful for this season? Many things but let's start with Bob. Bob has been my fantasy football rock, coming back week after week to post. Hats off to you, Bob, and thank you for your diligent work and research. So here he is with this year's final streaming defense post. 

Well it’s the last week of the Fantasy Football Playoffs in most leagues, and my last post of the season. I hope you all found these posts useful. And if I failed you, you have to murder a lot more experts before you get to me. I myself have had a terrible playoff season. I’m out of all but one of my leagues due to the weird games the last two weeks. Between weather that didn’t materialize to normally consistent players coming up bust (yeah, I’m looking at you Brady and Bell), I’ve had the worst year in years. But at least it wasn’t because of my defenses. The big trend that came out of this season is the increase in streaming QBs. We may have to take a look at that next season.

Week 15 was weird for a lot of skill positions and the Defs had some surprises as well. The highly owned only averaged 8.7 points due in large part to busts by MIN and PHI, who should be dropped at this point. The streamers were hit and miss. Big hit for MIA, ATL and OAK, but misses on BAL, NO, and NYJ. At least CLE didn’t let us down. In fact, the only target for the streamers that didn’t produce was ARI.

Week 15 Highly Owned
Team	Opp	% Owned	Proj Pts	Actual
MIN	IND	98%	14	0
DEN	NE	98%	4	6
SEA	LAR	98%	12	14
NEP	@DEN	97%	13	17
KCC	TEN	94%	11	10
ARI	NO	93%	10	11
PHI	@BAL	72%	2	3
Avg				8.71
Streams for Week 15
BAL	PHI	62%	12	5
MIA	@NYJ	55%	10	21
ATL	SF	43%	9	10
OAK	@SD	45%	9	12
NO	@ARI	14%	8	5
NYJ	MIA	25%	8	5
BUF	CLE	62%	8	11
NYG	DET	29%	8	11
Avg				10.00

This week we see a diversification in highly owned teams, or should I say a more even distribution of ownership. This shows me that more and more people are streaming, as ownership changes quite a bit week to week. This week we have only six teams owned in more than 80% leagues. And I don’t like two of them to start. So we have a vast collection of 7 great streams this week, with one warning.

Week 16 Highly Owned
Team	Opp	% Owned	Proj Pts	Comment
SEA	ARI	98%	12	Another top target in ARI with SEA surging to the playoffs. Another big day for SEA who has been your lucky charm through the playoffs.
MIN	@GB	96%	4	It's sad how many people have hung on to the Vikes hoping to return to glory days. Zero points last week folks against the Colts!!! I've bailed on the Vikes and you should too…
NEP	NYJ	96%	14	This one shouldn't even be fair. Top DEF against the Top Givers. Best matchup this week. Win your league with the Patriots.
KCC	DEN	94%	12	DEN has averaged giving up 12 pts/game to top 10 DEFs. KC is 2nd best DEF. I'll take those 12 points please.
DEN	@KC	94%	6	Except for the Jags in week 13, the Broncos' Def have been pedestrian lately. Chiefs are 7th stingiest. Not a good matchup. If you start, temper expectations.
ARI	@SEA	88%	8	Talk about a defensive matchup. ARI won't score as many as SEA, but still worth a start.
Streams for Week 16
SDC	@CLE	32%	14	This is the matchup you waivered SD for in week 14, remember? Best stream of the week.
NYG	@PHI	34%	12	Another surging DEF you have to start against an offense that isn't sure of itself. 2nd best stream
DAL	DET	48%	11	DAL has also found its DEF lately avging over 13 pts/game over last 3 games. Lions have been more generous lately. DAL at home will post a great game. 3rd best stream.
GB	MIN	37%	8/12	This is my sneaky stream of the week. I don't know where to rank them though. Vikings are imploding, and GB is surging. Somewhere between 2nd and 4th best stream.
MIA	@BUF	57%	10/15	MIA is on a roll defensively, but BUF is a tough target. I still like this one, especially if there's weather involved. 4th best stream. Good upside with weather.
TBB	@NOS	12%	9	Only 12% owned??? The Bucs' Def is also surging eyeing the playoffs. NOS will score but will give up points too. 5th best stream.
LAR	SF	54%	8/12	This is a tough one for me to recommend, but it's the Niners, so you have to expect some giving. There could also be a post-Fischer resurgence, so I say start 'em. 6th best stream with upside.
PHI	NYG	69%	4	Another DEF you have to let go, if you haven't already.

Good luck and don’t forget to tell me next week that my streamers you started, single-handedly won your league for you. 

Happy Holidays!

Bob Tierney