Streaming Defenses: Week 16 Targets

Dec 21, 2021

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I’m old enough to remember a time in TV history when cable was a luxury and adjusting the “bunny-ears” antennae was a way of life. Whenever tuning the signal dial just wasn’t cutting it, you had to adjust the tin foil crunched around the end of the “ears”. Satellite TV back then sounded like a sci-fi fever dream. Even if you had the better services, there still weren’t that many channels to choose from.

Now, though, we are firmly in the era of streaming.

More Week 16 Streaming: QB | TE | K

So many options are just a click away these days, and all on-demand. You don’t have to get tied down to one provider. Sure, not every choice is available all the time, and you don’t always know where to look among what’s available. Still, that’s what this column is for: to guide you through the world of streaming… defenses.

I explained in my introductory article to the concept that streaming defenses is one of the most sound ways to approach the position in fantasy football, as well as how to do it, and what to look for from a statistical perspective in a defensive streamer.

This column will combine that approach with our own Sam Hoppen’s analytical model for streaming defenses. Sam’s model utilizes Vegas lines for predicting points scored by the opposing defense, opposing quarterback history for interception rates, and both the offense and defense’s history of allowing sacks – the most predictive parts of defensive scoring on a weekly basis.

With all that out of the way, let’s dim the lights and press play on the main feature. Here are four defenses to consider picking up ahead of Week 16.

Week 15 Review

Top Streamers

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. HOU – 2 pts. (t-DEF24)
Cleveland Browns vs. LV – 7 pts. (t-DEF12)

Deep Plays

Minnesota Vikings at CHI – 15 pts. (DEF4)
Philadelphia Eagles at WAS – N/A pts. (DEF TBD)

It would have been hard to top last week’s startable sweep, so naturally, this week’s edition of the column had to come back to earth a bit. The Jaguars weren’t able to rally after the firing of toxic head coach Urban Meyer and ended up giving their division rival Texans 30 points in the game. The Browns held their own despite being one of the teams ravaged by COVID-19 this week, limiting the Raiders to 16 points in the game, while sacking quarterback Derek Carr twice and forcing two takeaways.

On Monday night, the Vikings won in a low-scoring away game, earning three sacks and forcing three fumbles to put up the fourth-best defensive showing on the week. The Eagles have yet to play on Tuesday night as of publication, due to a COVID outbreak-induced rescheduling.