Just as everyone expected, the Cincinnati Bengals are the highest-scoring fantasy defense, and the Houston Texans are the fourth-lowest-scoring fantasy defense. One of those defenses was drafted, and the other one wasn’t. Luckily for us on the Stream Team, we’re smart. We didn’t care about the grade Yahoo! or Sleeper gave us after the draft, and we didn’t draft a defense because we knew we’d get a new one every week.
When we look for our streaming defense, we’re not thinking so much about our team, but the matchup that we’re getting with the offense they’re playing. Over the past two weeks, we were fading the Browns, Titans, Texans, Falcons, and Cardinals … But we’re expanding that list this week.
These are four defenses that we’re looking to add this week. The only rule is that they have to be rostered in fewer than 30 percent of fantasy leagues (per Yahoo! Fantasy).
Green Bay Packers
- vs. Atlanta Falcons
- Falcons TT O/U: 17.5 (3rd-lowest)
- Rostered in 28% of leagues
We all know that the Packers defense mostly stinks. It’s a unit led by Jonathan Gannon, and they’re relatively toothless without Micah Parsons. So it’s less of a “blind leading the blind” thing, and more of a “bad leading the bad” thing.
However, they’re playing the Falcons … and the Falcons’ offensive floor is the 10th layer of Hell. Now, the hiccup is that Atlanta might be on the up and up, but might is doing a whole lot of work in that sentence.
They’ve been straight-up terrible on offense, and have (in)famously not run a play inside the red zone through two games. However, that was with Cooper Rush and Jack Strand as their quarterbacks. This week, they’re starting Michael Penix at quarterback.
We know that guy can spin it and run the offense, but he’s been recovering from his billionth knee injury. There’s a decent reason to believe that a Week 3 Thursday night game isn’t going to be the week that he gets in a groove.
We’ll all touch base next week and see if we’re still fading the Falcons.
Cincinnati Bengals
- vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
- Steelers TT O/U: 17.5 (3rd-lowest)
- Rostered in 19% of leagues
We’re going to make a jump here and think that the Bengals have a good defense. If that’s not your jam, that’s totally fine.
They weren’t super hot against the Buccaneers in Week 1, but they forced turnovers and got a pick-six. In Week 2, they got four sacks and only allowed the Texans to score six points. That was a good showing, but it was the Texans … and that’s an offense that’s got a whole lot of questions.
We’re focusing more on the Steelers here and how their offense looks fantastically terrible.
This is an offense that can’t get the ball moving on first down and can’t stay on the field on third downs. They're broken, and Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy know it. Their running game stinks, their passing game stinks, and at some point this season Chris Boswell is going to have a game where he kicks six field goals.
Carolina Panthers
- vs. Cleveland Browns
- Browns TT O/U: 20.5 (7th-lowest)
- Rostered in 16% of leagues
Last week, we took the Panthers because they were playing the Falcons, and we were the smartest people in the world. This week, they’re playing the Browns, and we’re going to keep being the smartest people in the world.
Against all odds, Deshaun Watson played a good football game in Week 2. That means that the plan of benching him going into the Browns’ home opener is in the trash can.
The thing is, Watson hasn’t put together a pair of good games in a looooong time (since 2021 with the Texans), and there’s no reason to believe that he’s going to do it against the defense that’s leading the NFL in takeaways.
There’s a really good chance this turns into another bloodbath, and we’re going to be on the right side of it.
Tennessee Titans
- vs. New York Giants
- Giants TT O/U: 20.5 (7th-lowest)
- Rostered in 5% of leagues
You’re going to feel like a real ding-dong when you put the Titans in your DST spot … just a reeeeaaaaal dumb-dumb … But this is a legitimately good spot for them if you’re looking for a defense with a high ceiling.
First off, the Giants don’t have Jaxson Dart. That means Jameis Winston is taking over.
In the past, he’s been a quarterback who’ll sling it. When he did that, he’d famously throw heaps and gobs of interceptions. When he came into the game against the Rams on Monday night, he looked completely different.
He was dirting the ball and missing guys in just about every direction you can imagine. Maybe it was because he wasn’t prepared, or maybe it was because that’s who he is now. If it’s the former, you’re going to get a lot of points … if it’s the latter, you’re not going to give up a lot of points.
Second, a sneaky injury that didn’t really affect that Monday night game was Andrew Thomas, the Giants’ left tackle, who injured his groin on New York’s last offensive play of the game. He’ll probably end up playing, but it won’t be at 100 percent.
The Titans defensive line is the best unit that they have on their entire team, and if the Giants have a compromised offensive line, there are going to be pressures … and if Jameis Winston gets pressured, he’s going to make mistakes, and he’s going to get sacked.
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