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Week 15 Defenses to Stream (Fantasy Football)

Week 15 Defenses to Stream (Fantasy Football)

A higher-owned defense than I typically include headlines the picks. They’re not my favorite defense, though. That distinction goes to the second featured defense below. The four streaming selections are rounded out by a pair of defenses that played well in wins for their respective clubs last week.

*Spreads and totals are from Pinnacle, and stats and ranks in the tables are from Pro-Football-Reference and do not include the Monday Night Football game.

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Denver Broncos

Opponent Spread/Total Ownership
ESPN/Y!
Points Allowed Per Game (Rank) Turnovers Forced (Rank) Sacks (Rank)
@ IND -2/41 62.2%/77% 24.2 (T-23rd) 13 (T-27th) 30 (T-19th)

 
It’s been far from a banner year for a defense that entered the season on the heels of a few straight top-shelf campaigns. As you can see in the table, they rank below average in points allowed per game, turnovers forced and sacks. Having said that, they are coming off of shutting out the Jets. Simply calling it a shutout doesn’t do the effort justice, either. It was complete domination. The Broncos held the Jets to 100 total yards of offense, forced two turnovers, recorded four sacks, and allowed just six first downs, per Pro-Football-Reference. Yes, they benefited from knocking Josh McCown out of the contest (more on that to come), but McCown was already struggling mightily prior to being knocked out of the contest and replaced by Bryce Petty. The Broncos are on the road, but they are favored against the Colts in another plus matchup. Indianapolis has an implied team over/under total of only 19.5 points, and they feature one of the worst offenses in football. The Colts rank 30th in scoring offense (16.3 points per game), tied for last in yards per play (4.6), and last in sacks allowed (51) by a staggering margin of seven. To put that margin in perspective, it’s the same as between the second highest sacks allowed total and the 10th highest total this season. If Denver’s defense’s poor performance resulted in them being cast in the free-agent pool, scoop them up. Among the streaming options, they’re my second favorite choice behind the next featured unit.

New Orleans Saints

Opponent Spread/Total Ownership
ESPN/Y!
Points Allowed Per Game (Rank) Turnovers Forced (Rank) Sacks (Rank)
vs. Jets -14.5/47 34.2%/37% 20.2 (T-10th) 18 (T-11th) 34 (T-11th)

 
As promised, here’s the more on McCown leaving last week’s game injured. He’s out for the remainder of the year, and Petty was just 2 for 9 for 14 yards replacing McCown. Petty’s yet to showcase anything resembling NFL-caliber play at quarterback with a 54.2% completion percentage, three touchdown passes, seven interceptions, 5.8 yards per pass attempt, 4.0 adjusted yards per pass attempt, and 13 sacks taken in seven games played in his career. Coming off of a loss to the Falcons on Thursday Night Football, the Saints get some extra rest heading into this week’s game against the Jets. With both Ken Crawley and Marshon Lattimore healthy last week, the Saints defense was solid allowing 20 points and forcing three turnovers against the far more talented offense of the Falcons. The Jets will provide them a cakewalk. The Saints are easily my favorite streaming option on defense this week (they are the biggest favorites on the slate), and their ceiling is leading D/STs in scoring in Week 15.

Buffalo Bills

Opponent Spread/Total Ownership
ESPN/Y!
Points Allowed Per Game (Rank) Turnovers Forced (Rank) Sacks (Rank)
vs. MIA Not Posted 32.4%/38% 22.3 (16th) 20 (T-9th) 21 (T-28th)

 
The Bills were without starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor in last week’s snow-filled slugfest against the Colts in Buffalo. There isn’t much to draw from Nathan Peterman‘s second start as a result of the weather conditions, but he was unable to complete the game due to suffering a concussion. He’s now in the concussion protocol, and Joe Webb relieved him.  According to Sal Maiorana of the Democrat & Chronicle, Taylor thought he was healthy enough to play last week. Taylor remains day-to-day, per head coach Sean McDermott. If Webb is forced to start this contest, the Bills defense would be far less appealing. However, given Taylor’s apparent feelings that he was healthy enough to play last week, I’m currently treating the defense as if it will be Taylor under center this week, thus, giving the offense a chance to stake the defense to a fantasy-scoring friendly lead. The Dolphins entered last night’s game as one of the most turnover-prone offenses with the fourth most (23) this season. In addition to struggling to take care of the ball, they simply haven’t been good with the sixth-lowest yards per play (4.8) and tying for 27th in scoring offense (17.4 points per game). Looking ahead at the weekend weather report from Weather.com, it appears snow showers are likely, and that could once again play in the favor of the defenses, providing further incentive for streaming the Bills defense. Snowy weather should cool down — I’m not sorry for this awful pun — a Miami offense that scored 27 points and totaled 362 yards of offense, per ESPN’s box scores, against the Patriots last night.

Dallas Cowboys

Opponent Spread/Total Ownership
ESPN/Y!
Points Allowed Per Game (Rank) Turnovers Forced (Rank) Sacks (Rank)
@ OAK -2.5/46 32.2%/16% 22.6 (T-17th) 18 (T-11th) 32 (T-13th)

 
Dallas’ defense failed to accumulate the sacks I expected last week when touting them with zero, but they did hold the Giants to 10 points and force a pair of turnovers. They’re once again a streaming option as a road favorite against the mediocre-or-worse offense of the Raiders. For the year, Oakland is tied for 21st in scoring offense (20.3 points per game). The Raiders have done a poor job of taking care of the football and rank tied for the seventh most turnovers this year with 20. The Cowboys are a thoroughly average defense across the board. They’re not a high-ceiling selection, but their floor is rock solid.


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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.

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