Welcome to Week 15 and the playoffs! Last week was interesting for streaming defenses, as the Titans performed well if your league was on Yahoo (or a similar platform that didn’t penalize yards allowed). And in turn of the opposite, the Buccanneers held their opponent to under 300 total yards, which was great for leagues that reward fewer yards allowed, like ESPN. But to top it all off, we had the Dolphins score the second-highest points on defense in fantasy last week! Fun fact: Miami is on a four-game winning streak and now shares the same record as Kansas City does. (Disclaimer: this fact is only fun to those outside the Kansas City metro area) But now we have arrived at the playoffs, and whether you are playing for it all or just simply trying to avoid the last-place penalty, let us look ahead to a full slate of games with all the bye weeks behind us and pick out some home teams that are rostered around 50 percent of leagues or fewer!
Please note that there’s a decent chance that better teams above this 50 percent threshold are available in your league, but we can’t assume they’re available to everyone. We have to draw the proverbial line somewhere, so stay active and monitor the league home page; someone might drop a desirable defense after waivers clear.
San Francisco 49ers
Opponent: vs. Tennessee Titans
ESPN % Rostered: 23%
Yahoo % Rostered: 26%
San Francisco comes into this home game with an extra week of rest, which should greatly benefit this team that has been suffering from injuries on both sides of the ball more than most teams this season. They went into their bye week on a two-game streak of double-digit fantasy points on defense, and that trend looks to continue as they host a Tennessee team that is second-worst in the league across a multitude of offensive stats, such as both passing and rushing yards per game, as well as total points scored on the season. That combines to make them the league’s worst team per offensive yards gained on the season. The Titans have the second-most fumbles on offense in the league and have registered three turnovers in their last two games. Although running back Tony Pollard exploded last week against Cleveland, the 49ers’ defense is allowing the fourth-fewest rushing touchdowns on the season.
Chicago Bears
Opponent: vs. Cleveland Browns
ESPN % Rostered: 13%
Yahoo % Rostered: 22%
As for the team with the most turnovers on defense, Chicago will host a Cleveland team that has turned the ball over six times over their last three games. Until last week, the Browns had not gained 300 yards of total offense since Week 5. Given that it was at home against the Titans in a game that they still lost, I am not overly concerned about a repeat performance on the road against the Bears. Chicago is currently on a four-game interception streak, and it will be interesting to see if that gets extended to five weeks from this game. Quarterback Sheduer Sanders has thrown an interception in two of his three starts this season. Fun fact: the Bears are the most disciplined defense through 14 weeks, giving up the fewest penalty yards as a unit in the league.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Opponent: vs. New York Jets
ESPN % Rostered: 41%
Yahoo % Rostered: 38%
Since the trending topic for this week’s submission seems to be turnovers, I should mention that Jacksonville sits behind Chicago as the second-highest in the league in total turnovers on defense. They look to host the Jets this week, who are coming off a game where they threw a combined three interceptions between their two quarterbacks for that game. It is also worth mentioning that they gave up six sacks to the Dolphins in that same game and have given up multiple sacks per game since their bye five weeks ago. The Jaguars are coming off back-to-back double-digit performances which they generated a combined five turnovers and a safety. They’ve dominated on defense in three of their last four games and now will take on a New York team that isn’t certain who will be starting at quarterback, as head coach Aaron Glenn said the team is still evaluating the injury status of Tyrod Taylor (groin) and Justin Fields (knee) and are preparing third string quarterback Brady Cook just in case.
After the Cut
Philadelphia Eagles (E:59% Y!:72%) – The Eagles ended last week with a bitter taste in their mouth and will now host the Raiders this week, who will travel across the country for the 1 pm kickoff.
Dallas Cowboys (E:12% Y!:11%) – For the deeper competitive leagues, Dallas will host a Vikings team that has turned the ball over on offense the most this season by a good amount.
Kansas City Chiefs (E:24% Y!:51%) – This one is a double-whammy that they face a Chargers team that allowed seven sacks last week in addition to two turnovers, but also a great add/stash for next week when they will play the Titans!
If you see something I don’t, leave a comment or hit me up with feedback @MikeoftheFF on Twitter or find me on Reddit!
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by Jordon Kelly / Icon Sportswire & Susan Wilkinson/Unsplash