Week 15 has come and gone. I hope you survived your first week of the Fantasy Football Playoffs better than I did. I made the playoffs in five of eight leagues, and got knocked out in the first round in three of them. The only two I still remain in contention for are my leagues with Kickers and D/STs. What can I say? I’ve spent most of my season writing articles about D/ST streamers. That being said, let’s look at last week’s picks.
- Eagles: 5pts – SUCCESS
- Vikings: 13pts – SUCCESS
- Honorable Mention 49ers: 10pts – SUCCESS
- Bengals: 10pts – SUCCESS
- Week 15: 4 Successes – 0 Busts
- Overall: 43 Successes – 19 Busts
Since the Week 11 article, we haven’t missed a pick yet! 16-0, with this being a low week in total points between our D/ST streams. The only thing that makes these picks better are that most of the D/STs this week had low scores.
Four D/STs did literally nothing, or hurt your roster with both the Packers and Chargers D/STs scoring negative points. 12 of the 32 D/STs scored in the double digits this week, so having 25% of them in our picks is a good sign.
I will say that the Eagles did not play as well as I thought they would. The good news is they have a great matchup this week. With that, let’s look at this week’s picks. This week is the semi-finals in quite a few fantasy football leagues and with that, I give you what will amount to my boldest pick yet with two teams as my last pick.
Number 3: Philadelphia Eagles 38.2%
Once again, the biggest frenemy (friend and enemy) of this article are back on this list! 23 sacks and 9 interceptions are not something worth starting most weeks, but they have added an additional 4 D/ST touchdowns.
As a unit, the Eagles’ D/ST are averaging 6.0 fantasy football points per game; and boy, is it a wild ride! They have three games in the negative scores and four in the double digits. The good news is that they have an 9-5 record in my Success to Bust metric.
If that seemed a lot like what I wrote last week, it’s because I copied the same paragraph from last week’s article and just fixed the numbers. This week, they play another divisional rival in the New York Giants.
The last time they played the Giants, the Eagles’ D/ST held them to 13 points. However, that was with Daniel Jones behind center. The Giants will be without him the rest of the year and will be relying on Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm to finish the year. Neither are as good as Daniel Jones, and he’s not exactly elite.
Number 2: Kansas City Chiefs 25.9%
Another old friend has returned. The Chiefs were one of our best picks of the season when we picked them in Week 14 and they rolled the Raiders and scored 25 fantasy football points as a D/ST. This week is an incredibly juicy matchup. Either this pick will either hit or whiff, with them playing the Steelers.
The Steelers have been hot and cold all year. This Chiefs D/ST could show up again like they did Weeks 8 through 14. Last week’s game against the Chargers was one they could not walk out of with a great score as a D/ST. As a reminder, if you exclude last week, the Chiefs have let a total of six touchdowns over that six week run. The Chargers put up 4 TDs last week, making that 10 TDs over seven weeks. Add to that their 15 sacks, 9 fumble recoveries, and 9 interceptions in the same time frame, the Chiefs are a favorable fantasy football D/ST stream this week.
Honorable Mention: New Orleans Saints (61.3%)
The Saints’ D/ST has been averaging 6.9 fantasy football points per game this season. After shutting out Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, they will look to try to do the same to Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins.
Number 1: Detroit Lions 1.1% & New York Jets 2.3%
Here are my bold plays. If you are the an underdog this week in the semifinals and need a D/ST play that could go off and win you the week, both the Lions and Jets have the potential.
The Lions are playing the Falcons and the Jets play the Jaguars. These two are both coming off of weeks where they hit the success mark. These are desperation plays that are probably better for DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports), but they have the chance to help underdogs.
There are plenty of other D/STs I’d rather play this week. For instance, the Bears, Seahawks, and Chargers have decent matchups, as do the Rams; but going into the Fantasy Football Playoff Finals, I wanted to mention these two teams.
Good luck this week with your playoff matchups. May the streams flow your way! It’s been a great season and I appreciate all of you for giving me this opportunity.
Hunter Greene
Hunter started writing for The League Winners in the summer of 2021. Hunter has been playing fantasy football for about a decade, starting in middle school. Now he’s a professional landscaper and avid Colts and Purdue fan.