Fantasy Football 2021: D/ST Streams Week 17

It’s here. The Championship weekend for most Fantasy Football Leagues. It’s been a great season! So far, we have seen some wild games and there’s more to come. We saw the Texans upset the Chargers. We’ve seen the Lions play harder than expected; and it showed on the field when they upset the Cardinals. Teams like the Colts and Eagles have played hard and put it all on the field with great games from stars like Jonathan Taylor‘s 5 touchdowns in Buffalo!

To top it off, this is the last fantasy football D/ST Streamer article of this season for me. It’s been a great time so let’s look back at last week’s picks.

• Eagles: 18pts – SUCCESS
• Chiefs: 11pts – SUCCESS
• Honorable Mention Saints: 8pts – SUCCESS
• Lions: 7pts – SUCCESS
• Jets:  8pts – SUCCESS
• Week 16: 5 Successes – 0 Busts
• Overall: 48 Successes – 19 Busts

When I wrote last week’s article, I put in the Lions and Jets as underdog plays, but both hit! We continue the streak of perfect picks with five more hits. That bring up our total to 21-0 since Week 11. I know the matchups and look at the stats, but a success rate over 70% seems unbelievable to me!

With that, I will take extra care to breakdown this week’s picks with care for those of you in the Championship game.

Number 3: Green Bay Packers 56.3%

The Packers are a team that I have not brought up much in these articles. For a team that’s available in just shy of half of leagues, they have 36 sacks and 18 interceptions to pair well with their 2 D/ST touchdowns. Since their Week 10 matchup against the Seahawks, the Packers D/ST has scored double digit fantasy points in four of their six games. The issue is those other two games were negative scores.

However, looking at the fact that Adam Thielen is on season-ending IR and Kirk Cousins now out on the Covid-IR, I believe this will be another double digit performance by the Packers. The Vikings have announced that Sean Mannion will be getting the start in this cold divisional matchup. Look for the Pack to focus on stopping the run while adding to Mannion’s career stats of 0 touchdowns to 3 interceptions by picking him off.

Number 2: Chicago Bears 22.6%

Da Bears! Andy Dalton and company will welcome the Giants to Chicago. The Daniel Jones-less Giants will be using Jake Fromm and Mike Glennon on Sunday. We saw last week just how bad the Giants are without Jones running the offense.

Add to that the 42 sacks from the Bears compared to ProFootballNetworks’ 28th rated Offensive Line is a great matchup for sacks. Also, their 3 D/ST touchdowns gives a decent chance of them scoring again. They are not the best play this week, but they are a solid option for fantasy football teams with little-to-no options. With Dalton behind center, the Giants are a fair play as well. I expect this to be a very defense heavy matchup.

Honorable Mention: Philadelphia Eagles (61.4%)

It’s the Eagles again. 25 sacks, 11 interceptions, and 5 D/ST touchdowns. They play the Washington Football Team without having to worry about Antonio Gibson, who was ruled out this week. They’re 10-5 in terms of hitting our D/ST Success/Bust marks. Expect them to hit once again.

Number 1: Houston Texans 9.5%

This is my landslide, only play if you’re desperate, could come back to bite you, play of the week.

Like both the Lions and Jets last week, the Texans are coming off a hot win against the Chargers. This week, they travel out west to play the 49ers and rookie QB Trey Lance. So far, Lance has done well for fantasy football when he plays. In the 1.5 games he played, he completed 24 of 37 passes for 349 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception.

Over the past two weeks, the Texans D/ST have put up 4 sacks, a fumble recovery, 2 interceptions, and 2 D/ST touchdowns. While Lance has all the potential in the world, he is still very raw. He also wouldn’t be starting if not for Jimmy Garoppolo‘s broken thumb. This is a prime opportunity for the Texans to keep the hot streak going when all is on the line for the 49ers’ playoff aspirations.

Thank you all the support this season! In my first year as a fantasy football writer, I’ve tried my hand at player breakdowns with a piece on Kenny Golladay and draft predictions with a piece on the historical trends of QBs and TEs in fantasy football. My true calling in writing seems to have been with D/STs though as my weekly articles became longer and more in-depth. It’s been a great ride and I look forward to writing more about players in the offseason. As always, good luck and may the streams flow your way!