Best DST Streaming Options For Week 9 Fantasy Football: Falcons, Patriots, Chargers
We went two for three last week, as the Chargers and Jaguars took care of business but the Falcons found themselves on the wrong end of Will Levis’ breakout game, although they at least finished with a positive outing.
Unfortunately, we are heading into what should be another risky week, as most of the choicest matchups are falling to some of the league’s worst defenses. Hopefully we can dodge the landmines and find gold on the waiver wire this week with help from FantasySP’s DST Projections. Let’s get into it!
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Week 9 Fantasy Football Defense Streaming Options
Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings
The Falcons can’t get blown up in back-to-back weeks by rookie QBs making their NFL debuts … right? With Kirk Cousins done for the season and new trade acquisition Joshua Dobbs not having time to learn the playbook, the Vikings will be rolling out fifth-rounder Jaren Hall under center this week.
Given that the Vikings are one of the least efficient running teams and, not unrelatedly, one of the most pass-heavy teams in the NFL, Hall will not be able to game-manage this one away. I expect at least a few sacks and a turnover or two, as well as low points allowed, which should land the Falcons near the top of the DST leaderboards this week. Our DST Rankings agree, projecting Atlanta for 0.8 INTs and 2.6 sacks as the DST4. They are currently available in 60% of leagues, and that number may not fall much given their disappointing Week 8 performance.
Los Angeles Chargers @ New York Jets
The Chargers featured on this list last week, and they took full advantage of a Sunday night matchup with Tyson Bagent and the Bears, allowing just 13 points and recording two interceptions. They have another juicy primetime matchup this week, heading to New York to face Zach Wilson and the Jets. Aside from that bizarre week where he outplayed Patrick Mahomes, Wilson has been one of the league’s worst QBs again this season.
To his credit, Wilson hasn’t actually made that many big mistakes this season, with the 11th-lowest turnover-worthy play percentage among 36 qualified QBs. However, he is also seventh in sacks taken and has the sixth-lowest yards per attempt of that group, and it shows in the Jets’ 273 yards per game, the fourth-worst in the league.
As I mentioned last week, the Chargers’ defense has been solid all season when given decent matchups, hopefully that is the case again this week. They are the second-highest-projected unit in our DST Projections and rostered in just 20.4% of leagues.
New England Patriots vs. Washington Commanders
If you’ve read this column before, you know we’ve been targeting Sam “Sacks” Howell nearly every week, usually to great success. Nothing gives fantasy defenses a safer floor than sacks, and nobody takes more than Howell. However, something changed in Week 8. Howell got the ball out faster than he has all season and only took one sack all game for a sterling 5.6% pressure-to-sack ratio.
With that said, I’m not convinced that this leopard has changed his spots. According to PFF, Howell took sacks on 26.7% of his pressured dropbacks across three years in college. In his one game in 2022, he took sacks on 25.0% of his pressured dropbacks. Over the first seven weeks of this season, that number was at least 20% in every single game, and over 45% three times. I’m willing to take a chance on the Patriots’ defense, rostered in just a quarter of leagues, putting enough pressure on him to bring back the sacks.
Rapid Fire:
- Las Vegas Raiders (9.8% Rostered) vs. New York Giants: The Raiders are a dumpster fire, but they are at home against the best fantasy matchup in the NFL in the Giants, who are averaging an atrocious 12 points a game.
- Minnesota Vikings (13.1% Rostered) @ Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons appear to have finally benched Desmond Ridder, but Taylor Heinicke isn’t any better. This isn’t the best matchup of the week, but the Vikings are much better defensively than most of the teams on this list, with the ninth-most fantasy points so far this season.
- Green Bay Packers (20.1% Rostered) vs. Los Angeles Rams: Our Projections, which I’ve learned to trust, absolutely love this matchup against a Rams team that is going to be without Matthew Stafford, landing the Packers as the DST1 this week.
