Fantasy Football Week 12 Streaming Defenses: Raiders, 49ers, and More

They say defense wins championships, but the NFL has taken so many steps toward becoming an offensive league that defense is often trying to keep up rather than drive winning.

Top defenses can still be successful; the Eagles shut down the Chiefs in the Super Bowl to the point that Kansas City never really had a chance. If a team can't succeed offensively, though, and have to fight for every point, there is too much stress on a game-to-game basis, and something usually goes wrong.

(Just take the Browns, who had a big defensive day holding down Lamar Jackson and the Ravens on Sunday but lost when the offense couldn't move the ball and eventually turned the ball over and gave up the lead. That's a common story for Cleveland this season.)

Following the theme of defense, let's look at three D/ST units with good matchups in Week 12 that are widely available in fantasy leagues and can be picked up and inserted into your lineup. Most stats are from NFL.com.

Use FantasySP's waiver wire tool to find the players who are being added to fantasy rosters most often each week.

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns

The Raiders aren't just bad; they have become a meme-worthy joke of the league. Sitting at 2-8, they are better than only the Titans and Giants by record, and it's not likely to get much better before the end of the season. Their only winnable games on paper are this week against Cleveland and Week 17 against the Giants.

Their offense is putrid, and defense isn't much better, though it is the stronger unit. Maxx Crosby is a menace and better than any player on the offense, so he makes the D better almost by default. With the matchup heavily in their favor, the Raiders could find success defensively in Week 12.

Cleveland has been bad all season, scoring the fourth-fewest points per game. Under both Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel, the team failed to move the ball or score points regularly, and opposing fantasy defenses have a nice floor against the Browns.

The ceiling rises this week, as Gabriel suffered a concussion in Week 11, giving way to Shedeur Sanders for the first time. Sanders was awful, completing four of 16 passes for 47 yards with an interception, two sacks, and a fumble that Cleveland recovered.

Much was made of Sanders not having reps with the first offense in practice, and that is a factor, but he was a fifth-round pick for a reason; Sanders isn't ready to play NFL football. He will probably look better by default just because of how bad he was in relief of Gabriel, but Sanders is highly unlikely to play even average football.

With the rookie expected under center and Cleveland sporting a below-average offensive line, the Raiders have a good outlook on defense. The Browns probably won't score much, and there will be opportunities for sacks and turnovers, setting up Vegas for a nice week (even if Gabriel were to play).

New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons

There was preseason buzz around the Falcons as a possible playoff team. I didn't buy in; they had improved the defense, but Atlanta still didn't have much top-line talent on either side of the ball, leaving them below the level of a contender.

Things haven't gone well, including injuries on the offensive line and now to quarterback Michael Penix, who will likely miss the rest of the season. Kirk Cousins has taken over, and Cousins has been really bad in relief of Penix, averaging just 4.8 yards per pass on 52 attempts.

Like Sanders, it will be different with Cousins getting the first-team reps in practice, but that was the case a few weeks ago against a bad team in Miami, and Cousins had just 173 yards on 5.6 per attempt with no touchdowns or interceptions. It's tough to expect big things from Atlanta's veteran quarterback, particularly with Drake London questionable.

New Orleans isn't a great defense, tied for the 11th-most points per game allowed. They are tied for the seventh-fewest interceptions and the ninth-fewest sacks, not often making plays that result in fantasy points. I don't want to count on the Saints many weeks.

They are here because of the matchup. The Falcons have scored the sixth-fewest points per game with their starter in the lineup and now must deal with a lineup in flux. New Orleans is a low-level streamer, but things are in their favor if you need a defense.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Carolina Panthers

Heading into the season, the 49ers were thought of as a top-line fantasy defense. They had lost a few players but still had superstars, like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, and they were expected to have an above-average unit.

Injuries have absolutely decimated this team, including taking out both of those defensive stars, and the result has been an uneven defensive performance, causing them to sit in the bottom 10 in fantasy points among D/ST units. Because of that, they are unowned in pretty much every fantasy league and available in the right situations.

Carolina has scored the fifth-fewest points per game through 11 weeks, finding some success in the run game but regularly failing with the pass. Last week was an outlier; Bryce Young threw for 448 yards and three touchdowns in an overtime victory over the Falcons.

Young is averaging just 196.2 yards per game, though, even considering that big outburst, and he is at a below-average 6.2 yards per pass attempt (league average is generally around 7.0). His seven interceptions are tied for 10th most. The Panthers have a below-average offense and a passer who regularly fails to excel.

San Francisco isn't full strength, and their ceiling is a little bit capped because of the absence of their best players. This is the right matchup for fantasy success, though, as the Panthers present a nice floor if nothing else. The 49ers are worth considering in Week 12, though they are another low-to-mid-level streamer.