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Maybe you’ve had to deal with disappointments like Ashton Jeanty this season. Or perhaps you had the Packers defense, and now you don’t know what to do because of the Micah Parsons injury. Not to worry! Here are the fantasy football defense and special teams rankings for Week 16 of the 2025 season.
There’s a big dog at the top this week. And there are also some scary propositions. But hey, you have to start a defense. So let’s see where the least offensive ones land.
It happens all of the time in fantasy football. A defense has a dream matchup against a shaky offense, and what happens? The struggling offense suddenly discovers itself, protects the football, and the powerful defense comes up lacking.
And while that could happen this week to the Texans, it’s hard not to like this game at home against the Raiders as the No. 1 matchup on the Week 16 slate. The Texans are No. 1 in yards allowed per game (269.2), No. 4 versus the pass (176.5), and rank fourth against the run (92.7). Oh, and points? They’re No. 1, of course, at 16.3 per game.
Now, let’s look at the Raiders. Dead last in total yards, No. 28 in passing, by far the worst rushing attack in the NFL, and they score a paltry 14 points per game. Plus, they are coming off a 31-0 debacle loss to the Eagles.
How could this go wrong? The main way would be if the Texans take the Raiders for granted. However, the Texans are fighting for a playoff berth. They should be locked in early in the game, aiming to build an early lead so they can control the game’s narrative.
Houston is a huge 14.5-point favorite, further solidifying its strong standing for this game.
So, where is the possible flaw? Ah, it’s the tight end position. The Texans seemed clueless against Trey McBride in Sunday’s game. It kept the contest closer than it should have been. And while Brock Bowers of the Raiders isn’t as good as McBride, he’s in the neighborhood.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans said he wasn’t pleased overall with the defense, according to houstonchronicle.com.
“Defensively, that game was not up to our standard,” Ryans said on Monday. “There are a ton of things that we can improve on, a ton of things that we need to get better at.”
Coming off a complete shutdown of the Raiders, the Eagles can wrap up the NFC East with a win. You know the Eagles don’t want to play around with it, so look for them to be aggressive and strong against the Commanders.
However, the Commanders can get some things done on offense. That’s true even with Marcus Mariota running the show. Therefore, the Eagles will have to play as well as they did against the Raiders.
The Eagles wanted to make a statement against the Raiders, and they did, according to...
